As part of the Istanbul Film Festival, I just saw Monsieur Klein, a tale of a man whose story I slept through a large part of. This is not meant as disrespect to Losey or the film's star, Alain Delon. It's not easy to watch three films in one day, and the middle film often bears the brunt of my sleepiness. Here's what I didn't miss.
The film starts with an exquisite scene of a French vet (we find out later) who is examining a naked dark haired woman, measuring the length of her nostrils, whether her earlobes are attached or not, the size of her hips, and other humiliating minutiae in a cold and clinical office. The woman is then dismissed, and to top it off has to pay for the test that will "prove" whether or not she is a Jew. We then see her commiserate with her husband, who also had the same test. This clinically frightening scene is somewhat different than the rest of the film, which is less about the process of France's occupation and collaboration and more about Delon's character's inner workings. He plays a gentile art dealer named Mr. Klein who, in 1942, profits off Jews who have to unload precious goods in order to make it out of the country. He buys their works cheaply and then sells them at a high profit.
Alas, he is mistaken for a Jewish man, also named Mr. Klein, who has mysteriously disappeared. Klein's life then begins to unravel as he tries to get to the bottom of what has happened. The other Klein is all that he is not, poor, Jewish, and politically active. We expect a sea change in his character, but by the end we have to wonder if he really realizes and acknowledges the irony of the situation and the karmic retribution that is being exacted. Now that I think about it, the last scene does acknowledge that somewhat. As Klein is being swept by a crowd boarding a train headed for the concentration camps, he turns and yells at his friend who can potentially help him get out, saying- "I'll be back." If he wanted, could he have turned back? Did he want to punish himself for the role he played in others' suffering? Is he symbolic of the nation of France as a whole (with the exception of Resistance fighters), willing to turn a blind eye and thus worthy of punishment? To top it all off, the last scene in the train shows a Jew who came to Klein at the very beginning of the film and sold a valuable painting, which he collected a couple of gold coins for. The Jew is not alone, in front of him stands the blank-faced Mr. Klein.
I wasn't surprised to see that Delon was the producer, and even less surprised that this film was being shown while giving him a lifetime achievement award, because the film is all about HIM. After all, one still of the film features Delon within the David's Star, how megalomaniac is that?
I'm a Delon lover, not hater though and I don't know which is better, Delon in a bowler hat or a silk robe. He sports both. I'll choose the hat because it's more meaningful to the post at hand. The hat was reminiscent of Magritte's existential man in a bowler hat, his face obscured by a series of objects. That is the essence of the film- not the Holocaust, or the occupation, but rather the existential crisis of one man. By being confused for a Jewish man, Delon is forced to question his own existence and the choices he has made. We, however, are never totally privy to that process.
cococravescinema.blogspot.com
The film starts with an exquisite scene of a French vet (we find out later) who is examining a naked dark haired woman, measuring the length of her nostrils, whether her earlobes are attached or not, the size of her hips, and other humiliating minutiae in a cold and clinical office. The woman is then dismissed, and to top it off has to pay for the test that will "prove" whether or not she is a Jew. We then see her commiserate with her husband, who also had the same test. This clinically frightening scene is somewhat different than the rest of the film, which is less about the process of France's occupation and collaboration and more about Delon's character's inner workings. He plays a gentile art dealer named Mr. Klein who, in 1942, profits off Jews who have to unload precious goods in order to make it out of the country. He buys their works cheaply and then sells them at a high profit.
Alas, he is mistaken for a Jewish man, also named Mr. Klein, who has mysteriously disappeared. Klein's life then begins to unravel as he tries to get to the bottom of what has happened. The other Klein is all that he is not, poor, Jewish, and politically active. We expect a sea change in his character, but by the end we have to wonder if he really realizes and acknowledges the irony of the situation and the karmic retribution that is being exacted. Now that I think about it, the last scene does acknowledge that somewhat. As Klein is being swept by a crowd boarding a train headed for the concentration camps, he turns and yells at his friend who can potentially help him get out, saying- "I'll be back." If he wanted, could he have turned back? Did he want to punish himself for the role he played in others' suffering? Is he symbolic of the nation of France as a whole (with the exception of Resistance fighters), willing to turn a blind eye and thus worthy of punishment? To top it all off, the last scene in the train shows a Jew who came to Klein at the very beginning of the film and sold a valuable painting, which he collected a couple of gold coins for. The Jew is not alone, in front of him stands the blank-faced Mr. Klein.
I wasn't surprised to see that Delon was the producer, and even less surprised that this film was being shown while giving him a lifetime achievement award, because the film is all about HIM. After all, one still of the film features Delon within the David's Star, how megalomaniac is that?
I'm a Delon lover, not hater though and I don't know which is better, Delon in a bowler hat or a silk robe. He sports both. I'll choose the hat because it's more meaningful to the post at hand. The hat was reminiscent of Magritte's existential man in a bowler hat, his face obscured by a series of objects. That is the essence of the film- not the Holocaust, or the occupation, but rather the existential crisis of one man. By being confused for a Jewish man, Delon is forced to question his own existence and the choices he has made. We, however, are never totally privy to that process.
cococravescinema.blogspot.com