The Dreamers (2003)

I saw Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers” last night. Actually saw the first half the day before and the remaining last night. Its funny having to split Bertolucci movies across days. Anyway, its a truly engaging experience which leads to a very interestingly told story. This is an abstract film and deriving its essence at different levels is possible, though I admit so far I am nearer to the upper layers.

The Dreamers tells the story of a young american guy named Matthew (Michael Pitt). Matthew is in Paris to learn French and experience Cinema. He spends a lot of time in the Cinemathetique, where he meets the twins – Theo (Louise Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green). Matthew is drawn towards the twins as soon as he meets them, and is delighted to accept their offer to move into the twin’s apartment. Slowly he gets drawn into their world which is equal parts beautiful and equal parts disgusting.

Matthew vallicates between admiration and repulsion in the apartment, where the three play cinema related games and quizzes all the time. The failure to win at the games result in awkward and often repulsive treatments. They also have endless debates comparing Keaton to Chaplin and Cliff Richards to Beatles. In the background is the students agitations in Paris against Government interference in Arts and Cinema. Initially all three seem to be involved in it, but slowly they just dissolve away from reality into their own dream-like world.

Matthew is attracted to Isa, and her innocence. But slowly he realizes that he has ‘almost’ similar feelings for Theo. At times it looks that the story will take a ‘triangle’ turn with Isa torn between her love for Matthew and her affection towards Theo. But slowly it dawns on Matthew and the us that Theo and Isa are actually a single entity. They do have separate bodies but somewhere inside they share the same soul. Matthew is repulsed from the ‘immoral closeness’ between the twins and tries to get them to date others. But the bond that the two share is too strong to weaken. Matthew realizes that what he earlier mistakes for an incestuous relationship is actually beyond the realms of understanding. They have an almost psychic connection.

The beauty of the movie is that we slowly delve into the lives of Theo and Isa like Matthew and, just like him go on discovering bit by bit the bonding that the twins share. We share his sense of repulsion early on watching their unusual physical closeness. And like him, we slowly realize the depths of the bond beyond physical love. Bertolucci does this beautifully and never lets a dull moment creep into the narrative.

Watch this to explore beautiful and captivating cinema beyond the boundaries of propriety and norms. Not only the narrative, but the story as well accomplishes just that.

Amelie

Expectations kills many a movie. Thats what happened with my experience with Amelie. With all the critical backing that this film has received over the year, I felt let down from the it. It looked more a case of confused storytelling than anything else.

Amelie is the story about a little girl raised by neurotic parents in a weird and lonely household. She grows to be a lonely and introverted child not connecting socially. In her twenties she has no boyfriend or even friends. The movies tells us that she gets her thrill/ happiness from little things like skipping pebbles in a lake. she works in a cafe as a waitress.

Her life takes a turn, when she discovers a long lost metal box hoarding a child’s treasures. She decides she would find its owner and return his childhood treasure to him. After some difficulty she DOES find the old man, who is somewhat as lonely as her and anonymously returns the box. The man is thrilled and touched, and he connects not only with his long lost childhood but also his grandchild.

Amelie feels she has unraveled her calling in life. She finds her own happiness in spreading happiness in people around her. And so it goes on.. Somewhere in between when she is doing her thing she meets Nino, a porn store clerk who has a hobby to collect and collage discarded snapshots of people at the automatic photographic booths. There in starts an almost ‘cat and mouse’ game where Amelie and Nino express their feelings in a puzzle kind of way.

I guess viewed without the weight of all the expectations of watching a hugely-loved AMELIE, this is a nice small feature. It has some amazing cinematography and stylish narration. It sometimes goes into tiny details about secondary characters that are amusing. The narration is swift and smooth, we are never tied to a situation. Plus the number of secondary characters made by her Cafe staff and regulars, the neighborhood folks is large, and Amelie also tries her bit to help these people. Sometimes these miny sub-plots turn comical, reminding us of Tom and Jerry.

I have to summarize that Amelie isn’t the movie I want to watch again. Inspite of its lighthearted narrative and some amusing subplots, this one doesn’t work for me.

Last tango in Paris

This is a very controversial movie from Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Marlon Brando. I saw it in two parts spread over a week, and its hard to make up my mind, how I feel about it.

“Last tango in Paris” released in 1972 with a mixed response. The critics were split over whether it was a porn-exhibition or Bertolucci’s masterpiece. Also, some critics claim that this is Brando at his best. Seriously I dont have the answer to either of the questions. The characters speak mostly in French  with some English thrown in occasionally.

Brando plays a middle-aged American in Paris, who gets into an affair with a very young parisian girl. The weird thing about their liasion is that they dont exchange names, their backgrounds, and practically anything about each other. Its based solely on sexual gratification. They meet in his rented apartment which bears a deserted look and indulge in stuff that ranges from machismo to plain cruelty. On the side, the girl has a filmaker ‘fiancee’ who keeps shooting her for his documentary.

That about the portion I saw on my first partial viewing. I found it quite uninteresting and did not derive much meaning from it. However, when I completed the movie last night, I admit it does have its own uniqueness, and a layer beneath the obvious going ons.

The backstory of Brando is slowly revealed, which is about his wife, who has recently commited suicide. Also she was having an affair with someone in the hotel they owned. Brando is shattered with her death, realizing how little he really understood her inspite of their marriage of some years. His faith has been shattered. Its his pain that we see when he indulges in his repungent acts with Jeanne, the young girl. His constant enforcement to ensure no personal details are exchanged is to ensure he is not attached or ‘gets to know’ this girl.

More interestingly, Jeanne is attrated to this man, who forces her in submission in various ways. Inspite all the pain and his lack of affection, she keeps coming back to his apartment. Hers is the more interesting character.

The underlying theme is pain and means how people react to it. Both the central characters react differently to their pain. He looks for an outlet to relieve himself of it. She seems to be attracted towards it… towards the insanity, the almost fantasy she finds in the apartment.

I remember the debate surrounding MEMENTO, and how some critics panned it saying without its reverse narrative, the story doesnt have enough meat to told. Now, I think this holds true for a large number of movies, with “The Last tango in Paris” being a good example as well. Its only because of the fractured narrative, where in we start with Brando already in mourning and embarking on this strange affair with Jeanne, and slowly his back-story being revealed to give us a snapshot of his state of mind, that this movie holds our interest. On a different plane, the narrative IS the movie. And choosing a different approach to tell the ’story’ is what makes the movie.

Anyway, this one is strictly for those who dont flinch on seeing carnal activities on display.