Unlike most of his illustrious contemporaries,
Sautet delved into the lives of the bourgeois not with the desire to spew contempt
or ridicule, but to empathetically portray their disappointments, failures, and
the few moments of joy in in between. This extraordinarily beautiful, resonating
and poignant ode to the unrealized dreams, trampled idealism, profound regrets
and quietly shattering heartbreaks of three seemingly successful middle-aged
Parisians, could easily serve as the apotheosis for the afore-mentioned theme. Vincent
(Yves Montand) is a charming person and the owner of a manufacturing firm,
Vincent (Michel Piccoli) is a doctor with a thriving practice and a reserved
man, and Paul (Serge Reggiani) is a gregarious guy and a
writer of repute. However, unbeknownst to most, Vincent is in acute financial
crisis and is heart-broken on account of his separation with his wife (Stephan
Audran) with whom he’s still deeply in love with, Vincent is shattered on
account of the cold shoulder he gets from his philandering wife (Marie Dubois)
that has turned him into a cynic, while Paul is suffering from a severe case of
writer’s block. And thus Sautet provides us a delicately rendered and deftly
chronicled peek into the lives of these three friends who smoke, drink and have
a merry time when together, but suffer from personal anguish, loneliness and melancholia
when removed from public eye. All the three leading men gave superb
performances, but Montand was particularly brilliant in the way he managed to
so effortlessly convey a volley of emotions just through facial expressions and body languages;
and the café scene where he makes a bumbling and futile attempt to win back his
wife was simply devastating.
Director: Claude Sautet
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Buddy Film
Language: French
Country: France
Love stories get made dime a dozen in the world
of cinema, but only one in a million manage to be as nuanced, delicate,
layered, affecting, matured, intimate and profound as Claude Sautet’s incredible
penultimate film, A Heart in Winter. It
managed to be a passionate yet melancholic look into a realistic and beautifully
etched love triangle without every crossing the line, so to speak, on either
side. Stephane (Daniel Auteuil) is a genius at making and repairing violins,
and Maxime (Andre Dussolier) is his senior partner of their exclusive shop targeted
towards connoisseurs and artists. Though long time partners and friends, the
two men couldn’t be more different – Maxime, who is warm, suave and gregarious,
takes care of the business, while Stephane is enigmatic, distant and
introverted, and spends all his days and nights ensconced by his craft. Their quiet
sense of balance and status quo, however, get shattered when Maxime informs
Stephane that he has decided to leave his wife and introduces him to his new fiancée
– the ethereally beautiful and virtuoso violin player Camille (Emmanuelle
Beart). Thus begins a fascinating and volatile ménage à trois as the fragile Camielle
starts forging a complex and emotionally charged relationship with Stephane;
with Maxime gradually becoming aware of the shifting dynamics, the lives of the
three marvelously drawn individuals slowly but surely cross the point of no
return, thus leading the film to an understated but memorable finale. Stellar
performances abounded from the three lead actors. Leisurely pacing, somber visuals
and excellent musical motifs perfectly accentuated this gut-wrenching drama on
love, friendship and heartbreaks.
Director: Claude Sautet
Genre: Drama/Romantic Drama/Psychological Drama/Urban Drama
Language: French
Country: France
Zhantai, Jia
Zhang-Ke’s sophomore feature and magnum opus, was the second film in his
thematically linked ‘Underground Trilogy’ – named so because it was made not
sanctioned by the state – on the socio-political dynamisms in post-Cultural Revolution
China. It provided a fascinating peek into a closed society where the youth are
embracing the so-called Western pop-cultural and lifestyle influences, earning
disappointment of the elders and ire of the authorities, thus serving as a
critique on the inevitability of change vis-à-vis deep-set conformism and
traditional value systems. In a creative choice reminiscent of Angelopoulos’ masterful The Traveling Players, a travelling
theatre troupe forms the microcosm for the Chinese youth in general with the corresponding
larger picture as its backdrop. Starting in '79 and set mostly in the 80s, the
story chronicles how the Fenyang Peasant Culture Group, a team of mostly youngsters
from a small province which stages plays extolling Mao and the government,
transitions into the All-Star Rock &
Breakdance Electronic Band. The lives of Ming-liang (Wang Hong-Wei), a largely
impassive young chain-smoking guy, and his friends in the gang, were
exquisitely portrayed along with the changes, both small and big, that they imbibe,
e.g. choice of attires starting with blue jeans, pop and electronic music, live-in
relationships, governance of their band, etc. Zhang-Ke used long single takes,
and filmed with still or at most slowly swiveling cameras, to paint this richly
textured tapestry, the bleak environs, and the small joys and regrets that shape the lives of the various characters, in this leisurely paced, alternately
poignant and satirical, allegorical epic.
