guy-bellinger Reviews

Les gens du Monde (2014)

Definitely not "Everything you wanted to know about a great newspaper".

[5/10 · 19 April 2024]

A documentary on "Le Monde", a veritable institution in France? Pretty good idea.

You'll learn how this highly-respected newspaper works, how it's made, who are people who write for it, the people who read it.

The disappointment is immediate. Your wish "Everything you wanted to know about le Monde" will definitely not be granted. Just lower your expectations!

First, you'll get no introduction, nothing to put in perspective. Instead, you'll get thrust out of the blue into the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair (which did cause quite a stir in France at the time, but does it speak to a younger viewer or to a foreign viewer?).

In terms of contextualization, you'll have to be content with an extract from the TV news and try to understand pair of journalists talking amongst themselves.

It'll take you a while before you understand what Yves Jeuland, the director, is actually getting at: the 2012 presidential campaign (and hardly anything else), when Socialist candidate François Hollande substituted himself for Strauss-Kahn following the latter's sexual misconduct in New York.

In fact, there will be no overview of the newspaper, everything will revolve around following and interviewing the candidate and commenting on his every move (at times, it is true, very critically). The question that arises then is why the title "Les gens du Monde" (The people of "Le Monde", "Le Monde" meaning "The World"...)? A little misleading, I'm afraid. A wider scope was expected: the promise is not kept.

Aware now that there will be no other subject than the French election campaign and its blah blah blah you'll have to make do. With a few good moments all the same: some spicy exchanges on the future president and most interesting of all, the debate on whether the rather progressive newspaper should openly support the left-wing candidate or remain neutral. As not everyone agrees on the subject, the verbal exchanges are rather juicy, as is thought-provoking the debate on survival of the paper press in the age of the Internet and the social networks.

But the whole thing remains globally unsatisfactory. "Les gens du Monde" too often gives the impression of having been filmed at random, without any strong ideas or any sense of pedagogy, and assembled haphazardly. Which unfortunately makes it hard for the viewer to get hooked.

Comme un fils (2023)

Very good contemporary social drama

[9/10 · 2 April 2024]

Following an incident during one of his lessons, instantly relayed on social networks and gone viral, Jacques Romand, a history-geography teacher, feels he can no longer practice his profession in satisfactory conditions. He therefore resigns.

A widower, with his daughter living faraway in Toronto, he leads a solitary life in a house now too big for him. The monontony of his days is only punctuated by occasional visits to his friends. On the other hand, his passion for antiquarian books, which he collects and occasionally restores, helps him to recharge his batteries.

One day, while shopping in a convenience store, he witnesses an attempted robbery and an assault on the manager by three young people. Flying to the shopkeeper's rescue, he manages to restrain one of the criminals. The assailant in question, a Roma teenager, is arrested but gets released as of the next morning.

Worse,Victor (as he is known), who has been unable to bring the money expected to his gang boss , has developed a grudge against Jacques. To carry out his revenge he decides to rob him and breaks into his home. But after turning everything upside down, the young delinquent, malnourished and sleep-deprived, slumps onto the bed and falls asleep.

Back home, Jacques discovers the boy and realizing his state of physical decay does not call the police but decides to help him instead. To begin with, he calls in a doctor friend to examine Victor.

Then, as he struggles to establish a dialogue with Victor, Jacques discovers a teenager manipulated and mistreated by his uncle, the leader of a gang of young thieves. He also realizes that the youngster is illiterate but intelligent: didn't he learn English all by himself by watching Youtube?

But helping the young Roma, is not an easy task: without an address or a fixed abode, neither the police nor social services can intervene.

Undaunted, obsessed by the desire to get the young man out of his rut, Jacques will use every means at his disposal (including one astonishing one, but let's not spoil the story!) to educate him and tear him away from his noxious environment so that he becomes a man worthy of the name.

Nicolas Boukhrief films this touching story (co-written with Eric Besnard) with frankness, honesty and simplicity. A sobriety that translates into a no-frills direction entirely at the service of dramatic efficiency. As a result, we follow the story with constant interest, from the first to the last minute.

For his part, Vincent Lindon gives 100% of himself to his character of a loner at a crossroads. But the director's real stroke of genius is his discovery of the actor ideally suited to the role , Stefan Virgil Stoica. Scouted at a Romanian drama school. Without someone of Stoica's talent in the key role, the film would not have worked. But Stoica delivers an impeccable performance : his modern-day Oliver Twist, both irritating and endearing, is close to perfection, making this social drama ring true.

If you like well-told stories, good actors and interesting themes, consider "Comme un fils" as a must-see.

Eloïse's Journey (2022)

Detective of herself

[9/10 · 26 March 2024]

Amnesia, that most uncomfortable nervous disorder, is regularly favored by writers and filmmakers. The reason is obvious: the loss of memory, which in real life represents a severe handicap, paradoxically proves a major asset when transposed into fiction. Indeed, by getting propelled into a strange oppressive universe to which he has no longer the key, the amnesiac character finds himself struggling against great odds, a sure guarantee of thrills and excitation. Another good point is that the protagonist, anxious to reintegrate his universe, is forced to act exactly the way a private eye would in a crime story, the only difference being that the investigation he leads is about... himself. In any case, whether intimate or not, who says investigation says surprises, says suspense, says emotions, says sensations. Hence the great number of stories on the theme. Suffice it to mention, among many many others, "Spellbound", "Memento" or "The Bourne Identity".

The self-investigating private dick in Murielle Magellan's excellent « La Page blanche », is called Éloïse Leroy. Under normal circumstances, she would be just another thirty-year-old woman but what makes her different is the situation she finds herself in: amnesia makes her a Sherlock Holmes in petticoats, assigned to find out who she is and, even more original, who she is not!

Let's take things from the beginning: in the opening scene, Éloïse (Sara Giraudeau) comes to herself one morning on a bench in a small Montmartre square. She no longer knows who she is, where she lives, whether she is married or single, with or without children, who her parents are, what her job is. Totally distraught, she starts trying to put the puzzle together, piece by piece. Not for the best in fact insofar as she gradually unveils an unpleasant truth: she is not the good person she should be (and dreamed of being). As an employee of a large Paris bookstore, she has fallen under the influence of a trio of superficial, snobbish, malicious colleagues (Lola Dubini, Djanis Bouzyani and Doully). On the other hand, she keeps snubbing her colleague, Sonia (Sarah Suco), a good person who dislikes to be noticed. Couldn't (and even shouldn't she) have made friends with this unpretentious woman instead of the morally inept gang she has mixed with?

As can be seen, « La Page blanche » is no ordinary harmless comedy. It is undeniably funny (dapper dialogues, hilarious misunderstandings and gags, satirical features) but there is more to it than just smiles, an interesting undercurrent of reflection. Behind the pleasant comedic aspect you will discover the themes of true or false values, life choices, friendships, acceptance of the past, how to live better the present and the future. The light-hearted tone helping to digest the seriousness without your even realizing it, making this a quality piece of entertainment not to be missed.

On the plus plus side, let's not forget to mention the luscious chromatics of Laurent Brunet's cinematography.

To sum it all up, this surprising mix of good quality humor and psychological depth, is really worth watching. Don't forget to see it - except if you are amnesiac of course!

J'ai quelque chose à vous dire (1931)

Passable, if you're not too demanding.

[6/10 · 16 February 2024]

A well-constructed, fairly amusing one-act vaudeville, but based on the most hackneyed of situations (the cuckolded husband, with the added bonus here of... the cuckolded lover!) This little thing is worthwhile above all for Fernandel's undeniable comic talent. (It's a pleasure for the spectator to see the impudence with which he dominates and manipulates poor Pierre Darteuil, so indignant that he regularly emits animal cries). For his part, Marc Allégret films this superficial playlet as best he can, without being able to flesh it out. Two or three timid camera movements are indicative of his (vain) efforts to enrich the material.

