ACMI Focus on Catherine Breillat

Catherine Breillat stands out, not just as a female auteur, but one who embraces challenging material. Her films are mostly explorations of female relationships, stories that depict the transformative and transgressive nature of sexuality. Some find her films obscene, while Breillat herself questions the meaning of obscenity.

À ma souer! (For My Sister, 2001) is a gritty family story about two sisters. Anatomie de l’enfer (Anatomy of Hell, 2004) was particularly challenging for audiences with its depictions of female perversity. Romance (1999) was originally banned in this country, but received an R rating upon appeal. It’s a mystery, then, why her latest film, Une vieille maîtresse (An Old Mistress) has received an R-rating, as it bears little in common with her earlier works.

An Old Mistress apparently marks a new point in Breillat’s career. She claims to be leaving the coming-of-age stories and sexual explorations of her earlier films behind her. Her latest film is a lavish period piece (set in 1835, and based on a novel of the same name by Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly [1808-1889]) whose budget was greater than her previous ten films combined. Says Breillat:

All my previous films were judged nefarious or scandalous, but they did not represent the real me. I think this film really corresponds to my personality. I'm free at last. It represents the me that does not rise up against the world and its taboos. When I'm at peace, I'm actually terribly romantic.

Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Ait Aattou) is a notorious womaniser who has had a torrid relationship with Vellini (Asia Argento) a woman of dubious morals herself. Ryno visits Vellini to tell her their relationship is over and that he truly loves another woman, Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida). The Mistress in the title is Hermangarde’s grandmother and guardian, the Marquise de Flers (Claude Sarraute), the woman to whom Ryno must convince of his genuine love for her charge. The film's story unfolds as he frankly divulges the details of his affair with Vellini to the Marquise.

In many respects, this is a fairly conventional period story though, as I have mentioned in previous posts, the French seem much more capable of working in this genre than their English counterparts. While the English get bogged down in staid caricatures and theatrics, the French are able to breathe life into their characters with a much greater sense of naturalness and a fluidity of narrative that more readily engages an audience. I found this with Patrice Chéreau’s Queen Margot (1994), Pascale Ferran’s recent Lady Chatterley and it’s certainly true with Breillat’s An Old Mistress, in which she has assembled a fine cast that both look good and play their parts most competently.

Not unsurprisingly (for Breillat), the film depicts some nudity and sexuality, but, it’s quite passé, hardly any more risqué than Pascale Ferran’s recent Lady Chatterley, which received an M-rating. Maybe the censors (because that’s what the OFLC are) automatically assume a Breillat film is going to offend. This is unfortunate, because this is a beautiful and inoffensive film that should get the exposure that an M or MA rating would allow. The sex and nudity is a very minor aspect of the film.

Part of my respect for Breillat’s films are their ability to challenge my own sensibilities. I find it perverse that a film’s depiction of graphic sex or nudity should cause such moral outrage when violence is both ubiquitous and considered entertaining. And when one looks at a film like Tarantino’s hugely violent Death Proof (due for release on 1 November) with an MA-rating, one wonders about the consistency of the OFLC.

An Old Mistress will probably attract fans of Breillat’s films, and I’m intrigued to know what they think of it. I liked it a lot, though I prefer the grittiness of her more social-realist films. The film will also appeal to an audience that may have previously avoided her work. It is definitely a more accessible film, that will likely appeal to those who liked Lady Chatterley, yet it still has that little extra edge.

Personally, I’m very much looking forward to ACMI’s Focus on Catherine Breillat, which opens tonight with the premiere of An Old Mistress. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing Romance, which I missed when it was released in 1999, as well as other titles such as Brève traverse (Brief Crossing, 2001), Sex is Comedy (2002), Sale comme un ange (Dirty Like an Angel, 1991), Tapage nocturne (Nocturnal Uproar, 1979) and 36 fillette (1987).

ACMI’s Focus on Catherine Breillat opens today and ends on 4 November. The screening dates are also in my Calendar of Film Events (in the sidebar).

Links: Interview re: À ma souer / Interview re: Anatomy of Hell / Senses of Cinema

Photo: Fu'ad Ait Aattou as Ryno de Marigny and Asia Argento as Vellini in An Old Mistress

The Week in Review

FILMS:

• Das cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1919, Robert Wiene, Germany, 1919)
• Spione (1928, Fritz Lang, Germany, 1928)

Melbourne Cinémathèque was my only cinema attendance this week. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was accompanied by a newly commissioned live score by the Ang Fang Quartet, while Spione was screened from a brand new print - the film has recently been restored. I have often expressed a sense of inadequacy in critiquing older films, often because I don't have a strong sense of historical context. I enjoyed both these silent films, particularly Spione (in spite of its length), but I didn't feel a strong sense of engagement.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

A film’s adornment with the Cannes Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) brings considerable expectations by an informed audience. When I saw Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, other than knowing it tackled the subject of abortion, and that it had won the Cannes top prize, I knew nothing about it.

The film is set in 1987, towards the end of the communist era, in Romania. Two women, friends sharing a university dormitory are planning something that is not immediately obvious. Gradually, we learn that Otilia is making arrangements for Gabita's clandestine and illegal abortion.

