Au Cinema
Movies – Films
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Forget It -
WORTH YOUR WHILE
Mr. Nobody *** This poetic, complex film by the Belgian Jaco Van Dormael is about the infinite possibilities of choices and consequences. It’s about a little boy having to decide between his divorcing parents and then having to choose between future partners. It’s about the certainty of love and the illusion of existence, about growing terribly old and about a surrealistic future where everything is planned for you. It is so full of imagination, sadness and humor that you are entranced while watching it, but might not recall its many wonders because of their very multitude… It’s simply a singular, almost hallucinatory experience.
Le Refuge *** (vo French) If you know François Ozon’s work, you wait for his next film like you wait for the latest Woody Allen. From his earliest success, Gouttes d’eau sur Pierres Brûlantes with Bernard Giraudeau to Sous le Sable (with Charlotte Rampling) or the joyous and quirky 8 Femmes (with most of France’s grandes dames) or the melancholy 5×2 and the naïve and surrealistic Ricky, they are all unique yet similar in their aesthetic quality, their intelligent scenarios and a certain thread of elegance. This latest does not disappoint. It’s an interlaced story of an addicted couple, an overdose death, a pregnant survivor and the gay brother who comes to stay with her in her idyllic refuge. But it’s also about possibilities that do not seem obvious. Ozon is a great actor’s director, studying their faces with fascination. Be on the lookout for his work.
Gainsbourg (vie Héroique) *** (vo French) The French have a knack for successful biopics, like La Môme, the two Chanel films and now this one about France’s bad boy, pre-grunge songwriter and musician, who had women falling all over him despite his less-than-attractive physique. Starting with his childhood, the film follows the precocious Lucien (he later changed his name to Serge) through his confrontation with anti-semeticism under German occupation, his early connection to women and his struggle to remain true to his artistic strain. All along, he is followed by a cartoonish alter-ego, who warns, guides and taunts him throughout his life. Eric Elmosnino is an amazing Gainsbourg look-alike, while Laetitia Casta becomes Brigitte Bardot, one of his many conquests, along with such lovelies as Juliette Gréco and his great love, Jane Birkin. A fascinating window into a controversial, bohemian character.
Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky *** (vo French) This is the third recent work about the life of Gabrielle Chanel, after a decent telefilm, with Shirley MacLaine as the older Chanel, then Coco avant Chanel by Anne Fontaine with Audrey Tautou and now this one about her little-known relationship with the avant-garde Russian composer. All are well done, showing different facets of her intense, productive life. This one by Jan Kounen, and starring Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen, zeroes in on her time as a successful designer, wealthy enough to be able to invite the proud Stravinsky and his family to stay at her grand home outside Paris when he was struggling to make ends meet in the early 20s among fashionable Russian artists and émigrés such as Diaghilev, Nijinsky and others of the Art Deco era. It’s a peek into a moment of high artistic energy and the meeting (both sensual and creative) of two giants in their respective fields. It shows Chanel as an independent soul and a forerunner of women’s liberation, in her clothing designs as well as her daring choices and lifestyle.
Tales from the Golden Age **1/2 Strange how one can get such warm-hearted humor from repressed societies, but then that must be their release-valve. Here are small vignettes of life in Romania under the dictator Ceaucescu, illustrating the survival tactics of ordinary citizens versus the tragicomic hypocrisy of the regime. Touching, human and intelligent, but it goes on a bit too long.
Neptune Ingwersen