Yamabuki (2022)

Worthwhile but imperfect

[7/10 · 4 February 2024]

"Yamabuki", by Japanese director-writer Juichiro Yamasaki, is both a highly personal and disconcerting work, at once hyper-realistic (filming took place in and around Minawa, which Yamasaki knows like the back of his hand, as this is where he lives) and totally internalized, even dreamlike (the action unfolds more through the prism of the characters' feelings than from an outside perspective). It's also a story that's both very well-crafted (the lives of the two main characters are presented in a fragmented way at the start, until their paths become credibly intertwined) and very threadbare (we know too little about the characters, their pasts and their daily lives not to be occasionally lost).

Another paradox is that, on the one hand, the film manages to make us feel close to the character of the Korean emigrant Chang-su, but on the other, it leaves us impervious to the distress of the high-school student Yamabuki, withdrawn as she is into her attitude of coldness and hostility towards anyone, including her young lover.

The same goes for the tone (Changsu confronts his difficulties in an overly maudlin manner, while Yamabuki pulls a long face from the first to the last minute), for the symbolism (light-hearted when it likens the girl's first name to that of a mountain flower, conventional when it comes to cherry blossoms, heavy-handed in the sequence when Yamabuki's police officer father starts making incomprehensible esoteric remarks).

The same can be said of the themes addressed: the quest for identity, emancipation, state authority, the blended family, political commitment, economic and social precariousness, mourning, xenophobia. They are certainly interesting, but there are too many to fill the 97-minute screening time, and as a result insufficiently in-depth.

Be that as it may, this film is well worth seeing, for all its defects and despite its austere appearance (grainy 16 mm film, mostly cold colors). Above all, it takes an uncompromising look at modern-day Japan. And Hang Yoon-soo, the Korean actor, is to be commended for his total commitment to the character of the down-on-his-luck emigrant. The musical accompaniment by Olivier Deparis is equally remarkable, with its music-box-like tinkling, lightening the overall heaviness of the atmosphere. There are also some lovely scenes at the beginning, when everything is still going well for Chang-su when it comes to his job as a machine operator, to the solidarity between the quarry workers and to the harmonious family trio he forms with his Japanese partner and their little girl: the three-way cuddling sequence is particularly touching.

The day Juichiro Yamasaki shows himself less solemn, less "philosophical" - in a word, less serious - he will manage to produce more balanced, less dolorous works, closer to real life, where smiles sometimes pierce the leaden blanket of misfortune. And why not, masterpieces.

Bonnard: Pierre & Marthe (2023)

Second-rate film on art compared to "Séraphine"

[6/10 · 30 January 2024]

For his second film about a painter, Martin Provost is far less inspired than he was with "Séraphine"

In recounting five decades in the life of the Nabi artist Pierre Bonnard, nicknamed the "painter of happiness", and his model companion, muse and finally wife, Marthe, he certainly produces some fine images and a good period reconstruction, and tells us a great deal about these two complementary beings. However, a few serious shortcomings tend to spoil the broth: the pace that becomes increasingly languid, the dialogue that sometimes seems like a copy-paste from Wikipedia, three very unconvincing dream sequences and downright painful scenes of hysteria. Fortunately, the pair of lead actors, totally invested in their characters, save the day: Vincent Macaigne (in first role as a real-life character) and Cécile de France (who knows how to convey every emotion).

Nothing to be ashamed of, but Martin Provost has already proved, with "Séraphine", that he can do better.

Burners (2011)

A disaster movie filmed like a real-life one

[8/10 · 2 January 2024]

As in many other places, too many young Algerians can't find work in their own country, no matter how highly qualified they are. So they try to cross the Mediterranean to what they see as an Eldorado, Europe.

Five young people from Oran, fed up with not being treated as they should , set out on this adventure. The theme is well-known but what's original is that the film is shot by one of the protagonists with a rented camera. Thus he films their whole sorry saga, from the jolly preparations, to the joyous departure, right up to the inevitable. For, in the end, there's no trace of the five friends on the blue sea, only the camera still rolling, showing nothing but the waves and the horizon. No need for commentary: the tragedy is absolute.

As already expressed, the theme of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean is not new, but Farid Bentoumi ("Good Luck Algeria", "Rouge") approaches it from an unusual angle: he has the action recorded by Amine, a member of the gang of friends and an amateur cameraman not at all gifted: the result is messy shots, approximate focus, shaky and badly framed views that are rather painful to watch, but which accentuate the impression of sheer realism. Thanks to him, we are really part of the merry group, and we feel their loss all the more keenly for that. By extension, we are made to feel sorry for all the wayward people of that kind victimized by despair, delusion and the inhuman rapacity of the smugglers.

All in all, a film full of empathy that never lapses into melodrama. It takes an effort to watch it but it is worth it.

Rond Point (1985)

The circle game

[7/10 · 20 December 2023]

Rond-point

A car going around a traffic circle day and night, day after day, is for sure no ordinary sight. Not only can it be puzzling but even outright unsettling. It does at least upset Célestine, an elderly woman who, from her block window, keeps observing the unending rotational ride of a white Citroën DS 19. A car whose driver she can barely make out, his only distinctive feature being that he wears a soft grey hat. Céleste, who lives in a concrete, rational world of well-adjusted routines, where everything is in its place, has a hard time putting up with this "anomaly". The thing gradually turns into an obsession. And her son-in-law may laugh at her, she has no other choice but to get to the bottom of it. And what she discovers is assuredly a... shock!

But don't rely on this writer to reveal the key to the traffic circle mystery. If you really want to know, just watch this entertaining short thriller concocted for you by filmmaker Pierre Alt : the solution to the enigma awaits you right in the middle of this skillfully crafted, surprise-filled story. Until then the suspense has been cleverly balanced until it explodes in your face. After that, another film begins, in another tone.

To be noted, particularly in the first part, is the director's art of playing with the geometric, moving figure of the circle. The film isn't called "Rond-point" (Traffic Circle) for nothing. The repeated gyrations of the car, filmed either from the outside or the inside of the mysterious car not only make Céleste nervous but they intrigue the viewer as well. Another source of circular movement is a merry-go-round, whose owner has a part to play in the events: we are also given to see it spinning and spinning, with some views taken from the carousel itself. There is also this unusual scene where Célestine and a visiting lady friend, while exchanging news seem to dance a ballet. Effective both stylistically and dramatically, these repeated concentric circles leave us with a feeling of vertigo, a nauseating impression - duly reinforced by competent editing as well as a soundtrack in keeping with the thriller atmosphere, at times a loud nerve-wracking fairground music whose ritornello tugs at the nerves, at other times film noir music adequately punctuating the action.

However, "Rond-point", good as it is, is not without its faults, the main one being its very amateurish acting. The actors, most of whom are non-professionals, do what they can, but their awkwardness and droning diction prevent the viewer from fully embracing the project.

As for the key to the mystery (which won't be revealed here), it's only half convincing, for one major good reason: why should Célestine have been the only one to notice the anomaly of the "ghost car"?

Moreover, however clever the twist halfway through the story, was Pierre Alt right to fall back into explanatory realism? Wouldn't he have produced a more fascinating work if he'd stayed with the unexplained, in other words, with madness, horror or surrealism? If he had remained closer to Poe than Boileau-Narcejac? Well, this is a matter of taste and even if you share this writer's feeling about the second part, you will find "Rond-point" quite entertaining. So please enjoy!

Temps mort (2023)

Three outside the bars

[8/10 · 4 December 2023]

Three convicts on leave for the first time since their incarceration. Three brief returns to 'normal' life, the life of others, of those who are not confined behind prison bars. Three uneasy, tense, bumpy returns to their loved ones: fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends. Three obstacle courses at the end of which, despite major obstacles, a semblance of hope seems to be emerging.

Three characters (Colin, a young one, Bonnard, a middle-aged guy, and Harmousin, an ageing man) who, for all their madness, are fighting their demons.