The opening scene’s use of shaky hand-held camera (a pet hate) gave me reservations that thankfully proved unfounded. The cinematography is generally excellent, and the cinéma vérité style produces a strong sense of reality and immediacy as we follow the characters. The apparent use of a digital camera allowed the flexibility to film within small rooms as if one were a fly on the wall witnessing the action. There are fabulous long takes in which we witness the unedited talent of the main actors who display excellent emotions and timing. Mungiu has selected an excellent cast and extracted remarkable performances that are both naturalistic and convincing.

There are various themes that the film covers or depicts:

• pregnancy as the natural consequence of sex
• the tendency of youth to disregard the consequences of sex
• the corrupt nature of communism and how social repression pushes various activities underground
• how impersonal was life under communism
• most importantly, the terrible consequences of removing the availability of abortion as a legal option for women

As a youth, I remember my mother talking about the days when women risked death and abortionists risked jail (up to fifteen years in Victoria). Baby boomers and older may recall the name Dr. Bertram Wainer who campaigned for legal access to abortion in the 1960s and ‘70s. It all began in 1967 when he provided emergency treatment for a woman who had a backyard abortion.

Regardless of the morality or ethics of abortion, the social and other consequences of lack of access to it are just too great. This film clearly illustrates this point in a matter-of-fact manner without moralising or proselytising. Mungiu is neither promoting nor denouncing abortion. The film could even be used by so-called pro-lifers to attack abortion. Overwhelmingly, though, a reasonable person seeing this film would conclude that the social cost of banning abortion is too great. Those who would turn back the clock to those pre-Wainer days should go see this film and remind themselves what barbaric options women will take should abortion go underground again.

The only other film I can recall that tackles similar territory to this film was Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake. Both films are very different. Leigh’s film takes the perspective of the abortionist, a caring woman who performs what she considers an important social function for which she is punished. Vera Drake is more stylised than 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. It is a powerful film, but is topped by this newer film.

Mungiu’s film is more realist, and takes the perspective of the pregnant woman (or rather the friend assisting the pregnant woman). The abortionist in the film, Mr. Bebe, is portrayed dispassionately and reasonably objectively. Some may see him as a pig of a man, greedy and uncaring. Some I have spoken to got that impression. I like Mungiu’s use of ambiguity. Mr. Bebe saw himself as a nice enough person and, while I don’t think he was as nice and altruistic as he may have like to convince himself, I do think there was some honorable intention there. Each viewer can ponder this.

The cultural aspect of the film is fascinating. The way individuals interact with each other, particularly on a professional level, affirms many films made in different communist countries at different times, by different directors and of different genres. When one person serves another in a shop or hotel, there is at best indifference or at worst contempt, rather than the service mentality that we expect. Bureacracy is everywhere and with it, distrust and demands for identity papers for nearly every trivial transaction.

The black market is everywhere in the film. People trade with a nod and a wink. Kent cigarettes are high in demand, and people go to great lengths and pay a small fortune to get them (it cost more for a packet of Kent as it did for a hotel room for a night). Perhaps it was an image thing.

Mungiu has stated that his film is not a critique of communism, but just a backdrop for a very personal story – the film depicts the experience of a friend of his. The credits in the film refer to Tales from the Golden Era, which seems at least a little sarcastic about life under communism.

Having seen the film twice (and it was at least as compelling on the second viewing), I found it interesting to note the way the relationship between the two women changes over the course of a day. The closing dialogue was one of the most poignant yet quietly understated endings I have seen in a film for a long time.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a profoundly moving and physically affecting film. It is social-realist film making at it’s very best. This is one of the best films of the year and I highly recommend it.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is screening exclusively at the Palace Como cinema and opens on Thursday.

French Update

Taking up a new language is, of course, not a trivial commitment. I have an ambition to be able to speak French with reasonable proficiency within two years (I started at Alliance Française in April). Term 3 just started and I felt a little flat in Term 2, so I've taken up some one-on-on conversation classes with Stéphanie, a française I met via another local blogger. Coincidentally, I met Stéphanie when she was volunteering at MIFF, and gave her my card, but didn't hear back from her. While I find these classes quite tough and draining (Stéphanie's game is "I don't speak English"), it's forcing me out of my comfort zone and I'm feeling much more positive and confident about learning the language. As time progresses, I'm finding myself picking up more and more from the French films I go to, particularly the differences that occur between the spoken words and the sub-titles.

The Week in Review

FILMS:

• Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, UK, 2007)
• I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, USA, 1943)
• Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, USA, 1942)
• The Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur, USA, 1943)
• Money Movers (Bruce Beresford, Australia, 1978)
• Belle de jour (Luis Buñuel, France, 1967)
• Les amants criminels (Criminal Lovers, François Ozon, France, 1998)
• Persona (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1966)

SHORT FILMS:

• Regarde le mer (See the Sea, François Ozon, 52 mins, France, 1997)
• Action vérite (François Ozon, 4 mins, France, 1994)
• La petite mort (Small Death, François Ozon, 26 mins, France, 1995)
• Une robe d'été (A Summer Dress, François Ozon, 15 mins, France, 1996)
• L'homme idéal (The Ideal Man, François Ozon, 5 mins, France, 1996)
• Scènes de lit (Bed Scenes, François Ozon, 25 mins, France, 1998)
• X2000 (François Ozon, 8 mins, France, 1998)
  

DVD:

• Dekalog: 1 (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1989)

Eastern Promises
A separate review will be posted.

