"Betty" (1992)

Pauvre Betty

Claude Chabrol had one problem – he made too much films and, because of that, somehow quantity began to dominate over quality. Claude Chabrol made masterpieces («Violette Noziere»), good films («Poulet au vinaigre») and mediocrities («La fleur du mal»). In what category you could place «Betty» - the last film of Chabrol with Stephane Audran?

In some Paris bar, a girl called Betty, who is wearing a rumpled Chanel suit, is drinking herself to death with whiskey. Some strange man, who calls himself a doctor, offers Betty a ride to a restaurant called Le Trou (The Hole). In this bar, Betty drinks even more, and meets a proprietor Mario and his lover Laure. Betty tells Laura that she was divorced with a son of a very rich and influential family.

At first, the film starts as a typical story about a poor peasant girl, who is thrown out by the spoiled prince. Claude Chabrol shows us a sad alcoholic and abandoned girl with harsh psychological childhood traumas – an ideal candidate for the couch at psychoanalyst’s office. And this family of rich bastards, who made Betty to waive her parental rights, is out to be guillotined as in the late XVIIIth century France.

There is a banal saying about incompatibility of people from the different parts of the society (classes, groups and etc.), that is why a dream of «marrying the prince» doesn’t always realized as wanted. Betty was able to jump above her head, but she an intruder in the world of aristocracy. She cannot live on the rules of the high society, family doesn’t quite accept Betty and she is even basically separated from the children, who are given to the maid.

Disorderly Betty is suffocated in such sterile atmosphere and she is thrown out as an alien element. After Betty enters Le Trou, full of desolate people, the Director starts adding extra colors to her portrait. Because of that, the viewer could get a quite different opinion about a poor peasant girl.

What could you say about real qualities of Betty? In order to answer that, you ought to watch «Betty» and break the cliché that the nature relaxes on the children of the talented (on example of Marie Trintignant). Because of the duo of Marie Trintignant and Stephane Audran, Claude Chabrol was able to shoot a great film with unpredictable ending, which is quite a match to «Violette Noziere».

"Paths of Glory" (1957)

France cannot afford to have fools guiding her military destiny

Stanley Kubrick was an anti-war person and he found a right way to express his views. He didn’t shoot films with boring explanations of war horrors, he made films about the real war – with filth, cruelty, blood, destruction, suffering and death. All those elements were present in the fourth Stanley Kubrick’s film – «Paths of Glory».

After a German’s army defeat in the First Battle of Marne, the Western Front became entrenched all the way from the Swiss border to the English Channel. There were a lot of battles, where tens and hundreds of lives were sacrificed for a few hundred yards. In 1916, the both sides were looking for a way to get out of this trench warfare.

In the beginning of the film, General Georges Broulard, a member of the French General Staff, orders General Mireau to capture a well-defended German position called the «Anthill». At first, General Mireau, understanding the high casualty rate of his regiment and the suicide character of the attack, refuses, but changes his mind after General Broulard promises him promotion. Colonel Dax is ordered to execute the attack, who also understands it’s suicide character, but order is an order. The attack is a bloody disaster and furious generals are setting up a court-martial in order to execute three soldiers for cowardice.

 During the Battle of Passchendaele (1917) there was a tale about a furious colonel of the British General Staff, who arrived at the field in order to understand, why soldiers are not eager to execute his plans. After witnessing the horrible battle conditions, the colonel… cried. Despite such sentiments, the Allied casualty rate for this battle was about 508 800.

The film depicts staff officers, who are living in the chateaus, drinking cognac and preparing plans for the glorious final battles. For them front-line soldiers and officers are just merely units, who could be sacrificed for the sake of plans. From the other side, the front-line troops are suffering from typhoid, hunger, dehydration and enemy artillery, but they forced to execute suicidal attacks and tolerate the allegation of cowardice from clean-shaven aides of generals.

When new suicidal attack becomes a bloody disaster, the staff officers will never take the blame, they would shift it to executors. In order to punish, they would court-martial three random soldiers. The staff officers don’t care about past accomplishments of the executed soldiers, they just to show their resolve to politicians, newsmen and the French nation in general.

The war is an ideal plant for all low, cruel and mean. Especially for low-lives, who become commanders with ability for death sentences. The incoming trial gives certain officers an opportunity to get rid of the soldiers, who saw their cowardice. Nevertheless, the officer corps includes officers, who care about their soldiers, including Colonel Dax.

Colonel Dax lives in trenches and leads his soldiers in a battle. An ex-criminal attorney Dax is willing to do anything in order to save his soldiers from injustice. He becomes a defender in court martial, but this court is not legal. This court is not fair and it doesn’t have the presumption of innocence; those judges have already sentenced those three soldiers to death.

The real world is not very rich with justice, and there is no justice during the wartime. The determined loner cannot break the military-political system; he could just break one little interchangeable element. After such pyrrhic victory, he, along with the troops, would be sent back to the front lines, where, in the best case, they would be killed, or, in the worst case, they would by gravely injured.