And a director, Eve Duchemin, whose main quality is to be well-informed on her subject (isn't she the author of a previously made documentary, « En bataille » about a woman prison warden?). And that's not all: with this film, she proves that besides her documentary maker qualities she has a real talent for fiction. She has the ability to create characters with flesh and soul, the best evidence being that we relate to them however different from us they are. What is particularly striking is that she achieves this feat without overlooking their unpleasant sides. Which is epitomized by what Colin says: « yes, I'm guilty, yes, I'm a convict, but that's not all I am! »

To get the job done, Eve Duchemin had no other choice but to find three outstanding performers, which, viewing the film, you will realize she did. Under her inspired direction, the sober Issaka Sawadogo, the restless Karim Leclou and the tortured Jarod Cousyns defend their respective characters tooth and nail and get to the heart of the matter, including the last-named, whose very first film this is.

A director who knows what she is talking about, a handful of brilliant actors (add to the trio the late Johan Leysen and Blanka Ryslinskova as Bonnard's parents) are the guarantee of an intensely emotional experience, not to be missed.

Red Island (2023)

Interesting and respectable but not that great

[6/10 · 30 October 2023]

Madagascar is a region hardly talked about, except in general to deplore its extreme poverty. It is , moreover, a country where - before "L'Île rouge (Red Island)" - no movie was shot for about thirty-five years, resulting in a dramatic lack of specific equipment and facilities as a result. Through filming a story set in Madagascar as its sole setting, Robin Campillo ("They Came back", "120 Beats Per Minute") actually takes the first step to making up for this double injustice; let him be congratulated for that. All the more so since at the time of its filming the COVID pandemics was at its peak. Under such conditions it is a real feat that "Red Island" not only exists but manages, against all odds, to tell its tale, at once a page of the country's history and a slice of the author's personal childhood. No small ambition assuredly. Which makes me feel a bit embarrassed, for I have to confess that I did not like the film very much, interesting and sincere as it is. Where the shoe pinches actually, at least in this writer's eyes, is that the whole thing does not entirely live up to its aspirations.

Interesting, yes, insofar as the scene (a French air base in Madagascar), the time (a couple of months between 1971 and 1972) and the situation (the tensions between the elected president Tsiranana, the French forces and the Malagasy people) have hardly ever (or even never ?) been depicted in a fiction film.

Interesting also because the narrative is, as I wrote, based on Campillo's own memories, which brings an additional flavor of authenticity to the main plot.

And sincere, for the writer-director, far from judging his characters, does justice to all of them, including the "sinful" ones, Bernard (and his infidelity) and Guedj (and his leaning on alcohol) The trouble to my mind is that, while aiming to study the dysfunction of a family falling apart, « Red Island » offers the mere sketch of a serious analysis. A pity because actually everything was in place for a quality psychological drama around the husband, Warrant Officer Robert Lopez (not evil, but rigid and authoritarian), the wife (married too young, too idle, frustrated by her restrictive role as mother and housewife), and their little boy Thomas (growing up in between). The portrait, I'm afraid, is singularly lacking in depth, and when Campillo takes stock of the decay of two other couples, it's even worse.

As a result, perhaps because it's poorly constructed, the film doesn't touch or move us as much as it could. Just compare it to "The Silent Girl", another film released shortly after, also told from a child's point of view, quite overwhelming. Unfortunately here, only a few scenes have any emotional power, the best ones featuring the little boy and his young girlfriend (child actors Charlie Vauselle and Cathy Phan are excellent, and there's a real chemistry between them). For the rest, the performers have little to defend their characters, so much so that they are only sketched out or presented too coldly or too intellectually. Worse, they are sometimes abandoned along the way, like the pieds-noirs couple, Bernard's young wife who can't adjust to life abroad - or introduced far too late, like Bernard, the soldier who falls in love with a Madagascan woman, to be grasped in all their complexity. And what about the treatment of Mingaly (despite the good choice of Malagasy Amely Rakotsarimalaka), soldier Bernard's native mistress? It sounds unbelievable but, it is a fact: she only appears in the last fifth of the story! An overly disjointed narrative, gaping holes in its development, sequences that are too long and others too short prevent anything more than episodic buy-in.

Another of the film's weaknesses is the amount of time given over to animated sequences featuring the children's favorite heroine Fantômette. It's been a recent (and disputable) fashion in French cinema to sprinkle animated sequences throughout a live-action film ("Tout le monde aime Jeanne", "Ama Gloria", etc.). In this writer's eyes, in the Fantômette sequences in "Red Island" not only have none of the magic of childhood but they're banally animated and only remotely metaphorical. Above all, they bring nothing significant to the whole, taking up instead a large amount of footage that could have been devoted to deepening the characters' psychology. The ending beats all records for "non-cinema": turning into a tract film, the final quarter of an hour or so inflicts us with no fewer than three political speeches on the run as well as a protest march with no real drama at stake, making us sink into the most crass boredom.

All in all, "Red Island" is a missed opportunity for Robin Campillo, and I regret it. The director, who has proved in the past how good he can get, had all the cards in his hand to make a major film though, with unprecedented historical, geographical, psychological and memorial dimensions. He has only succeeded in making a respectable work, unfortunately too poorly put together to be called a masterpiece.

Forever Young (2022)

Intense, dark and fiery

[9/10 · 22 July 2023]

The importance of Patrice Chéreau (1944-2013) in the fields of theater, opera and even cinema is well established. An actor and director with an impressive track record, he was also, from 1982 to 1990, co-director (with Pierre Romans) of the decentralized Théâtre de Nanterre (also known as the Théâtre des Amandiers). There, he simultaneously recreated a new theater, founded a drama school and opened a restaurant. Chéreau's reputation was such that for once trendy Parisians put aside their contempt for the suburbs and literally flocked to Nanterre.. The same is true of many actors, whether well-known or apprenticed, who, irresistibly attracted by Chéreau's aura, came to Les Amandiers eager to take part in plays he staged and/or to follow his classes. Among the fledgling young talents, many were prepared to do anything to rub shoulders with the genius but only a (happy?) few were selected - through a competition. In their number were for instance Eva Ionesco, Vincent Pérez, Agnès Jaoui and - guess who? -, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, the future director of "Forever Young". For the record, you can witness the materialization of their efforts in a film Patrice Chéreau made in 1986, featuring them and a few others of his drama students, "Hôtel de France".

It was a time of artistic passion as well as of free sex and drugs, an atmosphere "Forever Young" manages to recreate with great intensity. But it was also a time for psychological abuse. Ask Agnès Jaoui what she thinks about the question and see how Valéria Bruni Tedeschi illustrates this aspect here.

Chéreau, as she depicts him (not everyone agrees with her on that point), is a tyrannical, capricious and self-imbued demiurge, who enjoys bullying his young troupe at a whim. It's all in the name of high art naturally, but does that justify the constant mistreatment of these young persons, ready to do anything to get into the master's good graces? The eternal question of the trainer regarding those he's training as soft dough kneadable at will, unheeding the fact that he is bruising - not to say traumatizing - them, perhaps for life. Louis Garrel, who has become one of the greatest contemporary actors, excels in bringing the prickly genius to life. With the closed face of one that carries around in his head a universe inaccessible to the common mortal, he sulks, screams, displays indifference, listens to the sound of his own voice, kisses, slams the door, gives absurd orders. Garrel is so convincing that he manages to scare even us spectators. Around him, a cast of brilliant young performers who give their all to their roles, just the way Chéreau's emulators did in their day. Among them, all excellent, two shine particularly : Nadia Tereszkiewicz (passionate, excessive, tortured, incandescent) and Sofiane Bennacer (somber, menacing, uncontrollable). Their fiery relationships, both poisonous are reminiscent of the dark atmosphere of "Wuthering Heights", which is no small compliment.

One thing's for sure: far from being only a challenge to the Chéreau myth of Patrice Chéreau, "Forever Young" is Valérie Bruni Tedeschi's most intense, most uncomfortable, most heartfelt and least humorous film. It won't appeal to everyone, but those who enjoy it will come away not only moved but genuinely upset.