The Melbourne Cinémathèque screenings of films by Jacques Tourneur
I wasn't over-awed by these three films. I liked them as under-stated horror films, and they certainly looked nice. Maybe I don't have enough historical context to appreciate them fully.

Dekalog: 1
A bright father has an even brighter son who meets a tragic end. Classic Kieslowski. I like the way he raises questions of religion and spirituality but without overtly taking a position. I glean from his films that he is at least agnostic and humanistic, if not a covert spiritualist (quite distinct from religious faith).

Money Movers
An overlooked classic Australian heist film by Beresford that is edgy and captures some of the cultural aspects of the day. Apparently a favourite of Quentin Tarantino who used a similar torture scene in Reservoir Dogs.

Belle de jour
It's a pity I didn't see this before Belle tujours at MIFF this year. I'm keen to catch up on the back catalogue of Buñuel films, and while I enjoyed this one, it didn't overly grab me. It screened as a companion to François Ozon's 5 x 2.

Criminal Lovers
After making over a dozen short films for a decade, Ozon finally debuts with this very chilling story that seems not entirely original. A schoolgirl convinces her boyfriend to murder a fellow student who has been pursuing her sexually, and things don't go according to plan.

Ozon uses the screen masterfully, with beautiful naturalistic visuals, great characterisations and edgy story. It was interesting to see both leads early in their careers who have gone on to become very recognisable - Jérémie Renier (L'enfants and Nue propriété) and Natacha Rénier (Les amitiés maléfiques and La raison du plus faible), and both performances were very strong in this film.

Ozon has shown himself to be a diverse film-maker, and not unlike some of his other films, inserts a light-hearted and understated love scene at the end of what is otherwise a very taut thriller.

Persona
Having read Filmnut's nice review of this film, I feel much of this film went over my head and I might watch it again on DVD one day. Visually stunning, and tackles some strong themes of identity and reality.

See the Sea
At 52 minutes, this is not feature-length material for Ozon, but substantial enough to tackle a gritty yet understated story. Visually it has much in common with some of his later films, particularly Under the Sand, and has a dark side somewhat like Criminal Lovers with strong resemblances to some of the dark films of Michael Haneke. There are no comedic or melodramatic devices in this, no outbursts of song. The end is chilling.

The film screened with the other short films by Ozon. Other than a handful of other shorts that did not screen at ACMI's Focus on François Ozon, and Sitcom (which I missed), I have now seen the remainder of Ozon's oeuvre. I definitely prefer his more understated and naturalistic films such as Under the Sand, as well as his dark thrillers like See the Sea and Criminal Lovers. I like the way he includes sexuality, nudity and homosexuality in a non-self-conscious manner and his films have a humanistic aspect that connects with me.

The Short Films of François Ozon
There were quite a few of these films at the one session at ACMI, which predominately explored relationships and sexuality. One or two I had seen previously, perhaps on SBS television.

The Week in Review

With the school holidays I've been home - what a great opportunity to catch a few films, including the Focus on François Ozon at ACMI. Ozon's one of my favourite French directors and I'm expecting to catch everything I haven't already seen that ACMI is screening from this retrospective, though I did unfortunately miss Sitcom. It's been a phenomenal week with some really historic compelling films such as Loach's Family Life, Klimov's Come and See and Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days which just gets better on repeat viewings (I've seen it twice now).

FILMS:

• Une vieille maîtresse (An Old Mistress, France/Italy, Catherine Breillat, 2007)
• Family Life (Ken Loach, UK, 1971)
• Ivanovo detstvo (Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1961)
• Idi i smotri (Come and See, Elem Klimov, USSR, 1985)
• 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007) - 2nd viewing
• Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy, USA, 2007)
• Angst essen Seele auf (Fear Eats the Soul, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1973)
• Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes (Water Drops on Burning Rocks, François Ozon, France/Germany, 1999)
• Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, USA, 1959)

SHORT FILMS:

• Vicious Cycles (Len Janson & Chuck Menville, 7 min, USA, 1967)
• Tales of the Riverbank: Autumn (Paul Sutherland, 14 min, Canada, 1960)

DVD:

• Dekalog: 2 ("Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain", Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1989)

An Old Mistress
Catherine Breillat's latest film, very different from anything she's done previously. A very nice period drama with edge and a separate review is on its way.

Family Life
What can I say about Ken Loach? The man is a fucking genius. This gutsy family drama depicts generational family conflict with such realism and insight. The performances are amazing, and while psychology and psychiatry has evolved in thirty years, much remains the same (and I know this from first-hand experience). The film has an almost documentary-type realism to it.

This was Loach's 3rd feature film after Poor Cow (1967) and Kes (1969). The latter screened at ACMI last year and brought my young son to tears (he loved it, as did I). It's great to see this great director's early work, even if it was on Splodge's small makeshift screen at the Empress of India pub in North Fitzroy. I attended for the first time, and by chance it was Splodge's tenth anniversary. The screenings take place on the first Monday of each month and I can highly recommend it based on this month's experience. The seating is not the best, but it's a terrific opportunity to see some rare cinema. Check the Splodge! site for more details.