The refrain of «La Marseillaise» urges citizens to arms, to form battalions, and water the furrows with impure blood. In the XVIIIth century, France was invaded by the neighbors, so that war was, at least at the beginning, just. Most of the other wars are made for other people’s interest and the wasted soldiers are forgotten as old cars. If more directors made such films as «Paths of Glory», than the viewers wouldn’t be too receptive for military propaganda.

"Naked" (1993)

Primate

When I was 18, I have watched «Naked» for the first time and it didn’t impress me much. Back then, I was just not experienced enough. For the last 9 years, I have gained some life experience, and I have decided to give the film the second chance. This time, I have understood more, and we could call «Naked» «A Tale About a Real Asshole».

The world is full of assholes, some of them are quite dangerous and some of them are not. Johnny is also an asshole, but it is supplemented by a huge education. Because of the education, this bum-looking asshole, who is still psychologically a teenager, have a good tongue and ability for short-term seduce. In the beginning of the film, Johnny almost rapes a woman and flees to London in a stolen car.

After hitting London, John breaks into his old girlfriend house, who shares a house in a desolate area of London with two flat mates. Louisa is not too delighted by her ex, but Sophie develops a crush on John. An intruder won’t dodge an ability to sleep with a cute girl, but John doesn’t want to hear anything about serious relationships, so, he walks away to night London.

Reaching night London, Fake Diogenes meets the inhabitants of the city’s gutter: a homeless Scot Archie and his girlfriend; an intelligent night security guard Brian; a lonely poor drinking woman, who is desperate for a lay and other colorful characters. Nevertheless, Johnny still have certain brakes.

Those brakes are made not out of goodness, but of elementary caution. Johnny understands that he could do rough sex, but if he rapes a woman, he won’t escape justice easily. Also, if Johnny would impose himself on a girl and she would kick him out after tiring from his intellectually offending speeches, he would have to go, because police won’t to be too kind to a smelly bum. That is why, he is cruising for helpless victims with low self-esteem.

Despite that, the night London streets are cruised by other Johnnies with Porsche and gold credit cards. Jeremy-Sebastian is Johnny, who is wearing Saville Row-tailored clothes and who is drinking Veuve Cliquot. His good looks enable him to seduce almost every girl and his money enables him to «be himself» and feel the complete impunity.

Who is an asshole? It is a man, who have complete disregard for public morale, politeness, who treats others scornfully and spits on all other rules. Almost every teenager toys with asshole behavior and it is excusable at the age of 15. Nevertheless, after reaching the age of 20, you need to use your brain and learn to live, or pretend to live, by the rules of society. But because of the different circumstances, the certain people, in the best case, are becoming eternal teenagers and others, in the worst cases, are becoming parasites as Johnny and Jeremy.

Such Johnnies and Jeremys are inhabiting every city and everyone, who watched «Naked», will recall an acquaintance with such man. Mike Leigh was able to shoot a film, which would be understood in every country, and David Thewlis was able to pull off the almost impossible – to play without any fake a real-life pseudointellectual asshole.

"Avengers: Endgame" (2019)

Endgame

I am fond of a few superhero films, including «Batman» of Tim Burton. I also have a high opinion of Sam Raimi’s «Spider-Man». As we remember, in the late 2000s, Marvel started producing quite a high number of superhero films, including cool «Iron Man» with Robert Downey Jr. Also Marvel produced good «Thor».

Any moneymaking theme is milked until the full dry and the same words could be applied to Marvel movies. The producers started financing films about all superheroes and after some time quantity began to dominate over quality. In opinion, the first failure was a reboot of «Spider-Man» with Andrew Garfield, but then Marvel produced funny «Venom».

When I saw, that the last «Avengers» is a three-hour film, I began experiencing doubt, because it is quite hard to make an interesting 3-hour superhero film. The last «Avengers» were an exception, or not?

Well, not exactly. The film was slightly boring because of the three-hour duration. I am not against long films, but in this case the directors are making unnecessary long scenes and not packing them with enough action, and the real action kicks in only in the third hour. Of course, the second hour also have some action, but it was not entertaining enough and you might feel a need for a few yawns.

The film’s atmosphere is also a bit fake. Thanos have killed a lot of people and the mood is quite mourny, but it is a bit farcical. The quotes from famous films, so well used in the previous parts, are also resemble not-so-good self-repetition, especially the quotes from «Back to the Future, Part II».

Nevertheless, the film has strong sides. I enjoyed a few humorous moments, including the line of Thor the depressive alcoholic. Also, on the third hour the real action starts kicking in and the end is quite good and catchy, but you have to wait for it.

In closing, the authors haven’t finished «Avengers» on a high note. I hope, that the authors would understand, that the superhero theme is burned out, and they would take a few years break.