Harka (2022)

Pessimistic but pulsating

[8/10 · 6 June 2023]

Sidi Bouzid, 17 December 2010. Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor sets himself on fire in response to the confiscation of his wares and the constant harassment and humiliation inflicted on him by a corrupt policeman, a municipal official and her aides.

Sidi Bouzid, ten years after, Ali Hamdi, a street vendor of petrol, goes through the same way of the cross. For years, the policeman on duty has been fining him for unauthorized trade, demanding bribes to make him turn a blind eye. The administration has remained deaf to his requests. In spite of everything, the young man has managed - by all the existing means - to save enough money to take care of his two sisters. But in the end, all the odds being against him, Ali, as desperate as Mohamed Bouazizi ten years before, in his turn sets himself on fire.

In between yet, dictator Ben Ali has been driven out of power by the people in demand of democracy. Judging but what happens to Ali, nothing has changed basically: the same corruption is rife, injustice reigns, the very poor remain in dire straits while a minority unabashedly reap the benefits.

Such is the terrible assessment made by writer-director Lotfy Nathan (who has - unfortunately - bee proved right by current situation in Tunisia).

As for the way he puts it on the screen, let's say it is just excellent: Nathan, who is also his own scriptwriter, tells the story to great effect, sensitivity coming in addition to brilliant technical skills. The scenes follow one another with remarkable fluidity, but also with the inexorability and implacability of tragedy. His feverish drama is constantly in tune with the rhythm of the young hero's renewed but increasingly futile efforts. Another asset is the young actor playing Ali, Adam Bessa, who brings a lot to the film, always managing to capture the character's silent determination and sullen rage: no doubt he deserves the award he won at Cannes in 2022 . The same applies to Eli Keszler, who composed the powerful, rhythmic score and to Sophie Corra and Thomas Niles, who performed the "edgy" editing, worthy of a mainstream thriller. Thanks this addition of talents, there is never a dull moment during the relatively short running time (87 minutes) of "Harka".

A pessimistic film, agreed, but dynamically directed by the excellent Lotfy Nathan, "Harka" is so powerfully compelling that its tragic finale is even more gripping.

A must-see, but not just to pass the time.

On the Adamant (2023)

A barge like no other

[8/10 · 5 June 2023]

On the Adamant

"Sur l'Adamant" is not a conventional documentary. Like his colleagues Frederick Wiseman and Raymond Depardon, director Nicolas Philibert has a quality of vision, and a modesty too, that keeps him off the beaten track.

In this case, Philibert chooses to tell us about patients being treated for mental disorders by taking the scenic route. To begin with, he spares us the cold walls of psychiatric hospitals and the speeches of therapists, not that they are uninteresting but necessarily coming from people who « know better ». On the contrary, Philibert insists on keeping to the human level, presenting us with real people, not 'patients', i.e. Beings confined to their illness. Muriel, François, Sébastien, Frédéric and the others are certainly a little strange, a little offbeat, but they are people in their own right, who can feel, think, have a sense of humour and create. Perhaps it's even this offbeat aspect that allows us to sweep our brains clean and chase away our preconceived notions of 'madness'. You'll be pleasantly surprised by the lightness and whimsy atmosphere that emanate from 'Sur l'Adamant' - despite an inevitable undercurrent of seriousness linked to the mental condition of the participants.

This magic is also due to the place where this small community of patients and therapists meet, with as little hierarchy as possible: a wooden barge, The Adamant, built specifically to house a day-care centre. On this floating hospital annex, the treatment of nervous disorders is particularly atypical in that patients and caregivers are 'co-authors' of their care. People feel encouraged there to exchange ideas, take part in physical, artistic and/or cultural activities. Some even gather to do the association's accounts.

Nicolas Philibert, who has an uncanny ability to plunge us into a vibrant community of activity ("La Ville Louvre", "Être et avoir", "La Maison de la Radio"), once again propels us into the heart of a group, which astonishes and delights us.

Without adding the slightest commentary, filming with simplicity, the documentary-maker makes us friends with people who are funny (like the inimitable Muriel Thourond), confusing, poetic, lucid (when they are under treatment) and artistic (the beautiful painting of a painter's daughter, the musician who plays the electric guitar very well, Frédéric Prieur, the writer of songs and other kinds fiction with whimsical theories but undeniable talent).

A little masterpiece of humanism, tenderness and humour, the antithesis of 'Snake Pit', 'Shock Corridor' or 'One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest', or rather their direct complement.

"L'Adamant" is waiting for you. Come and join the club.

Fais de beaux rêves (2005)

Mourning becomes Marilyne Canto

[8/10 · 7 May 2023]

In a ruthless black and white (at times overexposed) Paris, Elise survives, devastated by the death of her partner Bertrand.

She does not cry, tears are not for her, not yet. She holds them back, speaks in a neutral tone, walks aimlessly, takes medicines to sleep.

During these dull days, in the Faubourg Saint-Germain where she lives, she meets a friend, sleeps with a man, meets her father in a square; everyone wants to help her but is powerless to do so: Elise, destroyed from within, is closed in on herself even if she talks about Bertrand's death without apparent emotion.

Will she sink into an even deeper depression? One hope remains: little Louis, her son, whom she is obliged to take care of and who sparkles with life.

Told with talent, "Fais de beaux rêves" (Sweet Dreams") is the dark chronicle of a young woman suddenly deprived of the man she loves, temporarily reduced to the state of a zombie, unconsciously concreting her psyche in order to absorb the shock of his sudden death.

The whole thing is expressed masterfully by the director-writer-actress Marilyne Canto, who manages to capture Elise's distress without falling into the trap of pathos .

To be noted in two important scenes, the excellent performance of Dinara Drukanova as the pregnant friend and Olivier Perrier as the heroine's father, who expresses to perfection his helpless desolation.

Let's add that Marilyne Canto extends the story in a further feature film ("Le Sens de l'humour"): (same situation, same character named Elise, who only wants sex from her lover (once again Antoine Chappey), affection being reserved for the deceased and her little boy (Théo, previously Louis). I personally prefer the more sober, less hysterical short film, less plagued by dull moments. But whether you like "Le Sens de l'humour" or not, you can thank Pyramide Vidéo who, in its DVD edition, has brought together these two variations on the same theme by the same writer-director-actress. Each of the two films sheds light on the other and this is very enriching.

The Tiger and the President (2022)

A litlle-known president vs. a famous tiger.

[7/10 · 12 April 2023]

A little-known President vs. A famous Tiger

Why on earth have we no trouble remembering historical figures when they are evil, monstrous, destructive? How come our memories refuse to erase the names of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Pinochet and the like? Why on the contrary are our minds reluctant to print those of persons who did good, who were ahead of their time, who helped humanity to progress? Shouldn't positive figures be more entitled to prominence than the sowers of hatred, death and destruction? But that's the way things are and under these conditions it is commendable that historians, writers or filmmakers (as is the case here with Jean-Marc Peyrefitte) periodically bring to light a few of these forgotten ones of history.

« The Tiger » of the title is - it goes without saying - Georges Clémenceau. Whose name is definitely not forgotten - and for good reasons. True, he was not always a good person (he could prove pushy, haughty, bossy, callous, offensive), but he was nevertheless driven by humanist, progressive ideas, at least in the first part of his career. On the other hand who on earth, apart from historians, can say anything serious about Paul Deschanel, « The President »? Worse, to the few who still recollect him, Deschanel is nothing better than that ridiculous short-lived president who, one night, affected by madness, fell from the official train. The only common image remaining of him is accordingly that of a poor wretched fellow, dressed in pajamas, wandering in the dark countryside, along the railroad tracks... Of course there is more to Deschanel than just that. Didn't he, for one thing, manage to be elected (and by an overwhelming majority) against such an illustrious figure as the « Tiger », Georges Clémenceau, the very architect of the 1918 victory? And before that, to be elected and re-elected as a deputy, as well as twice as the President of the Chamber of Deputies? Did the other deputies really deliberately chose a clown at each vote?