Vicious Cycles
This short film uses stop-motion and is dated, but that's much of its appeal. The film in its entirety can be found below.
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Tales of the Riverbank: Autumn
A bit of frivolous fun. This is pretty bent as adult entertainment. It was made for children's television. The actual episode (which screened at Splodge) can be viewed below.
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Ivan's Childhood
This is an excellent film, and a good companion piece to Come and See. Both depict willing teenage protagonists who join the partisans in the fight against the Nazis. Other than that, they are completely different pieces of work. Ivan's Childhood is in most respects a less ambitious film, but less disturbing and more enjoyable.

Come and See
I don't like war, and I generally don't like war films. Generally. I've got to say, this is one of the most powerful films I have ever seen and possibly the best war film I have seen. I have been debating with others about the horrors of war, and why we should not be in Iraq. This film documents why we should not be sending young men into the theatre of war, except as an absolute necessity. Sure, WWII was different to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and every other war. They all have their individual differences, but the brutal side of human nature that is unmasked under the cloak of war, and the criminality that is allowed to take place with little consequence, is a given.

The politics of war aside, the film is a very physical experience. It affected me for hours after. Through the eyes of a teenage Belarusian partisan (Flor, played impressively by Aleksei Kravchenko), we get to vicariously experience the horrors of war. When he narrowly misses being bombed, the sound reflects his experience of shell shock, which permeates much of the length of the film. The sound design and music throughout the film is excellent. The cinematography, including much Steadycam camera-work was thoroughly absorbing. The film was visually spectacular, taking in the most amazing landscapes as well as extreme closeups of people's faces that capture the emotions of the moment.

Flor's family (along with most of the village) is butchered in his absence and we become emotionally absorbed in his struggle to come to terms with his predicament, indeed for his very survival. Wading through sludge to an island retreat must have been a gruelling experience for the actors, and it was taxing to watch it.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Flor finds himself in another village that also comes to grief (we are informed at the end of the film that 628 Belarusian villages were destroyed under the Nazis). The Nazi contempt for Russians at the time is well-known. This film realistically depicted that and how it physically manifested.

While the story is specific and local, the themes are universal. This is a film that every serious film-lover should see. Absolutely.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
I saw this for the second time and liked it even more. I hope it does well and Kojo films import some more prints. This is a serious and important film that deserves to get good distribution. A separate review is on the way. There will be advance screenings at the Como this coming weekend, and it opens the following Thursday. Go see it! One of my strongest recommendations for the year.

Michael Clayton
I went into this film with hopes but not expectations. I have a lot of admiration for George Clooney in particular, but also Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton. In actuality, their performances are not too bad at all, and for lovers of conventional Hollywood thrillers this film should provide some entertainment with a little more edge than most. Tony Gilroy scripted all the Bourne films, and fortunately the editing and cinematography are not so frenetic as those films.

For me, the film's narrative was too incoherent, and deliberately elusive in a contrived manner. I don't think a film's meaning should be spelt out excessively, but Michael Clayton feels a little too manipulative when we are deliberately kept in the dark. I can almost see the levers and pulleys being pulled. I realise that this is often the norm for thrillers these days, but I don't think it needs to be. This aspect seemed to drag on, contrasting with an ending in which everything came together just too neatly and conveniently in just five minutes or so.

Fear Eats the Soul
This is the second Fassbinder film I have seen. The other was Effi Briest, a very different film. Fear Eats the Soul is much more a social realist film, though stylised and at times just a little surreal (particularly at the start). It depicts an elderly German woman who invites a Moroccan immigrant, 20 years her junior, to her apartment and the subsequent scandal. The cinematography has a rough naturalistic look to it, reflecting the bleak story which, in spite of its genuinely touching moments, has a sense of inevitable doom.

The story is universal, and applicable in all places and at all times. It is as relevant now in Australia as it was in Germany in 1973 when the film was made. The ignorance of society and how racial intolerance is manipulated is especially relevant when one considers the recent racial remarks by our Immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, or past remarks by the likes of Prime Minister Howard or Pauline Hanson. It also reminds me of the scandal that Boris Becker caused when he married a black woman.

Water Drops on Burning Rocks
I found this an interesting piece for Ozon as it integrates different genres he likes to work with. It depicts the seduction of a 20-year old man (Franz, played by Malik Zidi), planning to marry his high-school sweetheart (Anna, played by Ludivine Sagnier), by a 50-year old man (Léopold, played by Bernard Giraudeau). From the outset, Bernard is revealled as a manipulative and self-assured control-freak. He beguiles the vulnerable and keeps them spellbound, largely with his expertise in the area of sexual pleasure. The relationship between Franz and Léopold is very convincing, and Ozon demonstrates much expertise in his depictions.

Things get complicated when Anna turns up on the scene, and the film takes a turn towards melodrama and parody. This might turn off some, but I found it unexpected, amusing and original. There are some twists, some expected and some not. Léopold's former long-time lover also appears on the scene adding to the mayhem, comedy and drama.

It was interesting to see a very young Sagnier (who later appeared in Ozon's Swimming Pool) and Zidi (who was impressive in Emmanuel Bourdieu's very chilling Les amitiés maléfiques). The performances were very good, especially the two male leads. Ozon mostly depicts female stories, and the only two films of his that I have seen with male stories have been about gay men (the other being Le temps qui reste).

Water Drops on Burning Rocks is visually aesthetic and Ozon uses the frame effectively. The entire film is set in Léopold's apartment and at various times the characters are framed individually within windows as if imprisoned. I enjoyed this film a lot. It screened as a companion piece to Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul (and was selected by Ozon for the retrospective). The common ground I see between the two films (which are stylistically very different) is the sense of loneliness.

