*spoiler warning
*trigger warning – deals with suicide and addiction
I am an empty restaurant
and like a Woolf
I fill my pockets with stones
Arms
and hands
and lips
and bodies
and
here
I am
alone
Men making light of issues – a theme?
A reality?
“at least listen to what he’s saying”
- women better, again.
A reality?
Proust
peeps
again
a
reality?
Intellectuals
and writers
men struggling to talk about their feelings.
Men struggling to listen.
Depression, emptiness, utter emptiness, ennui, hopelessness, despair.
I have felt all these things throughout my life,
from being a child.
I felt for the character.
I could empathise.
I saw him.
I saw me.
The film was gripping, well acted, well shot, directed and edited. It is an excellent and moving portrayal of addiction and despair.
I read a review of ‘Reprise’, where the author mentioned the Nouvelle Vague. I didn’t really see it, or pick up on it when I was watching it, but I don’t think that they were wrong. I saw more of that scene in this film though – Oslo, their Paris – the shots, the editing, the feel, the vibe, the ‘natural’(?), the cool. There was a particular shot that made me think of Varda’s, ‘Le Bonheur’ – a shot of green, greens, greenery – Kristen Stewart mentioned the aforementioned film, in a recent interview – she just gets cooler. I felt the film also had some ‘Cleo from 5 to 7’ vibes, in its delivery, and there are obviously similarities to Malle’s ‘The Fire Within’ – and not only because they are based on the same novel.
I remember ‘Cleo’ from university. As Film Studies students, we could watch films on a large ‘screen’ using a projector – no one used to turn up though – just me and this interesting, attractive girl, who was assigned to put the film on. Blonde, petite, large eyes, great smile - cool as fuck – not unlike a girl I ended up with for a while later in life. We barely spoke though. At one of the Summer Balls she seemed so excited to see me. I should have spoken to her more. Spent less time, drunk, maddened – pining (for another - drink and woman) - drunk.
I got more of a Linklater vibe from the film – perhaps the ‘Before Trilogy’ was an influence – an inspiration. Linklater was also likely influenced by the Nouvelle Vague though.
Is there something in the psychogeographical aspects of the Nouvelle Vague, Trier’s ‘Oslo Trilogy’ and Linklater’s ‘Before Trilogy’?
Was the date written on the mirror in Malle’s film the inspiration for the date in this?
The film worthily portrayed the hopelessness of both Pierre Drieu La Rochelle’s novel, and Malle’s earlier adaptation, upon which it was based.
The alienation.
The despair.
The three show a man supposedly ‘cured’ of a disease, but still unable to come to terms with the ‘cause’.
Trier’s film didn’t follow La Rochelle’s novel as closely as Malle’s did, but I had no issue with that, and I very much liked it, as both an adaptation, and as a stand-alone piece of art.
Scenes often nodded to those in the novel, and Malle’s film, rather than mirroring them.
The group therapy - like the meal in the Malle.
The Proust-popping.
Was the mention of reactionaries taken from the novel (weren’t they also mentioned in ‘Reprise’?) or is it just a coincidence?
Were the protagonist’s selection of trainers a nod to his lavish wardrobe, in the novel, and the earlier film?
I thought the voicemails were a clever nod to the thoughts for the telegram in the Malle.
The despairing loss of youth was also very well portrayed, mirroring Malle, and the novel.
The ‘amusing’ story was an interesting, unusual nod as well, though I don’t know if I quite ‘got it’, or if I was even supposed to.
continues with Part 2, on Saturday...
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