Certainly not. The so-said mental defective was actually an erudite man, with an unusual gift for eloquence, as well as a fine politician and strategist. And more than just that, the man professed new ideas, ahead of his time in more than one field: decentralization, agricultural unionism, workers' unionism, cooperatives, mutuality, income tax, social laws, political reforms, solidarity, women's vote. He was also against death penalty (which was only put into effect in France in 1981) - incidentally a common point with Clémenceau.

Revealing to the public the man's true colors is clearly the main objective that presided over the making of this film. Mission accomplished if only partly insofar as Peyrefitte has, in turn, simplified things. But how could it be otherwise with only two hours of projection time available? In any case, simplification is not oversimplification and Deschanel eventually comes out of it grown (and for posterity hopefully). Presented as a visionary, the President now looms large while his neurasthenia (largely mocked and amplified by his enemies) elicits compassion rather than derision. In his shoes, Jacques Gamblin, although not physically resembling his model, delivers a magnificent performance, restoring all the subtleties of the character, torn at the time of his presidency between brilliant political intelligence and unquenchable anguish. The "madness" of the character particularly suits him, giving the actor the opportunity to indulge in unexpected antics, at the same time outlandish and poetic. Opposite him, André Dussollier visibly enjoys himself capturing Clémenceau's idisosynchrasies, from his physical characteristics (massive body, drooping mustache) to his mental ones (his « old lion » incredible energy, his propensity to show his claws, his biting outbursts). The film is also worthwhile for its meticulous description of the Third Republic's rusty machinery. A rusty system operated by slackers clinging to their power An idealistic reformer like Deschanel who wanted to make things happen on his own could only crash against it and break.

As for the direction, it is rather undistinguished on the whole, but however deserves some praise: three good point make it an altogether satisfactory screening experience : a fine period reconstruction, two great actors and an imaginative illustration of Deschanel's delirium. They are enough to make "The Tiger and the President" worth seeing.

And a positive figure put in the spotlight rather than a bloodthirsty monster, it is not to be refused.

Jeux de mort (1992)

A great little film

[8/10 · 18 March 2023]

Just like the short story offers little space to its writer, the short film grants its director little time to deal with the subject chosen. But what may first appear as a constraint also holds a great virtue: the short story's restricted number of pages as well as the short film's limited time range are the best guarantee against dilution, padding out, getting lost in digressions. Of course saying as much as possible within a tight framework is not the easiest thing in the world: to take up the challenge, special qualities are required, such as density, meaningfulness or allusiveness, to say nothing of the sine qua non condition - a sense of synthesis. The authors, whether they like it or not, have no choice but to go to the essential, to cut it through the bone. When they prove able to do so, then the initial drawback turns into a real advantage, keeping their work safe from lengthiness.

Such is the case with the film "Jeux de mort", where in the space of 9 minutes and 47 seconds, the writer-director, Pierre Alt, will in turn surprise you, thrill you and, finally, make you think. Three pleasures for the price of one, it isn't something you refuse!

The film's first quality? Undeniably, its smart construction and the elements of surprise it allows.

One example, the first two minutes : in the opening shot a female singer is seen face to a microphone. Wearing a sexy black lamé dress, her shoulders bare, and with long gloves on, she is performing a languid torch song.

She looks so much like Gloria Grahame that you keep wondering if it is not Nicholas Ray's "Woman's secret" you are watching.

After a while, the camera moves away and spans a restaurant area and its diners, all well dressed. The place is a chic nightclub, the time might be the late 1940s or the early 1950s. The tracking shot finally focuses on a couple, in the middle of an argument. Disturbing the peaceful atmosphere of the restaurant, Pierre, obviously drunk, speaking too loud, is making a distressful revelation to his elegant mistress, Maria. He lied to her, he is not rich as he claimed and now that she is pregnant, he can afford neither a luxury marriage nor a role as a father.

You ask yourself: « Could it possibly be one of Douglas Sirk's early American melodramas? »

The crisis gradually worsens: Maria, on the verge of fainting, leaves the cabaret followed by Pierre, who has become almost insane: after a ladder climb, a rooftop chase, the couple find themselves hanging desperately over a bubbling river.

An old Hitchcock, perhaps?

No, nothing to do in fact with either Ray, Sirk or Hitchcock. That's what you realize all of a sudden - and with pleased astonishment: shortly after the revelation by Pierre of his shameful conduct, the film until then in black and white (rather glossy during the cabaret sequence, superbly contrasted in the outdoor night scenes) has turned to color (trivial everyday colors, without aesthetic refinement).

Now you get the idea (or so you think): the story of Pierre and Maria is a film within a film! Set in the present, the sequence in color takes place in a cinema where the film in black and white is being shown at this very moment of the action. The "old" film was only a part of the main movie entitled "Jeux de mort (Death Games)" whereas the "real" action only starts now. What do you see now? A spectator enters late in a cinema hall, and who after having disturbed all the viewers in a row of seats, starts to keep up with « Jeux de mort ». From then on, excerpts of the film in black and white alternate with color shots of the man following the film and reacting to it. A double story, a double delight!

Indeed, the way the man reacts to the images on the screen (opening his eyes wide, sweating, speaking out loud, wriggling in his seat) make you smell a rat: something unsettling is happening in his head. Obviously, the story of an expecting woman abandoned, the false promises made to her, the threat of falling into a dizzying precipice... awaken a painful echo in him. It looks as if he too has behaved badly with a pregnant companion. Instead of being a pleasant experience, the screening turns out to be an unbearable ordeal for him so much so that he leaves the theater before the end.

Meanwhile, in "real" life, the "real" audience (you, me, the others... watching the man watching the film!) is in a much different state of mind, rejoiced, not upset: what a challenging mind game indeed to try to disentangle the threads of these three stories, embedded in each other, and to discover that behind a brilliant exercise in style, lurks even one more gift, a bit of reflection. For, in his own unassuming way, Pierre Alt does tackle important issues like the fiction-reality relationship, the fiction-lived experience interaction, the influence of a work of art on an individual.

You may think these considerations a bit high-minded but don't worry, Pierre Alt's ambition is not to give a philosophy course. You will just deduce them (or not if you don't feel like it) from his rich movie. His main objective (achieved, to be sure) is the excitement brought by a subtly written script and a well-directed movie (sleek tracking shots, fine crane movements, brilliant image and editing , elaborate period reconstitution).

This "great little" film ends as brilliantly as it began (we won't say anything about the final sequence - excellent - to avoid spoiling it). To be discovered absolutely.

The Green Shutters (2022)

The last of a sacred monster

[8/10 · 29 January 2023]

The Last of a Sacred Monster

"Les Volets verts" ("The Green Shutters") is a novel by Georges Simenon, written in 1950 while he was living in the United States. It had long been a project of Maurice Pialat, which unfortunately never came to fruition. Gérard Depardieu, who was persuaded that he was cut out for the role, was slated to be the lead. He therefore felt quite frustrated when the project finally failed. Jules Maugin, an aging, eccentric, alcoholic, hyper-sensitive and egocentric sacred monster, that was him, nobody else but him! So much so that the idea never left him. That is how in 2017, still bearing the project in mind, he wound up proposing it to producers Michèle and Laurent Pétin. Enthusiastic at the idea, they hired the talented Jean-Loup Dabadie to write the adaptation. This he did, transposing the action from the early 1950s to the 1970s, a time when larger-than-life actors still existed (Delon, Gabin, Belmondo,...), a race of which the dinosaur Depardieu is one of the last representatives, if not the last. Fate was to interfere again with the sudden death of Dabadie in 2020. Veteran director Jean Becker (88 years old at the time of filming), the hired director, was shaken but undaunted. Only modifying Dabadie's work to a small extent, adding his personal touch, he gallantly set his cameras rolling. Shooting took place, without any hitch this time, in August and September 2021. Miracle! Completion was achieved: Pialat's project, Depardieu's dream, had finally come to life.

