I've decided to inaguarate this blog by writing review of my favorite Isabelle Adjani film - Mortelle randonee.
In Brussels, a private detective called The Eye, tries
many times to find out which girl, from a class photo taken in 1962, is his
beloved daughter Marie. Every year he calls his ex-wife Madeleine and calls a
different girl on the photo, but always misses. The Eye gets an assignment to
investigate the mysterious girlfriend of Paul Hugo – wealthy shoemaker heir. He
tracks down Lucie Brentano relatively easy and finds the requested information
about her. The next day, he discovers how Lucie is getting rid of Paul Hugo's
corpse. Instead of calling the authorities he tracks down the heroine, who is
now called Eve Granger, and follows her to Nice…
Most critics say Mortelle Randonnée is the definitive
neo-noir, but this film couldn’t be categorized in just one genre. Claude
Miller, the talented apprentice of the Nouvelle Vague cinema, who has worked as
assistant with Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Demys, cunningly
mixes different genres. Mortelle Randonnée is, one could say, the mix of
absurdist tale and noir.
Mortelle Randonnée has a dreamy-like atmosphere:
heroine, planning her activities by checking horoscopes, telepathically
connecting heroes, supporting characters, which act like a pulp fiction heroes.
The Absurdist atmosphere is created, not least, by the Carla Brey soundtrack.
Her music sometimes sounds like typical American noir jazz, but sometimes also
like absurdist tale symphony.
The Eye at first acts as the angel-guardian of the
heroine: gets rid of the bodies, presents her favorite cigarettes, and
telepathically tries to warn her against meeting indecent people. An
inattentive viewer might believe Isabelle Adjani’s heroine is the long-lost
daughter of The Eye. But later The Eye, driven by jealousy, destroys the only
chance of happiness for his "daughter" and this leads to the inevitable finale.
Catherine Leiris, as we would later know her real name, with her modus operandi
of looking for a fatherly figure and killing him, and her later telling stories
of her fathers - who are really her ex-victims – reminds us of Anna Karina’s
heroines in Godard movies and Truffaut tragic heroines. This film has a strong
psychoanalytic tune, especially concerning repetition compulsion and doubles.
Mortelle Randonnée is undoubtedly Michel Serrault
benefice, his acting, as The Eye is superb: constant voiceover, self-talking
and telepathic advices to his "daughter". Isabelle Adjani gets less screen time
but her acting is superb. She shows us a variety of persons: the sweetly naïve
student Lucy Brentano, the arrogant top-model Eve Granger, the tragedy-broken
Catherine Leiris, and so on. To all those, who say Isabelle Adjani is only fit
to play drama queens and a hysterical female, I strongly recommend watching
this film. Claude Miller has also included in this film an homage to the
Nouvelle Vague, by giving supporting roles to Sami Frey, Guy Marchand,
Geneviève Page and Stéphane Audran.
Mortelle Randonnée is an off-the-charts brilliant film
and all Jacques Audiard, who has written the script, fans would recognize his
style. All those who love French cinema, noir, and especially Isabelle Adjani
fans, should immediately watch this masterpiece.
9/10
P.S. Many thanks to Sol Young for correcting my RuEnglish.
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