Leaving (15) 2009 – 86 minutes
Leaving, the latest French movie from Director Catherine Corsini, is the story of a passionate love affair. Kristin Scott Thomas plays Suzanne, the archetypal bored, frustrated and lonely housewife. Her marriage to Samuel, a highly successful, local businessman and father of her two teenage children, is a sham; an endless routine of futile domesticity as Suzanne passes from one pointless chore to another. But then she meets Ivan (Sergi Lopez).
Ivan is a rough-hewn, Spanish labourer who has, ironically, been employed by Samuel to build a home clinic to reignite Suzanne’s career as a physiotherapist. Their attraction is instant and intensely physical and Suzanne is quickly overwhelmed by a series of emotions that she believed to be long dead. A guilt-ridden attempt to abandon this new found passion- including a full confession to Samuel – is doomed to failure and, despite her husband’s violent protestations, she leaves home to set up a new life.
Initially, Suzanne is reborn, her senses overwhelmed, her old self cast off with the shackles of her marriage, losing herself in the simple pleasure of a day at the beach. But they reckon without Samuel; spiteful and vindictive, he denies her access to their assets, blocking her credit cards and, memorably, reducing her to pawning her watch in a petrol station forecourt. With Ivan also denied work through Samuel’s influence with the mayor, the couple’s relationship starts to strain.
Scott Thomas is outstanding; a wife and mother in turmoil; passionate and out of control in spite of herself; smouldering and sensual but ridden with guilt; out of her depth but unwilling to seek calmer waters. Lopez is less convincing however, his passion restrained, his commitment less intense, his acceptance of their trial separation undermining the very premise of the film; he, master of his passion, she, victim of hers.
Samuel (Yvan Attal) matches Scott Thomas punch for punch. He too loses himself but in spiteful revenge, reducing himself at one point, to locking Suzanne up and physically restraining her from leaving. Victim of his own bourgeois pride, he plots his revenge carefully, maliciously reducing her to poverty and revealing a depth of emotion all too absent in their relationship.
The direction is sure; the mood intense, the atmosphere oppressive. Quite why Ivan is chosen as the object of Suzanne’s affection is never satisfactorily explained but then passion knows no bounds nor respects social backgrounds.
Verdict
A must-see for all Scott Thomas fans. 7/10
Dick Morgan
richardsmithmorgan.blogspot.com
July 2010
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Wild Target (12A) 2010 – 97 minutes
Wild Target is a short but highly amusing British and somewhat eccentric, comedy written by Lucinda Coxon, directed by Jonathan Lynn and based on a 1993 French movie of the same name.
The premise is straightforward. Middle aged bachelor, Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) has inherited the family business and leads the solitary life of the professional assassin. Like his father before him, he is cold, calculating and ruthless, leaving nothing to chance and isolating himself in an artificial world of order, routine and cleanliness; a world without feeling or emotion, lest they distract his focus and attention. But while trailing Rose (Emily Blunt), his next intended victim, something deep inside him, long forgotten and long ignored, begins to stir.
Rose is a small time con artist whose latest scheme – the sale of a forged painting - has swept her way out of her depth and straight into the path of Victor. Touched by her beauty, sensuality and spontaneity, she is everything he is not and, much to his confusion, he is unable to complete his assignment instead becoming her protector.
Together, Rose and Victor – who pick up joint-smoking, drifter, Tony (Rupert Grint) en route - flee London to avoid the rather sinister attentions of a replacement assassination team ultimately finding themselves in Maynard’s peaceful, clean but utterly soulless, country residence.
The characters make the most of a simple storyline their interaction good, particularly given their divergent characters. Nighy is excellent, tight, taut and sexually neutral, hermetically sealed emotionally like the plastic dust covers systematically covering his furniture. Blunt is equally good; confident, sensual but at times touching and vulnerable, emotionally needy in her own way. Grint, is their foil; incompetent and accident-prone but unintentionally helpful and even keen to become Maynard’s apprentice. Grint is competent enough, but he now needs to consider future roles carefully if he is to avoid becoming typecast as the stereotypical, bumbling buffoon.