Naturally, filmed by Becker, "The Green Shutters" does not really look like a Mautice Pialat film, it is less naturalistic, less paroxystic than it would have been. But Jean Becker has talent and sensitivity, and his version does not do injustice to Pialat. Not surprising considering that, although the whipping boy of French critics (their pet theme being that Jacques Becker is a genius and his son Jean a botcher), he has behind him an extensive body of work. Not that it revolutionizes the seventh art but not only are Becker's movies well made but they also offer a warm humanist look at those they bring to the fore (the group of friends in "The Children of the Marshland", the resistance fighters in the pits of "Strange Gardens", the illiterate odd-job man and the well-read old lady in "My Afternoons with Margueritte", to mention only a few).

As for Gérard Depardieu, a much less disputed figure, his great complicity with his director (this is their third collaboration) allows him to give full swing to his acting. Becker, well aware of Depardieu's showman's tremendous abilities, adopts the best of solutions, leaving him carte blanche. Hence an anthology Maugin. Hence also a troubling floating sensation, which soon becomes part of a somewhat weird pleasure: are we seeing Depardieu playing Maugin? Or Maugin as a definite character, existing only within the frame of the story? Or is it a case of an actor being overwhelmed by the personage he embodies? Or else of Maugin being phagocyted and then regurgitated by the ogre Depardieu? A bit of each probably. The sure thing is that we never really know where to draw the line, a fascinating experience indeed! Which makes the actor's bigger-than-life performance the major asset of this otherwise fine film. It would not be surprising if in the future, despite "The Green Shutters" not being a great public success, Maugin was one of the roles the actor will be remembered for. As a matter of fact, Depardieu has given so much of himself to his character that he is him, rather than plays him. To be sure, Gérard has every reason to identify with Jules: a hypersensitive thespian, a worn-out man once influential in the world of theater and cinema - now being more and more sidelined (a disgrace well illustrated by the scene of the commercial shooting where Maugin is forced to praise the merits of a beer, non-alcoholic into the bargain!). Excessive in everything, attitudes and feelings alike, Maugin and Depardieu both have had a hectic lifepath; both are paunchy, hard-drinking and self-destructive, but also truly great actors, if ham-fisted at times. The only real dissociation between the character and his performer is that at 74, Depardieu is still... alive

No doubt the revered actor will be spared the barbs of critics. No doubt either Becker will not. He never is no matter what he does. His direction will invariably be dubbed dull, unimaginative, slavishly illustrative or, worst of all, "academic", a term originally used to qualify works made according to the rules of the art but now used offensively by those happy few who hate it when they have nothing to explain or have nothing to rave about. I would rather use the term "classical". As far as Jean Becker's direction is concerned, it is in fact synonymous with well-made, discreet, modest, unobtrusive. Which does not mean that there is no artistry at all in his films. "The Green Shutters" in particular contains a couple of nicely crafted sequences, which definitely raise it above the average. Two of them are particularly worth mentioning. In the first one, set in the initial part of the narrative, Maugin is shown spying through the window of a shoe store; immediately after, the camera substitutes itself to him and reveals the presence on the other side of the window of Jeanne, his longtime partner and unrequited love (Fanny Ardant, radiant). The lady trying on a pair of shoes, unexpectedly starts a graceful dance movement: if you are not stubbornly hostile to the director, you will experience a magic feeling, equivalent to the character's wonderment. During this brief poetic moment, Jeanne is not Jeanne anymore but the lovely princess of a fairy tale.

Another sequence has an exhilarating virtue and could well become cult. It takes place after Maugin has had, once again, a memory lapse in the middle of a play. Unsettled as he is, he needs to reassure himself. His presence in a restaurant gives him the opportunity: grabbing the menu, he memorizes it at full speed and starts to recite to the astonished customers all the dishes offered, as if it was a text signed Rostand. An enjoyable and unexpected sequence that proves that Jean Becker is not just a plodding filmmaker.

Let's also talk about the cast carefully assembled by Jean Becker: everyone is in their place, all generations included, from the already named Fanny Ardant (with an incomparable ironic charm) to Benoît Poelvoorde (sober and all the more touching in the role of the faithful friend), to the young generation represented by Stefi Celma (sensitively portraying Maugin's young protégé) - to mention only a few.

Let's not forget either the warm-toned photography by the gifted Yves Angelo ("All the Mornings of the World", "A Heart in Winter") , the careful sets of Loïc Chavanon ("At Eternity's Gate", the film on Van Gogh), the fine score by the Belgian composer Frédéric Vercheval ("Diamant 13", "Secret Name") All in all, "The Green Shutters" is quite a beautiful film, if not very optimistic (but hasn't melancholy its own charms .). Most of the viewers (but the youngest) will follow it with interest from beginning to end.

Arthur Honegger (1955)

Meet Arthur Honegger

[8/10 · 26 November 2022]

In 1954, the filmmaker Georges Rouquier decided to dedicate a film to Arthur Honegger. The great composer, then 62 years old and already very ill, agreed to confide to the director's camera.

The result is a precious document, in which Honegger expresses himself, within the four walls of his apartment on the Boulevard de Clichy, on his life, his career, his conception of art and music, the mystery of composition, and his vision of the contemporary world.

Knowing that most of the 40 minutes of the projection consists of a monologue by Honegger, one could fear a tedious experience but, given that the composer expresses himself with clarity and vivacity, without any pedantry, boredom is not part of the story. Especially since Georges Rouquier regularly illustrates the musician's words with the help of various photographs, even excerpts from filmed reports or even a fiction film ("Un revenant", by Christian-Jaque, where Honegger makes an appearance alongside Louis Jouvet). The visit of a composer friend, Jacques Ibert, also breaks the monotony. As for the finale, an excerpt from "Jeanne au bûcher", it brings this precious document to a highly emotional close.

Georges Rouquier has made with this film a witness, fixing on film the last lights of an eclectic and passionate composer, who worked in collaboration with the greatest, Cocteau, Claudel, Giraudoux. Valéry, among others. Let him be thanked for that.

Je suis un no man's land (2010)

A real nowhere man in his nowhere land

[6/10 · 23 September 2022]

"I am a no man's land", by Thierry Jousse, is a singular film, difficult to categorize, quite in the image of its main actor (also singer and songwriter) Philippe Katerine, who can be alternately tender and romantic or offbeat and eccentric (sometimes even a mix of the two) while remaining himself.

But, even though the scenario is partly inspired by Philippe Katerine's life, this is definitely not a biopic, at least a traditional one. In fact yes, the film does tell about Philippe, but not in a chronological, orderly or realistic way. If this is a biopic, then it is one of his unconscious, from the time he was a child to his teen age to the age of maturity, a maturity that might remain inaccessible to him due to a severe psychological block. To put it another way, I would call this weird work a "mental biopic" (somewhat in the line of "Being John Malkovich "), in which the "facts" concerning the hero are doled out in a dreamlike, disorderly, psychoanalytical manner, where the times and places keep being confused and confusing. During most of the running time indeed, Philippe is seen struggling and turning in circles in the no man's land of his psyche. The only sure thing about him is that he is a neurotic adulescent.

But don't worry too much, this is no depressing Bergman psychodrama: the overall tone is basically that of a comedy, complete with the traditional happy ending; in the last part of the film, Philippe will indeed have managed to unlock his blocks and escape from his mental prison.

Naturally, when it comes to summarizing the inner misadventures of this nowhere man, things get a bit tricky. Let me try anyway.