Imitation of Life
This is the first time I've seen a Douglas Sirk film and I can't say I'm a big fan of the melodrama genre. There's no doubt the film was well made, and it appeals to my sense of colour, but the narrative and lack of emotional realism leaves me cold. I'm not writing off the genre or Sirk, as I'm still exploring, and clearly there's something about the director's work that has inspired the likes of Ozon and Fassbinder, so he can't be all bad (can he?).

I was pretty pissed off that this film screened at ACMI from a DVD - the picture quality (ie pixellation) was terrible.

Dekalog: 2
Kieslowski's Dekalog was filmed around the one set of apartment blocks, which was depicted in the Cinémathèque screening of A Short Story About Love earlier in the year. A Short Story is actually a longer version of one of the episodes of Dekalog. Kieslowski is a master of moral conundrums and complexity where there is no black and white, but many shades of grey. Decisions must be made and, while there is no right or wrong, each decision will produce a vastly different outcome. What to do? This is Kieslowski's world, and I love it.

Dekalog: 2 is not as strong as some of Kieslowski's stories, but is still compelling viewing. The characters are all well-developed, ambiguous and mysterious. The film requires some patience to understand what is happening and what is to happen.

While watching this film (well, actually it was made for TV), I felt I could see some parallels with Alkinos Tsilimidos' work. I recently asked Tsilimidos if Kieslowski was an influence. While their styles and apparent world views are quite difference, they both started with documentary which appears to inform their fiction work, and they use bleak social realism in combination with high levels of stylistic devices. Contrary to my theory, Tsilimidos cited the Maysle brothers as an early inspiration to his work.

The Week in Review

Last week's screenings were dominated by the last of the season of Czech New Wave at Melbourne Cinémathèque, some truly rare and exception cinema. All these Czech films screened in this season were Australian premieres and all were excellent prints. The other highlight was Haneke's Funny Games, which I watched on DVD. I purchased it after seeing Time of the Wolf as part of the Focus on Isabelle Huppert at ACMI.

I had purchased a ticket to see Destricted at ACMI, but didn't get to see. I've heard that there's only a couple of segments of this omnibus film worth seeing, most notably Larry Clark's, so hopefully I'll get to see it on DVD some day (or maybe ACMI will re-screen it).

FILMS:

• Angel (François Ozon, UK/Belgium/France, 2007)
• The Nanny Diaries (Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, USA, 2007)
• Prípad pro zacínajícího kata (A Case for a Young Hangman, Pavel Jurácek, Czechoslovakia, 1969)
• Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon (Late August at the Hotel Ozone, Jan Schmidt, Czechoslovakia, 1967)
• Hairspray (Adam Shankman, USA, 2007)
  

SHORT FILMS:

• Postava k podpírání (Josef Kilián, Pavel Jurácek & Jan Schmidt, 38 mins, Czechoslovakia, 1963)
  

DVD:

• Funny Games (Michael Haneke, Austria, 1997)

Angel
François Ozon is one of my favourite French directors, who produces films of many genres. I'm really looking forward to the ACMI retrospective of his work starting later this week. Ozon makes subtle and understated yet compelling social dramas like Sous le sable (Under the Sand, 2000) and Le temps qui reste (Time to Leave, 2005) that are reflections of mortality that really resonate with me.

Swimming Pool (2003) is a more conventional thriller with a twist that shares some themes with Ozon's latest effort, but is of a completely different genre. Both films explore the life of a writer, but while Swimming Pool is a contemporary story somewhat grounded in reality, Angel is a melodramatic fantasy set 100 years ago. It's also Ozon's first English language film - quite a daunting challenge.

Angel Deverell comes from a lower middle class family but is passionately ambitious to succeed as a writer of melodramatic novels. The film takes on the mood of one of her novels - the melodrama is evident from the opening scene with the choice of music. While the press notes for the film give no hint that the director's intent of fantasy, I can't take it any other way. Angel succeeds at a very young age, beyond her wildest dreams. The narrative is almost dream-like. I have no experience of Douglas Sirk's films, but from what I've read, the film appears to be a homage to his work.

The production of the film is lush and the film looks beautiful. The period reproduction is very competent, but the genre of film won't appeal to everyone. Ozon clearly has an interest in women's stories and these often have appeal regardless of gender. I suspect the melodrama of Angel is likely to appeal more to women than men, and to lovers of English period dramas.

The Nanny Diaries
The husband and wife team that brought us the innovative American Splendour (2003) has worked together again for a more conventional comedy with The Nanny Diaries. The film satirises a tendency among some of the extremely wealthy of Manhattan's Upper East Side who, courtesy of their husband's huge income, can afford to both not work and pay others to raise their children.

Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney play Mr. & Mrs. X, Scarlett Johansson plays Annie the Nanny and Nicholas Art plays Grayer, the X's young son. The performances are acceptable enough, and there is some genuine humour, but the writing felt clumsy to me, and fell into stereotypical cliché. Johnasson has potential with comedy, but while the clumsiness of her role in Woody Allen's Scoop melded reasonably with the narrative and style of the film, it doesn't quite gel in this film. Maybe that's a weakness in the direction or editing - I couldn't really tell. It just didn't quite work for me.