Director: Jia Zhang-Ke
Genre: Drama/Political Drama/Epic/Ensemble Film/Road Movie
Language: Mandarin
Country: China
White, ironically, has been deftly used by
filmmakers time and again as a motif for stark horror, bizarre developments,
and violence, in reversal of the general connotations of peace and purity
generally associated with the colour. John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror film The Thing, adapted from the same novella
that was made into the film The Thing
from Another World three decades back, was a fine exercise in grotesque
extra-terrestrial terror reminiscent of the Ridley Scott classic, Alien. It begins in a startling fashion
with a couple of men randomly shooting at a dog and a group of American
scientists stationed in the Antarctic. As it turns out, an alien creature, that
has the grotesque ability to engulf other organisms and take their shapes, has
been let loose, thus making it nearly impossible to differentiate normal humans
from those affected. Thus begins a highly suspenseful ride for the group of
people – not just because no one can now identify friends from foes, but also
because they are in a cold, isolated and hostile terrain completely cut-off
from the rest of the civilization. MacReady, a gung-ho chopper pilot, ends up
becoming the leader of the fast shrinking pack of men even though, before long,
others start doubting him as well. The suspense and terror associated with idea
of a spontaneously morphing organism, nicely rendered by the CGI artists, was accentuated
through a combination of good pacing, austere visuals, minimalist score by
Morricone, and a sense of fear and helplessness. Even though the mannerisms of
some of the actors appeared tad too in-your-face, the sense of doom and
moodiness made this a highly engaging film.
Director: John Carpenter
Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi
Language: English
Country: US
Tristana, adapted
from Benito Pérez Galdós’ novel, remains among the most overlooked works of
Luis Buñuel. On account of being sandwiched by some of his greatest masterpieces
it tends to get lost despite being a searing examination of class, social
hypocrisy and battle of the sexes. Don Lope (Fernando Rey) is an aristocrat who
refuses to work despite fast dwindling finances. In one of his philanthropic
initiatives, he has taken responsibility for the upbringing of Tristana
(Catherine Deneuve), a beautiful orphan girl. However, like his character Viridiana, he feels an ownership over
her; he asks her to alternately consider him as her father and lover, and
starts taking advantage of his position. But, as she starts developing a mind
of her own, she eventually falls flees from home with an impoverished painter
(Franco Nero), only to return after a few years upon being afflicted with
cancerous tumour. And now, in an ironic reversal of their states, the ageing Lope
is absolutely besotted with her, but she, particularly upon losing her leg, has
become cold, emotionally distant and frigid, thus making him cuckolded to her.
Deneuve, who had earlier starred in Belle de Jour, gave an outstanding turn – particularly in marvelously portraying
the emotional and behavioral transition of her character, while Buñuel’s
favourite collaborator Rey was brilliant as always as a suave and debonair but debauched
aristocrat. Though principally a layered and compelling character study and a
sly take on human dynamics, it also had underpinnings of religious criticism and surrealism;
the seamless mix between dream and reality that was present briefly here, would
reach its crescendo in his next film, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
Director: Luis Bunuel
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Marriage Drama/Social Satire
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain
