Mubi Monday: The Dreamers (2003)

I don’t know how I could have ever forgotten that Bernardo Bertolucci once directed a movie that starred Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel, and Eva Green, but I did. Rummaging around in the depths of my own memory banks, I vaguely remember it being released before I was more aware of Bertolucci’s films (aside from his most notorious title), and it was certainly before I would have been won over by the cast. So it came and it went without making any lasting impression on me.

Set in a turbulent Paris of the 1960s, this is the tale of a young American (Matthew, played by Pitt) who ends up befriending a pair of intriguing, but also potentially dangerous, twin siblings (Isabelle and Theo, played by Green and Garrel). They are safe, and largely sheltered, when spending time indoors sharing a love of cinema, indulging in games that lead to erotic forfeits, or engaging in philosophical discussions, but the outside world cannot be avoided forever.

While I have enjoyed, and loved, some of his work, I have never been as big a fan of Bertolucci as some people. Last Tango In Paris is a cold and clumsy movie that remains notorious for one horrible scene, and it was a mistake to start with that major touchstone when I started broadening my cinematic horizons. But for anyone else who feels the same way, I highly recommend checking out The Sheltering Sky and, his masterpiece, The Last Emperor. And this. Yes, this is an erotically-charged look at human connection and development that works far better than the film that many others view as the standout from his filmography.

Adapted from his own novel into screenplay for my Gilbert Adair, there’s a constant feeling of worlds pressing against one another here, be they worlds of flesh and bone or worlds of political and philosophical division. While one character is shown to be an outsider, it could be argued that all three of our leads remains outsiders for the majority of the runtime, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing when viewers are reminded of the environments that they are keeping themselves away from.

The direction from Bertolucci is superb, allowing us to move around, and in between, the three leads as they spend their time playing, fighting, and generally intertwining themselves into one big mix of limbs and genitalia.

As for the performances, everyone is impressively fearless when it comes to delivering the material. I couldn’t pick any one over the other, and am happy to say that this remains a highlight in the film careers of all three main players (which is a particular compliment to both Green and Garrel, who have gone on to display their talents in numerous other projects, while Pitt seems to have been intent on scuppering his own progress throughout the past couple of decades). There are also a couple of scenes that allow Anna Chancellor and Robin Renucci to play the parents of our hedonistic twins, and those moments show a nice understanding between different generations, even with the obvious division still there.

With a selection of great songs on the soundtrack, as well as numerous film references and clips interspersed throughout, there is plenty of sugar coated around the bitterness at the heart of it, and I appreciate both Adair and Bertolucci avoiding the many very dark paths this could have taken. It is called The Dreamers, after all, so a sudden nightmare wouldn’t be out of place, but the real horrors are outside the bubble of irresponsibility that our leads reside in. Even if we know that they will have to fully wake up and leave that bubble one day.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Love Songs (2007)

I have generally enjoyed the films of writer-director Christophe Honoré, although there are one or two that are far below the usual standard of his other explorations of love and other emotions, often messy ones. Love Songs is a good one, and it's interesting to see it so soon after my recent rewatch of Past Lives, a film I noted as being all about a specific kind of grief. Love Songs is also about grief, but it's a more traditional grief, even if it is intertwined with love and sex.

Louis Garrel plays Ismaël, a young man in a relationship with Julie (Ludivine Sagnier). Julie ends up leading them into a playful love triangle with Alice (Clotilde Hesme), which seems like a win-win situation for all involved, until the whole thing is broken up by circumstances outwith their control. Ismaël struggles to deal with the best way to move forward, as do those who end up caring from her, whether close to him or standing a bit further away.

A film full of punctuation, in terms of both main plot points and occasional songs that the characters break into (hence the title), Love Songs is an engrossing and well-handled study of someone processing a whole load of conflicting feelings that are all hitting him from different directions at the same time. Garrel doesn’t so much play a young man as he does an actual buoy, staying in place as the choppy waters around him make him bob and shift around without being able to drag him under.

Honoré makes use of the chosen format to lighten what could have been a very draining viewing experience. The songs are sometimes rough, and you get no dazzling choreography or super-witty wordplay here, but they successfully show people bursting out emotions that they simply cannot keep to themselves any longer. What could have been tiresome and pretentious works brilliantly thanks to the committed cast and the juxtaposition of the form and content.

Garrel is very good in his main role, but the rest of the cast are just as good, and all cast a large shadow over his life. Sagnier and Hesme are both sweet and interestingly connected with different kinds of energy, Chiara Mastroianni is excellent in the role of Jeanne, Julie’s sister, and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet is a good addition when he comes into the movie in the second half to provide some extra potential confusion and/or comfort.

It’s hard to think of who else will enjoy this as much as I did. I guess those who are familiar with other films from Honoré will get plenty from it, especially as he is using a few people he has worked with numerous times before, but some may be frustrated by it tip-toeing between darker themes and scenes often played out with some positivity being put on display for the benefit of others around the central character. It worked for me though, and if I end up being the only one who loved it . . . so be it. I hope that isn’t the case though.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: The Innocent (2022)

Co-written and directed by Louis Garrel, who also gives himself a plum lead role once again, The Innocent is an entertaining thriller that, on the one hand, plays out exactly as you might expect, yet also wrongfoots you slightly by the time the end credits roll, thanks in part to the title itself, and who it might be referring to.

Garrel plays Abel, the concerned son of Sylvia (Anouk Grinberg). He may be right to be concerned, as his mother has a habit of falling in love with, and marrying, people that she meets at her work. And she works in a prison. Her latest husband is Michel (Roschdy Zem), and Abel doesn’t trust him to stay on the straight and narrow. He wants to find out more about his plans, and enlists the help of Clémence (Noémie Merlant). It isn’t long until everyone starts to tangle themselves up in lies and deceit. Well . . . almost everyone.

Having only seen one other Garrel movie before this (the underwhelming Two Friends), and seeing the plot summary of this, I have to admit that I wasn’t really expecting too much from The Innocent. I assumed it would be a tired retread of very familiar ground, and wondered if Garrel might spoil his own direction by focusing too much on his own acting. Well, assumption makes an ass out of you and me, or something like that, and I am very happy to say that I was proven wrong here.

Paced perfectly (the runtime clocks in at just under 100 minutes), and with characters that it’s easy to warm to, despite them perhaps initially appearing too sharp and antagonistic, or too untrustworthy, the script allows for a nice and even mix of plot development and great character moments. Writers Tanguy Viel and Naïla Guiguet both work well with Garrel, with Guiguet having previously collaborated with the writer-director on his previous movie, The Crusade, and there’s a playfulness underpinning the interactions of the main characters that helps to avoid a cynicism and bleakness that would have left the whole thing feeling much more in line with so many other movies in this sub-genre.

When it comes to the performances, everyone is perfectly cast. Garrel continues his run of portraying characters named Abel (it must be some strange in-joke or personal preference, he has given himself that name in all of his features so far), Zem manages to feel both charming and potentially dangerous, Merlant helps to brighten up the film as she treats things quite lightly until they take a turn for the serious, and Grinberg is a sweetly optimistic romantic who just wants everyone to get along and be happy that she is happy.

Although it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, The Innocent manages to feel enjoyably unique without overdoing the quirkiness (even if the opening scenes may make you think it is heading in that direction). It’s consistently great, and the finale feels as inevitable as it is satisfying. I recommend it to anyone after some crime movie thrills without the need for a large sprinkling of misanthropy.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Little Women (2019)

Considering the range of movies from around the world that Mubi provides, I did not expect it to get in the way of this Japanuary train I am on. And yet . . . here we are. So, with time of the essence, and nothing Japanese available from their selection just now, I have decided to take the opportunity to review a very recent movie that was the Mubi Go ticket for last week. Little Women.

Adapted from the source novel by Louisa May Alcott, of course, this is a near-perfect working of the tale from writer-director Greta Gerwig, providing a film that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, and showing that Ladybird was no fluke. In fact, although some may think I was a bit too flippant in my criticism of Ladybird, Little Women shows a huge improvement in almost every regard, and we should all appreciate that Gerwig gave herself the fairly daunting task of working on something far from guaranteed to give her more success. But more success she has gained, and rightly so.

I'm NOT going to cover the overall storyline of Little Women. Suffice to say, it is basically about four sisters (played here by Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, and Eliza Scanlen), their mother (Laura Dern), a charming young man (played by Timothée Chalamet), and ANOTHER charming young man (Louis Garrel). There is a framing device used here that takes the literary talent of Jo (Ronan, the lead character) and allows for some more playfulness than usual, in terms of both addressing attitudes of the time and also working with the audience expectations.

I'm going to mention the very small negative here first. It is an issue I have with the source material, therefore it's not something to blame on Gerwig and co. Beth March (Scanlen's character) is just one of those inherently irritating characters. Her only role is to be the vulnerable one who always seems to be weak or ill. I don't care how good she is at playing the piano, she's the most annoying member of the March clan, which is really saying something when you consider the actions of selfish Amy (Pugh).

Otherwise, there's nothing here I want to criticise. And, trust me, I have been giving it lots of thought since I left the cinema, wondering if my initial delight would settle down and allow me to reconsider anything. There's no need. Nothing to reconsider.

Not only has Gerwig given herself a great gift with her own screenplay, she has ensured it was all delivered exceptionally well by a near-flawless cast. Ronan is about as perfect a Jo March as you could hope for, Pugh is good enough to make Amy bearable during even her worst moments, Scanlen looks suitably fragile, and/or ill, and Watson does just fine as Meg, although she's perhaps stuck with the weakest moments in the film, mostly reduced to being overly earnest and only making one mistake on the road to finding her place in womanhood. Dern has to be 100% goodness and light, which she does admirably, and her sweetness is countered by the sharp tongue and mind of Aunt March (Meryl Streep on top form). Considering the focus of the tale, it's pleasantly surprising to find that all of the men are equally well-cast, and all of them get at least one or two great moments apiece. Chalamet is the charming and safe young star of the moment, and he's perfect here, while Garrel makes a strong impression with his small amount of screentime. Chris Cooper also makes the most of his role, Mr Laurence (the neighbour, and grandfather of Chalamet's character), James Norton plays a character who is perhaps the most grounded of everyone onscreen, Tracy Letts is a lot of fun as the editor who accepts Jo's writings, and Bob Odenkirk is always a welcome presence onscreen, albeit a bit surplus to requirements here as the mainly-absent patriarch of the March clan.

I can't think of a better way Gerwig could have handled this material. It has every main element from the book, of course, and yet it also feels fresh, full of energy, and completely relevant to today. Think of other adaptations of classic novels from the 1800s and they tend to have one main aim for the women, to find true love and marry into a happier life. Little Women has that notion in there, which was probably unavoidable, but it offsets that by showing the many and varied ways that everyone can follow their instincts to make themselves happy, make others happy, and make their own path through life, no matter where others may try to push them. It's a full, rich, experience that embodies the best of cinema, something that you can happily take as pure entertainment, and also something that gives you a lot of moments to think over and discuss with others.

I may have only caught up with it on the 1st January 2020, but this is easily my pick for the best film of 2019.

10/10

You'll be able to buy it here.
Americans will be able to buy it here.