There wasn't enough material to engage an audience for over 90 minutes and the film would have benefited by having some 15 minutes cut to bring it to this length. The film basically is a single joke that gets too repetitious as time wears on. The aspect that bothered me the most was a convenient and emotionally tidy ending. This may not concern a more conventional audience, which should find this enjoyable enough. Good for a bit of light but forgettable entertainment.

A Case for a Young Hangman
Virtually all of the Czech New Wave films screening at the recent Melbourne Cinémathèque season seem to have a fixation on indirect criticism of the totalitarian regime of the day. A Case for a Young Hangman is based on Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and uses heavy satire and surrealism that also borrows heavily from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, particularly the appearance of a clothed rabbit replete with pocket-watch.

The film also recalls Orson Welle's The Trial (1962), reflecting a frustration with government incompetence, but takes absurdism and symbolism to a more extreme level. The film is structured like a dream, removing the need for narrative coherence and allowing the story to jump from one scene to another seemingly at the director's whim. Combined with visual inventiveness and restrained humour, this sucks the audience down a rabbit hole and is thoroughly engaging.

These devices are effective in conveying the frustration of living in a madly bureaucratic state. Krzysztof Kieslowski ran foul of the authorities by his direct and realist approach to criticism of the authorities in his native Poland, so the indirect methods employed by some of the Czechs (as in A Case for a Young Hangman) are quite novel.

Josef Kilián
This short film made an excellent companion piece to A Case for a Young Hangman. It also employs absurdism, but to a lesser extent than A Case for a Young Hangman. It is also highly satirical and uses irony to humiliate the craziness of bureaucracy.

Our hero stumbles across a cat rental store and on a whim hires. Having recently seen the realist depictions of communist life in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, the director's mocking of bureaucracy is evident. A disinterested shop-girl asks for ID, takes the money and warns there's a steep penalty for late returns. The cat is mangy, nothing like the one asked for, and our hero - resigned to the uselessness of complaint - takes it for a day. He returns the next day but the shop is empty and no-one knows anything about it. The film then follows our hero as he desperately seeks the shop.

Late August at the Hotel Ozone
One of the finest post-apocalyptic films I have seen, that possibly inspired Haneke's Time of the Wolf. It has little of the humour of the previous Czech films. There is little dialogue and the story takes a while to unfold. We follow a troupe of young women being led by another old enough to be their mother. None of their identities is evident. Gradually we learn that they are some of the last remaining people on Earth (or at least, in the country). The older woman leads them across the country in search of other people, and particularly men.

Like Haneke's film, there is some fairly graphic violence, which works effectively in the context of the film. It also recalls Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. The ending is full of irony and tragedy, but handled with subtlety. Great stuff.

Funny Games
Michael Haneke is one of my favourite directors. He uses bleak social realism to convey horror stories of sorts - thrillers, emotional dramas, post-apocalyptic stories and so on. Funny Games predates by several years Haneke's earlier efforts, Time of the Wolf (2003) and Hidden (2005), but explores common themes. Like Time of the Wolf, there is a holidaying family in crisis and like Hidden, there is an examination of the nature of reality and manipulation through the medium of film. Funny Games is particularly audacious in its cheeky self-reference, in which one of the antagonists directly addresses the audience.

It was interesting to see the recently departed Ulrich Mühe (from The Lives of Others). Apparently filming on an American remake (with Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as leads) directed by Haneke itself has recently completed and is due for release next year. It will be interesting to compare versions.

In the DVD extras, Haneke says this film is the only one in which he deliberately provokes the audience. It is indeed a chilling story, and not for the faint at heart - my partner was scared shitless! I have yet to see a Haneke film that I have found less than excellent.

Hairspray
This films has wide distribution and much has been written about it. I went with the family, who enjoyed it less than I. Three words sum it up: lots of fun. The film is full of light uplifting energy, and it would have benefited by cutting 15 - 30 minutes to keep up the initial momentum.

Michelle Pfeiffer is looking painfully and excruciatingly thin and appears to be deforming herself with cosmetic surgery. John Travolta has a clumsy but effective role, John Waters has a hilarious cameo and Nikki Blonsky largely carries the film's success on her effervescent performance. The rest of the cast were good, especially Jerry Stiller (George Constanza's father in Seinfeld), Amanda Bynes and James Marsden, though I found Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle a bit flat. Good clean entertainment, with some nice choreography (by the director!). I'd like to see the John Waters original.

The Week in Review

This Week in Review is not for this week, it's for last week. I started writing this post as usual, but circumstances prevented me from completing it. I usually post my weekly review on a Sunday evening, for everything I've seen from Monday to Sunday. Alas, it's now Saturday evening so I'm nearly a week late. C'est la vie.

The high point of this week was 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which I intend seeing again before I post a review. I saw the first screening of a brand new print that had arrived the previous day. All I will say for now is it is excellent, social realist film-making that has much in common with the Dardenne brothers' L'enfant or even Tsilimidos' Em 4 Jay. It is a worthy winner of this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes that just has to be seen by serious cinephiles.

