Indochine

In our youth we thought the world consisted of inseparable things: men and women; mountains and plains; humans and gods; Indochina and France...

The longest addition to Apocalypse Now Redux is a sequence when the crew have discovered a French rubber plantation. Despite a fact, that the First Indochina War has finished more than ten years ago and Vietnam is an independent country; the French family will defend this frontier until the last man dies. I have watched Apocalypse Now for several times and The French scene was always my favorite. That is why, I have decided to “fill the gap in my education” and watch Indochine.

In the French Indochine, Eliane Devries adopts a young girl from the royal dynasty called Camille. Because of that, the Devries Planation becomes one of the largest into the Indochinese Peninsula. After ten years, Eliane raises Camille as her own daughter and her plantation runs a huge profit. At the same time, Eliane starts an affair with young naval officer called Jean-Batiste. Everything ges as usual, until Jean-Batiste saves Camille from terrorist attack and they fall in love. Eliane tries to protect Camille and has Jean-Batiste transferred to a remote base. Camille is quickly engaged to another Vietnamese noble and communist sympathizer called Tanh. Immediately after engagement, Camille, with consent of Tanh, escapes from Saigon and goes to the country to find Jean-Batiste.

The film depicts an idyllic colonial life: huge plantation; strict, but fair, Eliane, who never punishes her workers unfairly; peaceful coexistence of French and Vietnamese elite. Nevertheless, this idyll lasts only in the plantation and, to the limited extent, in Saigon. In the wider world starts out a revolution. The first revolutionaries starts out an arsons and sabotages; carries out assassinations of collaborators. Camille after escaping her “golden cage” sees the life of her country and radicalizes.

The French society shown as inert and incapable of preventing the mounting revolution. The only hero, who tries to prevent revolution, is a head of the colonial police Guy, but his work is constantly sabotaged by lack of cooperation from Army and Navy and the Popular Front's decision to liberate the political prisoners completely ruins his work.

Love plays the main role in a film. The one could say, that love plays a vital role in almost all events of Indochine. Love is a blessing and curse. Almost every major event starts with love: love of Eliane to her foster daughter; love of Camille to Jean-Batiste; love of Tanh, and then Camille, to the homeland. In the end, Eliane keeps a piece of the French Indochine in her grandson Etiene – the son Jean-Batiste and Camille – and her love to grandson symbolizes the love to the lost part of the world.

Catherine Deneuve, who used to represent Marianne, again depicts her country. At first, Eliane makes an impression of cold and arrogant woman, but “behind the curtain” there is passionate woman, who is capable of real love. She is capable of brave decisions, she could lead by example, but the historical events break her and she sadly becomes the remnant of the French Empire. Other actors were also brilliant: Vincent Perez as impulsive Jean-Batiste; Jean Yanne as cynical policeman Guy; the list goes on and on.

Indochine is a sad, sincere and beautiful film. I strongly recommend to watch it together with The Last Emperor.

9/10

Polytechnique

If I have a boy, I'll teach him how to love

On the 6^th of December, 1989, the life at The Ecole Politechnique was as usual. Nothing predicted a tragedy, until one one young man entered the classroom and shot into the ceiling...

The Ecole Politechnique Massacre was a societal shock. Until this day, there is a raging debate about the modus operandi of Marc Lepine. This film depicts the day of this shocking tragedy.

The director took a formalist approach in depicting the events of The Ecole Politechnique Massacre. Denis Villeneuve doesn't depict any theories or guesses about the modus operandi of the murderer; he merely shows one day in life of students of The Ecole Politechnique. By using this approach, the director follows the cinematography of Michael Haneke, especially his “glaciation trilogy” («The Seventh Continent”, “Benny's Video”, «71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance”).

The film starts with murder of a female student, who stands near the copy machine. Then, the director gets back to beginning of this day and depicts the day from a different points of view: The Murderer, The Female Student and The Male Student. Politechnique draws a clear parallel with a last film of the “glaciation trilogy” - «71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance”. Nevertheless, compared with the film of Michael Haneke, all fragments of Politechnique are clearly connected from the beginning.