Following a night performance, Philippe, a singer on tour, agrees to follow to her home a female admirer. The trouble is that the creature proves a regular tigress (a variant of "Misery", only sexier and a little less violent). A sex beast, she not only wishes to make her idol her lover but also wants him the captive of her will (by way of example she has had installed a studio where Philippe can create and record - under her sole supervision !). In these circumstances, our man, of the reserved and shy kind, has no other choice but to run away. Completely lost, he wanders endlessly... in a forest and in the middle of the night! At a time, he comes across Sylvie, a charming young woman who does not seem surprised at all by the encounter. She happens to be an ornithologist on a night mission. Later, against all logic, Philippe lands in... his native house. Although surprised by his impromptu visit, his parents, whom he has been neglecting for too long, gladly take him in. After a so-so stay, Philippe decides to go away but, oddly enough, finds it impossible to leave his childhood village - whether on foot, by motorcycle or by car -, he is prevented from achieving his aim by an invisible entity. However hard he tries, it keeps bringing him back to his starting point. How he will manage to get out of that imbroglio is the question.

As can be seen, the strange film is to be read not on a realistic but on a psychoanalytical level. What appears from Philippe's fantasies is in fact nothing but the actualisation of his neurosis. Outside of the stage where he is at ease, the poor guy is timid, unable to impose himself, and, most of all, afraid of women (which is symbolized by his misadventure with the erotomaniac) - he just runs away from them. What we discover in the course of the action is that, at odds with his father, he has never dared to confront him. All this, without his necessarily being aware of it, handicaps him in his daily life.

Not a very appealing no man's land maybe but Thierry Jousse proves his ability there to give it a shape, a kind of spider's web in which the gnat-hero gets stuck. Hence a film akin to "8 1/2" or "Juliette of the Spirits" with the reservation that Jousse is not Fellini, that his direction lacks the evocative power of the maestro. Although intriguing and quirky, "I Am a No Man's Land" definitely lacks a power of fascination. The madness, the onirism, the irrationality are there, but everything remains a little too much "under control". We should be fascinated, haunted, shaken, and we tend to remain outside. Nevertheless, the film keeps being intriguing, in any case unpredictable, from the beginning to the end. Even better, the sequences where Philippe discovers who his parents really are and what love binds them indissolubly are quite touching. Jousse's look at a couple having passed their maturity is full of delicacy, a quality enhanced by the artistry of Jackie Berroyer and Aurore Clément, who give them all the depth necessary. Judith Chemla (with her wild eroticism) and Julie Depardieu (with her fresh and sparkling charm) are also very good.

To my liking, this is a semi-successful film only, mainly because its baroque universe is not baroque enough. It's up to you to decide whether you want to watch it or not, whether you like it or not.

Doc's Kingdom (1988)

My kingdom for a dock.

[8/10 · 10 August 2022]

Lisbon, New York City. Two lonely men. One is a doctor, a disgruntled left-wing idealist who drowns his bitterness in alcohol; the other is an almost autistic young man, whose only commitment is to motorcycles and speed. One, "Doc", who lives in the docklands of Lisbon, has left his wife Rozzie after she gave birth to a child, for a life of justice in Africa. The other, Jimmy, discovers after the death of his mother (the same Rozzie), that he has a father somewhere in Portugal. So the son decides to find this father, to ask him for accounts, to settle his account perhaps. But when he meets Doc, it's not a father he faces (Doc himself doesn't think he's worthy of the name) but a human being with a troubled past, a present in which he struggles, weakened, to survive and help those who suffer (such as this former sailor who suffers from brain cancer), in two words, an imperfect but endearing being.

Nothing more. But that is enough for Robert Kramer, who shows his ability to sustain the interest of the spectator without resorting to the slightest action scene, which is not an easy task. The director even manages to be poignant during the last scenes of the father and son "reunion".

To sum it all up, let's say there are no useless effects, only the essential. And a remarkable accuracy of tone. The film is certainly not wildly cheerful, but it is never self-indulgent or overly naturalistic.

All in all, "Doc's Kingdom" turns out to be a surprisingly touching work, especially coming from Robert Kramer, who got us used to purely, quite cold political films ("Ice", "Guns", "Diesel",...). This overall good impression is reinforced by the excellent interpretation of Paul McIsaac (as Doc) and Vincent Gallo (playing Jimmy). All these reasons make "Doc's Kingdom" a (too little seen) film to discover.

Love Unto Death (1984)

For those who enjoy near-death - or even death - experience.

[6/10 · 8 August 2022]

Not my favorite work by Resnais. What I liked the most about « L'Amour à mort » was the interpretation, especially that of Sabine Azéma, who gives herself 150% to her character, exploring all its facets, from her frenzy of panic to her final iron determination through all sorts of intermediate states. Pierre Arditi is amazing in a morbid role, in which he is not a specialist, to say the least. Fanny Ardant shows a welcome restraint in her role as a pastor while Dussollier is rather dull, in accordance actually with his character and his ready-made answers, taken from the Bible.

As for the direction, the editing and camera movements, they are, as always with Resnais, full of mastery and the whole thing is presented both in an experimental and traditional style (as of "Last Year at Marienbad" and "Melo" were juxtaposed in the same continuum). It, personally, got bothered by its experimental side, namely the musical inserts on a black background sprinkled with luminous flakes. They interrupt the thread of the narrative no less than... 52 times! With a music by Hans Werner Henze (nothing to do with "Pas sur la bouche" or "On connaît la chanson"!) which got on my nerves: for me the contemporary music score suggests too easily the psychic imbalance (which, in my opinion, should be present in the live sequences) while underlining in large strokes the "dialogue with the beyond". If one is sensitive to this score, there is no doubt that it will give an extraordinary relief to this "call from beyond"; unfortunately, it did not work for me, it only provoked irritation and constituted, by what I would qualify its pretentious abstraction, a brake to the emotion. Worse, these musical tableaux encroach greatly on the development of the story and prevent a psychological deepening, which would have contributed to a better adhesion: it would have been a good point for example to have Elizabeth's passionate love for Simon "felt" rather than given for granted. We know one thing about Simon: he is attracted to death, but what about his power of seduction over Elizabeth (and thus over the viewer)? We also know too little about his job as an archaeologist. The same goes for Elisabeth's job as a scientific researcher, we only get snippets of it. Didn't the passion about research (Simon's on the past, Élisabeth's for the future) bind the two lovers, at least partly though?

At first, I thought I would like the film without reservations, especially given the intensity of the opening: Simon's "false" death, his "resurrection", Elizabeth's distraught reaction. The rest of the film also resonated with me, when it came to the desire of the couple not to miss out on life, to live each moment of their existence to the full, to travel. But then came Simon's fascination for the "other side". A fascination I do not share at all. Those undefined creatures from that undefined « beyond » (a timeless elsewhere heavily symbolized by the river and its eddies) may attempt to attract me, like they do Simon, I won't heed their call. For what do they offer him once he has crossed the Styx? Not much in truth: nothing else but their vague company in the heart of a no man's land where after a terrible feeling of cold one feels good! A soft bliss, a stagnant beatitude, which looks very much like the paradise of religion and its eternal and unchanging happiness.

I felt like shouting "Take care of yourself, Simon, you have a young, lively, pretty companion, and you prefer joining these inconsistent specters!" "And you, Elisabeth, what madness this Paschalian bet is, to die in order to eventually join (even if there is only one chance in a million!) your missing lover. This is nothing but the delusion of a sick mind. A completely insane hope".

I finally lost interest, mainly on account of Elizabeth's behavior, presented as the height of love-passion, as the summit of mad love, therefore as subject to admiration. I am afraid I do not admire Élisabeth. I respect her, I take note of her determination but do not approve of it. As Judith says, by dying to join Simon (with an infinitesimal chance of success), Elisabeth kills future loves, future children, of potential future beautiful things. The worst thing, she is apparently unaware of, is that by killing herself, she has a 99.9% chance of also killing... the memory of Simon. In my opinion, this collateral damage is a very bad move, not to be admired.