FILMS:

• Sedmikrásky (Daisies, Vera Chytilová, Czechoslovakia, 1966)
• Valerie a týden divů (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Jaromil Jires, Czechoslovakia, 1970)
• A Nocturne (Bill Masoulis, Australia, 2007)
• 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007)
• Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, USA, 1973)
  

SHORT FILMS:

• Otrantský zámek (Castle of Ostranto, Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1977)
• Zánik domu Usheru (The Fall of the House of Usher, Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1981)
• Kyvadlo, jáma a nadeje (The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope, Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1983)

Daisies
I really like this unusual Czech New Wave film, though I know some of my fellow Melbourne Cinémathèque members thought less of it. It's experimental nature demonstrates some of the psychedelic devices of the period, and contextually I had no problems with it, though it has dated. It was banned by the Czechoslovakian authorities for a time, largely (if not entirely) out of ignorance. They feared the avant garde.

Daisies is about two young women (both named Marie), self-indulgent to the extreme. I call this type 'Princess Bitches' and was recently amused to find a book by Melbourne child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg about the same condition (and it's called The Princess Bitchface Syndrome). I have a daughter around this age who, it must be said, has caused much grief, and Daisies satirises the mayhem such girls can cause by pushing it to the max.

The film is an anti-war statement, a connection made clear at the start with imagery of destruction wrought by bombing. The director's intent is to show how obnoxious behaviour manifested on an individual level correlates to obnoxious behaviour on an international level. The two Maries plot to hoodwink older men to pay for their meals and other favours, in exchange for pleasure which is never delivered. What I find particularly fascinating is how such behaviour has proliferated especially in contemporary times.

The film comes to a climax when these two terrors discover an unattended banquet in a hall. There was a terrific long take capturing the carefree destruction by the girls. Once again, thanks to the Czech embassy, we had excellent prints on the night. Check out this site for more info, including links to Deputy Pruzinec's speech to the Czech National Assembly condemning Daisies and director Vera Chytilova's letter to President Gustav Husak, pleading to be allowed to resume work with film.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
This was a fantasy/horror film, the least engaging of all the Czech season. It's a fairly camp vampire story which tries to tantalise with a little nudity and hints of incestuous relationships. While it has some beautiful imagery, the plot was fairly puerile.

Other than as a curio, the film did little for me. As it's been over a week since I saw it, I find I have nothing more to say about it, though Chris Hyde has written an interesting piece.


A Nocturne
I struggled with this film, partly due to sleep-deprivation, partly due to the quality of the screening (at Toff of the Town, a non-cinema venue with a small poor quality screen) and partly due to the content. It's a vampire flick set in Melbourne, made by local film-maker Bill Masoulis. This was the opening night film for MUFF 2007, and as the festival finishes tonight, it will be the only film I got to see at the festival. It's just not humanly possible to fit everything in.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
I'm not a big fan of the Western genre and consequently have had little exposure to Sam Peckinpah. Maybe it's the "over-abundance" of manliness (as it's referred to in Sunshine) that doesn't appeal. Or maybe it's the guns and violence. So this film, while it has some redeeming features (like James Coburn's depiction of Pat Garrett), this film also did little for me. The director assumes the audience has knowledge of the characters. It was only by reading about the film afterwards that I learnt what was the significance of the opening scene (repeated at the end).

Kris Kristofferson's role as Billy the Kid was reasonable but somewhat tame, and Bob Dylan's cameo was amusing, entertaining if not gratuitous. He provided the music to the film, which worked quite well. Like most westerns, the role of women was relegated to mostly window dressing. Perhaps that's another reasons why I don't generally like the genre - there's no balance of the real-life day-to-day, the drama of real people interacting.

I find it fascinating that the film depicts events that are scarcely more than a century ago - times that can surely be considered modern. Yet, the 'wild-west' nature of the times, with the proliferation of firearms and cavalier manner in which they were used (at least as depicted in the film) surely gives some hint as to why the US has so many problems connected to violence and firearms to this day.

Short Films by Jan Svankmajer
I presume this name means something to those a bit more educated in Eastern European cinema than myself. I found each of these films of little interest and didn't engage me at all.

Tom White

Tom White (Alkinos Tsilimidos, Australia, 2004)
My first encounter with the name Alkinos Tsilimidos was in 2004 when I saw Tom White. I had unfortunately missed the theatrical release, but caught it later at an AFI screening. This was the year that Somersault and Tom White were the only films in serious contention for AFI awards. Somersault walked away with fifteen and Tom White none. While the cinematography in Somersault was nice, Toby Oliver's cinematography in Tom White was considerably better, and on every other account that I can think of, Tom White was a vastly superior film (1).

Daniel Keene's writing collaborations with Tsilimidos produce compelling stories that cry out in a way that we are able to appreciate the humanity of those around us that we normally give no thought to. With Everynight... Everynight the protagonist is a criminal, with Em 4 Jay they are junkies, and in Tom White it is the homeless. Tsilimidos is a master of inspired casting and hit gold with Colin Friels' gut-wrenching performance as the title character. Tom White's descent from comfortable suburban middle-class to homelessness via a crisis of identity and a mental health breakdown is captured with a feeling of "that could be me". And it could. That's what makes this film so important.

I've read complaints about the film: "the stories are too episodic", "there's not enough the wife's story", "the ending is too ambiguous" and so on. These miss the point. This is Tom's story. This is life as he sees it. The episodic nature is a reflection of the volatility in his life, and of his lack of ability to commit to a given situation: he moves on when emotionally it's too much to handle. The narrative follows a true sense of reality rather than what we as a comfortable audience may wish to see. The glimpses of Tom's family are mere reference points to compare Tom's life, a sort of before and after, in much the same way that the glimpses of Em's sister Janey in Em 4 Jay enabled us to see how far she had descended into addiction.