The line between comedy and tragedy is very fine and here it is crossed by each of our trio on their involuntary journeys in self awareness. Maynard’s realisation of the futility and emptiness of his existence – never more acute than when listening to teach-yourself- French CDs in bed late at night ; Rose hiding her insecurities behind short term relationships and her kleptomaniac tendencies; and Grint himself, the lost lamb in search of its parents. Director Jonathan Lynn, perhaps better known for Nuns on the Run (1990), cleverly underplays this element – it is, after all, a comedy – but they nevertheless provide a powerful backdrop to the comedy.
Verdict
Amusing, touching and very funny in parts. Definitely worth seeing. 7/10.
Dick Morgan
July 2010
Wild Target is a short but highly amusing British and somewhat eccentric, comedy written by Lucinda Coxon, directed by Jonathan Lynn and based on a 1993 French movie of the same name.
The premise is straightforward. Middle aged bachelor, Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) has inherited the family business and leads the solitary life of the professional assassin. Like his father before him, he is cold, calculating and ruthless, leaving nothing to chance and isolating himself in an artificial world of order, routine and cleanliness; a world without feeling or emotion, lest they distract his focus and attention. But while trailing Rose (Emily Blunt), his next intended victim, something deep inside him, long forgotten and long ignored, begins to stir.
Rose is a small time con artist whose latest scheme – the sale of a forged painting - has swept her way out of her depth and straight into the path of Victor. Touched by her beauty, sensuality and spontaneity, she is everything he is not and, much to his confusion, he is unable to complete his assignment instead becoming her protector.
Together, Rose and Victor – who pick up joint-smoking, drifter, Tony (Rupert Grint) en route - flee London to avoid the rather sinister attentions of a replacement assassination team ultimately finding themselves in Maynard’s peaceful, clean but utterly soulless, country residence.
The characters make the most of a simple storyline their interaction good, particularly given their divergent characters. Nighy is excellent, tight, taut and sexually neutral, hermetically sealed emotionally like the plastic dust covers systematically covering his furniture. Blunt is equally good; confident, sensual but at times touching and vulnerable, emotionally needy in her own way. Grint, is their foil; incompetent and accident-prone but unintentionally helpful and even keen to become Maynard’s apprentice. Grint is competent enough, but he now needs to consider future roles carefully if he is to avoid becoming typecast as the stereotypical, bumbling buffoon.
The line between comedy and tragedy is very fine and here it is crossed by each of our trio on their involuntary journeys in self awareness. Maynard’s realisation of the futility and emptiness of his existence – never more acute than when listening to teach-yourself- French CDs in bed late at night ; Rose hiding her insecurities behind short term relationships and her kleptomaniac tendencies; and Grint himself, the lost lamb in search of its parents. Director Jonathan Lynn, perhaps better known for Nuns on the Run (1990), cleverly underplays this element – it is, after all, a comedy – but they nevertheless provide a powerful backdrop to the comedy.
Verdict
Amusing, touching and very funny in parts. Definitely worth seeing. 7/10.
Dick Morgan
July 2010
White Material
White Material (15) 2010 – 102 minutes
White Material is an intense but interesting perspective from French Director, Claire Denis, on the effects of colonialism amidst a war-torn but un-named, country in the heart of Africa.
We are quickly thrust into the daily lives of the Vial family - white, coffee plantation owners from France –and their interaction with their local black community and the labourers they hire to harvest the coffee. We are shown the imminent breakdown of society; armed bandits wandering the land extorting and intimidating; orphaned children building child armies; a ruthless army struggling to regain power.
At the heart of the plantation is Maria Vial (Isabelle Huppert), daughter of owner, Henri (Michel Subor). Tireless in her efforts to harvest her crop, she simply refuses to acknowledge the collapse of her world; pillaging armed bandits are dismissed as “looking for food”; the flight of her own workers is seen as disloyal; her own son’s increasingly disruptive behaviour is met with disbelief and incredulity. Ignoring the pleas of her ex- husband and advice of her embassy to abandon the plantation and return to France, she struggles on, increasingly isolated.
