belle toujours Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Let me tell you about a movie that outraged, angered, and sickened me -- and why it demands your attention.

The Free Will begins, basically, with a long, hideously-detailed and violent rape scene. Theo (Jürgen Vogel, who also produced and co-wrote) is convicted of his crime; the bulk of the film deals with his post-prison life, his struggles with rehabilitation, and his relationship with Nettie (Sabine Timoteo), seemingly a victim in waiting. I have strong reservations about The Free Will: it's filled with ugly, offensive actions, and I felt like I was dragged through the mire for 163 minutes for little reason other than to shove my face in the muck. Still, there is no denying the power of the performances or the talent of director Matthias Glasner. It is a provocative piece that inspires deep thinking about important issues.

Michael Guillén wrote a long and thoughtful review at The Evening Class -- my comments above are adapted from my response to his review -- which may help you decide whether to rent or buy The Free Will, which is out on DVD today. Benten Films has quickly developed a very fine reputation for their releases, so expect a good-quality transfer. Their edition includes an audio commentary by Glasner and Vogel, the original theatrical trailer, and a new critical essay by Time Out's David Fear.

The Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, 98 years old as of this writing, is a walking bit of cinema history. Born in Oporto (where they make port wine) he reportedly worked on a film as early as 1928 and made his official directorial debut in 1931 with a short documentary, Working on the Douro River. Even though Hollywood had implemented sound by then, many other countries had not. And so Oliveira carries the distinction of being not only the oldest movie director still active, but also the only movie director to have begun in the silent era. In Europe, he's considered a master, with several films already in the canon. Despite all this, only two of Oliveira's films have received any kind of regular distribution in the United States, I'm Going Home (2002), which I consider a masterpiece, and the slightly more problematic, but still excellent A Talking Picture (2004). A third, Belle Toujours, opened briefly this summer in New York but has already gone.

Oliveira has made the majority of his films -- more than thirty of them -- since 1979, when he was already past seventy. Because of this, his films tend to be patient and contemplative, or to Western audiences, just plain "slow." He's like an old man driving a car in front of you; perhaps he's keeping us from getting to our destination faster, but if we could only see things from his point of view, maybe we could enjoy the drive a little more. He's learned how to really stop and appreciate things and he has pretty much earned the right to make any movie he feels like making. So he sets his sights on a sort of sequel to Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour (1967), which, in other hands, would have been a travesty. And though it reunites two of the main characters from that masterpiece, it actually turns out to be more of a tribute or an epilogue than a sequel.

By the time you read this I will be in Portugal, and so it seemed appropriate that I should take a moment to talk about Portugal's greatest cinematic export, film director Manoel de Oliveira. Oliveira holds a curious record: he's the oldest living film director, and the only living film director to have worked in the silent era. His first film, Working on the Douro River, was an 18-minute documentary made in 1931. Hollywood had converted to sound by then, but many other countries were still silent. (Reportedly, he worked as an extra in a film as early as 1928.)

Currently, Oliveira is 97 years old and has a new movie out, Belle Toujours (additionally, he has finished one other and is in production on two more). I haven't seen Belle Toujours yet; it opened in June in New York and appeared like a blip on the box office chart. It's a sequel of sorts to Luis Bunuel's 1967 masterpiece Belle de Jour, with Michel Piccoli reprising his role as Henri Husson, who once helped sexually awaken the married, bored Severine (Catherine Denueve), turning her on to a life of daytime sexual depravity and mild sadomasochism. Years later, Severine (now played by Bulle Ogier, from Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) meets Henri once again and the two come to terms with their bizarre past.

I've been reading a lot of chatter on films screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and, before I started reading said chatter, I chattered about it with a Toronto resident/attendee, in order to gain a better understanding of what was being shown this year, as well to guide my friend into seeing and reporting on films that particularly interest me.

Though I can't say I recommend seeing it, I was quite intrigued to read an article regarding Manoel de Oliveira's sequel to Bunuel's Belle de Jour, titled Belle Toujours (Beautiful Every Day). At first, I thought, does this movie actually exist? How come nobody's mentioned it? Actually, Oliveira himself has mentioned it - he wrote his own summary of the film on IMDb. For those interested, it premieres in Toronto on September 13, and then again on the 15th.

Basically, the film revisits the life of one of Severine's friends, Henri (Deneuve is no longer Severine, but Henri is played, again, by Michel Piccoli, who has aged into a kind of soft, grandfatherly-looking sadist). In the original, Henri relentlessly stalked Severine -- looking to consummate some adulterous rendevous, until he discovered her secret life as a whore. Years later, Henri runs into Severine by chance at a Dvorak concert, and the pursuit begins anew. I'm intrigued to know the purpose of this pursuit, as I always thought he gave up on her in Belle de Jour because the power he'd hold over her is the power to reveal her secret. But it's been a while since I've seen the original.