Tsilimidos' films may be viewed as gritty social realism, but there is a stylised aesthetic he uses that differentiates him from film-makers like say, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh or the Dardenne brothers. Melbourne is used as a unique and clearly recognisable backdrop without resorting to stereotypical postcard shots (like The Jammed did, for example). While the characters and their situations may be bleak, the visuals combine beautifully with the music to create an uplifting type of visual poetry. Paul Kelly's music is a common element in his films (2), and there's something about Kelly's mournful laments of the everyman that stir up emotions without the film becoming overtly manipulative.

The blend of characters keeps the film interesting and for me recalls a very different film, David Lynch's The Straight Story, in which the protagonist meets one character, engages in some curious but understated dialogue before moving on and meeting yet another character. While Friels is centre-stage for most of the film, the impressive cast is considerably larger than other Tsilimidos films and includes Rachel Blake, Loene Carmen, David Field, Bill Hunter (in perhaps one of his finest roles), Dan Spielman and Jarryd Jinks.

A couple of interesting details regarding Tom's job: Alkinos Tsilimidos started studying as an architect after high school but changed courses after a couple of years (3). Laura Gordon and Nick Barkla, the title characters in Em 4 Jay, both have small roles in Tom White. In an early scene, Gordon can be seen approaching Tom's desk as he is retrieving some pencils he has dropped while Barkla plays the architect that Tom belts with some architectural plans at 'Clearwater Springs'.

Permeating the film is Tom's self-questioning in his search for identity: "Who am I?", "am I the man that was over there a minute ago?" and "this face is me". I found this heart-achingly rendered by Friels and the dialogue was effective, believable and at times funny. Anyone who has experienced pain in life should be able to relate to Tom's anguish. It reminds me of personal crises of my own, such as the breakdown of my marriage many years ago. I found it particularly traumatic at the time, and I have strong recollections of staring at myself in the mirror and not fully recognising the person I was seeing. The film has an uncanny ability to tap into the concerns, indeed the very real and darkest fears of real everyday people. It brought tears to my eyes more than once.

I found the ending particularly moving, plausible and uplifting not just in spite of its ambiguity, but also because of it. We see Tom still haggard with long hair but neat, clean, with trimmed beard and apparently in a safe place. Will he reconcile with his wife? Will he receive treatment for his mental state? We'll never know, but like reality, there's no "and they lived happily ever after" ending. As we fade to black, I once again find myself sitting quietly in my seat, moved and ruminating about the experience. I love this type of cinema and I hope Alkinos Tsilimidos keeps making honest and touching films like this.

NOTES:
(1) Tom White did receive considerable accolades: At the Film Critics Circle awards, Daniel Keene won for best original screenplay, Colin Friels won for best actor, Dan Spielman won for best supporting actor and Ken Sallows won for best editing. Toby Oliver won both the Golden Tripod and the NSW awards for best cinematography and Friels also won the IF award for best actor.
(2) Em 4 Jay features the music of The Black Keys, though Jay (Nick Barkla) sings a couple of lines of a Paul Kelly song, from memory it was Before Too Long.
(3) Alkinos left university to care for a dying friend and classmate, who he acknowledges in the final credits of his first film, Everynight... Everynight. Maybe Tom's role is semi-autobiographical, as I've read an interview where Tsilimidos considers Tom's predicament something he could find himself in.

The Week in Review

I had Destricted in my Outlook film calendar and turned up at ACMI today only to find that I was a week early. Strangely though, I had the correct date in my Google Calendar of Film Events (in this blog's sidebar). Strange, indeed. The Sunday screening next week also has a panel discussion afterwards, but I have a Melbourne Cinémathèque committee commitment that clashes, so I'm hoping to go on Saturday instead.

The highlight this week was the start of the Czech season at Melbourne Cinémathèque. I also watched Tom White late last night and am writing a separate review. I actually liked this more than anything else I saw during the week, but I consider Tom White one of the top 10 Australian films of the last decade.

FILMS:

• Ucho (The Ear, Karel Kachyňa, Czechoslovakia, 1970)
• Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator, Juraj Herz, Czechoslovakia, 1968)
• Lady Chatterley (Pascale Ferran, France, 2006)

DVD:

• Tom White (Alkinos Tsilimidos, 2004)
  

Lady Chatterley
Call me a philistine, but I hated D.H. Lawrence at school. From memory we covered both Sons and Lovers and Lady Chatterley's Lover. I found the writing staid and boring, reflecting a repressive social and class-conscious culture that held no appeal to me. I remember an interview I read some time ago with Charlotte Rampling, an English ex-pat living in France (and frequent collaborator with François Ozon), who felt she had to leave England because she finds even the contemporary culture stifling.

It may not be a surprise then, that I'm not a big fan of English period films, for pretty much the same reasons mentioned by Rampling. I generally find them dull, pretentious and overly theatrical. While this film didn't astound me, it was well made (avoiding the above-mentioned pitfalls) and quite frankly, better than any English period piece I've seen.

The cinematography was very good, the characters were much more realistic and there was more subtlety than we're accustomed to with the genre. The fact that it was an English story in French worked fine with me. If you like period films and/or French drama, there's a good chance you'll like this.