Obsessed with her land, with her harvest and with her appearance, she fails to notice that her personal life is equally devastated; the by now, semi-psychotic son, Manuel (Nicolas Duvauchelle) with whom she can no longer communicate and the ex- husband, Andre (Christophe Lambert) from whom she has become totally estranged; the father whom she has never understood. Almost from the start we reject Maria and her lifestyle; from the relentless pursuit of the illusory harvest to the treatment of her workers, she simply refuses to compromise; to the land, to the people and even to her family.
Huppert is excellent, the archetypal colonial. Haughty and arrogant with an innate refusal for self examination – “I don’t want to talk about my son” she says on multiple occasions. More could perhaps have been made of Lambert, who shows only touches of his potential and equally Duvauchelle, whose dialogue is limited but whose collapse into madness is powerfully compelling. Similarly, the arrival of a wounded but popular rebel known as “the Boxer” (Isaach de Bankole )is underexplored but make no mistake; this is Huppert’s film from start to finish.
Director Claire Denis, better known for “Chocolat” (1988), unfolds events retrospectively, interrupting the timeline with numerous flashbacks, distinguishable only via Maria’s ever-changing wardrobe. Denis grew up in Cameroon, the daughter of a French civil servant, and treats her material knowledgeably exploiting the sounds and sights of the African continent particularly well.
Verdict
Interesting and thought-provoking. 6/10
Dick Morgan
July 2010
White Material is an intense but interesting perspective from French Director, Claire Denis, on the effects of colonialism amidst a war-torn but un-named, country in the heart of Africa.
We are quickly thrust into the daily lives of the Vial family - white, coffee plantation owners from France –and their interaction with their local black community and the labourers they hire to harvest the coffee. We are shown the imminent breakdown of society; armed bandits wandering the land extorting and intimidating; orphaned children building child armies; a ruthless army struggling to regain power.
At the heart of the plantation is Maria Vial (Isabelle Huppert), daughter of owner, Henri (Michel Subor). Tireless in her efforts to harvest her crop, she simply refuses to acknowledge the collapse of her world; pillaging armed bandits are dismissed as “looking for food”; the flight of her own workers is seen as disloyal; her own son’s increasingly disruptive behaviour is met with disbelief and incredulity. Ignoring the pleas of her ex- husband and advice of her embassy to abandon the plantation and return to France, she struggles on, increasingly isolated.
Obsessed with her land, with her harvest and with her appearance, she fails to notice that her personal life is equally devastated; the by now, semi-psychotic son, Manuel (Nicolas Duvauchelle) with whom she can no longer communicate and the ex- husband, Andre (Christophe Lambert) from whom she has become totally estranged; the father whom she has never understood. Almost from the start we reject Maria and her lifestyle; from the relentless pursuit of the illusory harvest to the treatment of her workers, she simply refuses to compromise; to the land, to the people and even to her family.
Huppert is excellent, the archetypal colonial. Haughty and arrogant with an innate refusal for self examination – “I don’t want to talk about my son” she says on multiple occasions. More could perhaps have been made of Lambert, who shows only touches of his potential and equally Duvauchelle, whose dialogue is limited but whose collapse into madness is powerfully compelling. Similarly, the arrival of a wounded but popular rebel known as “the Boxer” (Isaach de Bankole )is underexplored but make no mistake; this is Huppert’s film from start to finish.
Director Claire Denis, better known for “Chocolat” (1988), unfolds events retrospectively, interrupting the timeline with numerous flashbacks, distinguishable only via Maria’s ever-changing wardrobe. Denis grew up in Cameroon, the daughter of a French civil servant, and treats her material knowledgeably exploiting the sounds and sights of the African continent particularly well.
Verdict
Interesting and thought-provoking. 6/10
Dick Morgan
July 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