All in all, a very well directed and superbly acted film, but whose four characters remained light years away from me. It's probably because I don't share the fascination for death of Simon, Elisabeth, Resnais or the scriptwriter Jean Gruault (who had already worked in this register with "La chambre verte" for Truffaut). Of course, if you are fond of near-death, or even death, experiences, you will react differently.

Une question d'heure (1947)

Faster, bargeman,! Faster! Faster !

[8/10 · 30 June 2022]

A curious (and delightful) example of crossing between fiction and documentary. In "Question d'heure" we are given to see the daily life of a family of bargemen in post-war France, their way of working, their problems. Which is not uninteresting but could appear tedious without anything other than the filmed recording of reality, uneventful as it most of the time is.

To avoid the tedium of pure didacticism, Victor Vicas and his scriptwriter Noman Borisoff have had an amazing idea: to transform a mere transport of jute bags from Paris to Ghent into a thrilling race against time. Emile, the bargeman, has a deadline by which he must make his delivery. If he fails, he won't get paid a bonus and God knows he needs the money.

The navigation of his barge is fraught with incidents of all sorts: delays in loading, a breakdown, clogged locks - not to mention the recovery of a drowning man nor the brilliant final twist. Treating his subject as a thriller, Vicas gives it a hell of a pace, both in terms of filming and editing, adding precious value to what first appears to be a simple recording of reality. A humorous commentary, also unusual in this kind of film, is another source of enjoyment. All in all, "Question d'heure" is a documentary (or rather a docu-drama) unlike any other. A real gem, unfortunately forgotten.

Brother and Sister (2022)

What a letdown!

[4/10 · 1 June 2022]

Arnaud Desplechin is a director I quite like so I went to see his last film "Brother and Sister" on trust. Of course, family tensions, the difficult relationships between its members, are not new to him: he has dealt with the theme many times, and even in a particularly masterful way in "A Christmas Tale", but who cares if a creator ploughs the same furrow, provided he does it with renewed acuity. Besides, there seemed to be a little bit of novelty, at least as concerns the cast: Melvil Poupaud (instead of the fixture Mathieu Amalric), the Iranian Golshifteh Farahan, Romanian actress Cosmina Stratani and, even more surprising, Patrick Timsit as... Jewish psychiatrist.

The film starts very well, in an impressive way, with a double accident where the parents of Louis and Alice (the brother and sister of the title) are seriously injured by a truck while trying to help a young woman in an accident. I had strong vibrations, not knowing that it was the last time that emotion would seize me during the 108 long minutes of the screening. Because after this excellent sequence, irritation and boredom set in: hysterical or whiny characters, full of themselves, wallowing in their own suffering, pompous and artificial dialogues, lack of perspective (no humor putting things into perspective), loud expressions of hatred (of the brother and sister, of the brother for his ex-best friend Borkman), tears and sorrow, nervous breakdown, misery (that of Alice's admirer who doesn't have enough to eat), hospital, final throes and death (a six year old child, a miscarriage, an accidental driver, both parents... but not before the mother is threatened with amputation). It's bad melodrama in the Bergman style when the latter complacently exposes his despair. Worse, there are some particularly unpleasant sequences (Alice insulting the African pharmacist; Louis shamelessly yelling at his teenage nephew in a bookshop). The worst of the worst is the incoherence of the scenario: Alice and Louis, after having adored each other, hate each other... without really knowing why; Louis loves his father while daddy tore him down at each birthday by emphasizing everything he had not yet accomplished; Joseph, Louis' nephew, is seeing his uncle while Alice, his mother, does not want to hear about her brother; brother and sister, after having hated each other eternally, reconcile in two swift moves and even sleep in the same bed, Louis having gotten naked in it! Alice finds herself in Benin at the end without anything hinting her (supposedly ancient) desire to be there. Everything is in keeping, at the same time completely incoherent and taking itself terribly seriously.

Of course, there are the actors, who are very good, but what characters do they have to defend, poor them?

I admit I was surprised that after having seen eight of the director's films, to feel such a sense of rejection... a first I could have done without.

What has become of you, Student Desplechin? Come on, get a grip please!

Chut... (1992)

A model of gravity, tact and meaningful brevity.

[8/10 · 15 March 2022]

Seven minutes (five if you take away the two minute credits) are enough for Karin Albou to depict the drama of a little girl whose (too!) nice daddy sexually abuses her day after day. Likewise, she does not need very much in terms of storyline to make her point - powerfully indeed: Émilie, kicked out of her class, runs to take refuge in the toilets of her elementary school. There she gets upset by two events, one apparently insignificant (a dripping faucet), the other more directly unsettling for a kid (a couple hiding in the bathroom to kiss and fondle). The faucet that drips... and she finds herself back in her bath, subjected to the sensual caresses of her father; the two lovebirds ( a male and female cleaning agents) that embrace themselves under her eyes.... and she is back in her bed, the object of hand games at first playful then explicitly sexual.

As can be seen, "Chut..." (Hush...) does not evacuate its subject. While shown in a rather allusive way, the father's gestures on his daughter are unequivocal. And raise the indignation of the spectator.

In the role of the little victim, Émilie Georges remains constantly serious. She has no dialogue and says only one word in the entire film, a "yes" to her father when he asks if she loves him. Alone with herself, she cannot speak of her secret to anyone and the silence in which Karin Albou confines her has a metaphorical aspect.

At the end, no catharsis: Émilie's father comes to pick her up at school and they leave, the little girl's hand in her father's. An image of deceptive normality for those who are not aware of the situation. That is to say everybody - except of course the viewers, who know now that this means a return to hell. A desperate feeling Karin Albou still accentuates by putting in the foreground the school fence, another symbol of Emilie's lot.

« Chut... », a model of gravity, tact and meaningful brevity.

La banque Nemo (1934)

Brilliant incunabulum

[9/10 · 21 February 2022]

"La Banque Nemo", is a genuine forgotten gem René Chateau gave everybody access to. Thanks for that, René !

The basis of Marguerite Viel's biting comedy is the Louis Verneuil play of the same title. Lucid, relevant, caustic, committed , brilliant (whether it concerns characters, situations, dialogues or comic devices), the play is very well transposed to the screen by Marguerite Viel, a creative filmmaker, unsurprisingly blamed by lazy minds for sticking too much to its theatrical source. The usual parrots just fail to notice all the dynamism that she has put in her film as well as her cinematic ideas (especially in the first part). Sorry, but this is not mere filmed theater! And what an actor director she proves: Victor Boucher 's performance is surprisingly modern and René Bergeron excels in the role of a grumbling mediocre bank clerk who can show, as in the last part of the story, a singular courage. With his scowling face, his endless nose and his sad mustache, he composes an anthology Larnoy. The women, on the other hand, are more subjected to the standards of the time, but both Mona Goya (very piquant) and Alice Tissot (a plain-looking pleasure-seeker) manage to amuse us.

The censors of the time (1934, the year of all dangers for democracy) did not appreciate this virulent denunciation of financial scandals, of crooked business and of its collusion with politicians (remember the amazing sequence of the cabinet meeting, not far from Bunuel's "The Exterminating Angel"). Quite understandable from their point of view, wasn't all that (and isn't it still) too close to reality? I am afraid it is. At any rate, the film's "moral lesson", "When you steal a handkerchief you are sent to prison, when you steal 100 millions, the theft is legitimate" is valid at any time of history, and particularly these days; just remember the 2008 crisis, when the banks, responsible for the said crisis, were bailed out with the money of the taxpayer! Were the irresponsible speculators sent to jail? No, rather the whistleblowers!

By cutting the council of ministers sequence, the censorship commission members shattered the exploitation of the film and sent the director back to anonymity (what a feat !) but did they really clear the bad citizens targeted by "La Banque Nemo"? Of course not. You can't solve a problem by denying it.

A last remark in passing, Viel and Verneuil have the courage not to attack the Jews, as was customary at the time. Congrats to them.

"La Banque Nemo, A hithorto forgotten landmark in film history that will not remain forgotten. Justice is done.