The director shows an indifference of the society, which led to this terrible tragedy. As everybody knows, you cannot change the history; nevertheless, during the film, there are many moments, when this crime could have been prevented or stopped. Anyway, this terrible crime was committed and, in my opinion, the society takes a larger part of blame for it. It were not the horror films, the violent computer games or some psychological or some other societal theory, it was the society as the whole.

Politechnique is a film which makes you think. This tragedies are happening again and again, but we treat them, mostly indifferent, hoping that it will not touch us.

7/10

L'important c'est d'aimer

The Love in the Gutter

Andrzej Zulawski has never made the so-called “normal films”. The Director has turned an over-the-top family drama into the mix of horror, parable and philoshopic film essay (Possession); stirred an erotic film with europop soundtrack by a loose adaptation of Possessed, political thriller and drama (La femme publique).

Servais Mont, a photographer, is forced to make pornographic photos in order to pay for his father's debts. One day, he sneaks into the shooting of a third-rate erotic film to make a few photos of a third-rate actress Nadine Chevalier. Servais falls in love with Nadine and he borrows $20,000 from gangsters in order to buy Nadine a part in the avant-garde version of “Richard III”.

First of all, Andrzej Zulawski has made film about love, which is sincere and selfless. The love story begins in a disgusting environment – shooting of a second-rate erotic films, animalistic pornographic copulations, dirty rooms. The Director makes a great use of comparison between real and fake love. Every pornographic photoset is lifeless and doesn't have any beauty. On the other hand, every eye contact between Servais and Nadine is full of despair, suffering and love.

Along with Jules et Jim author, Andrzej Zulawski uses the love triangle scheme. Nadine is married to Jacques – an infantile cinefile, who lost all passion for life and incapable of physical love, but he dragged her out of the misery. The side of the triange is Jacques, who tries to win love of Nadine. Nothing lasts forever and one of the sides has to make a painful choice.

Romy Schneider sleeps, eats and breathes Nadine Chevalier. A woman with a cheap prostitute's make-up, who is forced to play in erotic films. She's torn apart between Servais, for whom she is falling in love, and her husband Jacques, to whom she has moral obligations. Jacques Dutronc as inert Jacques, who perfectly understands his position as a clown and who suffers from incapability to give Nadine love and tenderness, Klaus Kinski in a stunning supporting role as half-mad Karl-Heinz.

“L'important c'est d'aimer” is one of the most sincere love stories, The French debut of Andrzej Zulawski doesn't “blow brains out”, as Possession does, but it touches the most hidden parts of your soul.

10/10

Camille Claudel 1915

Whom the gods love die young

In 1913, Camille Claudel, with the consent of her brother Paul, was admitted to the mental institution. Lacking the possibility to sculpt, she spends the days yearning for seldom visits of her brother.

First, the one should understand that «Camille Claudel» and «Camille Claudel 2015» could not be compared. The only three thing which unites them are those: figure of Camille Claudel; two great actresses for the main role and that the late film, in some aspects, continues the first one.

The author shows a fading Camille Claudel. Every day in the mental institution nails the coffin of her physical and artistic life. The spectator should answer the main question – does a mental condition of Camille Claudel deserves a life incarceration in the mental institution?

Juliette Binoche naturally portrays Camille Claudel. The Actress, by using a minimum of artistic expression, showed the fading of all hopes and aspirations of a great artist. In the end, there is only a shell of once great and beautiful Camille Claudel.

The mental institution depicted as a hell, which destroys people. Bruno Dumont, in line with Robert Bresson and Michael Haneke, uses the minimalistic and realistic attitude in portraying the institution – mad women with rotten teeth; cold rooms; old female monks as guardians.

Paul Claudel, along with Augustus Rodin, is an evil genius in the life of Camille Claudel. Rodin made Camille mad; Paul condemned her to a life imprisonment. Paul Claudel depicted as a stern religious fanatic, who punishes Camille for her sins.

«Camille Claudel 1915» is a hard drama about mental disintegration. It is hard to watch, but this film will certainly impress you.

8/10