| |
 |
|
|
Movies Forum Index » International Movies Forum » _Daddy Nostalgia_ (was Resnais)
Page 1 of 1
|
| Author |
Message |
| Guest |
 Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:14 pm |
|
|
|
|
Watching Resnais' _I want to go home_ and Tavernier's
_Daddy Nostalgia_ back to back is an interesting
experience. Resnais' film is theatrical, is sweetly
laden with artifice (it has hand-drawn comic book
characters who talks to the protagonist). Tavernier's
film is completely naturalistic (although it has pointed,
arching camera motion that heightens the emotions
of the characters, draws us closer to them). So
naturalistic it is both a tremendous pleasure and
also quite painful to watch. The film is screenwriter
Colo Tavernier's semi-autobiographic take on her
parents. The amazing Jane Birkin plays the Colo
character. Birkin's character is in her late 30s/early
40s, but she still jumps around and argues with her
mother like she is 14. Birkin, as well as her daughter
Charlotte Gainsbourg, and a few other French actresses
like Julie Delpy, simply never grows old. Her
spontaneity in her scenes with her more reserved,
but indulgent mother are such a joy to behold. She'd
repeatedly scream at her mother, bang on the table
so her parent is splattered with soft drink, and then
nuzzle and kiss her the next moment. These scenes
are so real but I can say I've seen anything similar
in any other movies about adult children and their
aging parents. But the film is also about Birkin's
relationship with her dying father, played by Dirk
Bogarde (his last role). She has never been close
to this self-absorbed, remote father, and after his
operation she visits for a few weeks while trying
to write a screenplay based on this experience.
Bogarde's dignified demeanor hides his physical
pain and his nostalgia about his glamorous past life,
from which Birkin's Caroline was largely excluded.
He claims to have no memory of her before she turned
20, even if she has too many memories of him (shown
in tasteful flashback) not being very attentive to her
needs. So they are learning about each other for the
first time. The writing is just about perfect in this film,
and the cinematography is first rate: this is a film
set in the South of France, and you'll never mistake
that for another other place in the world. In the interview
between Colo Tavernier and Jane Birkin, they laments
how underapperciated the film was in France when it
came out. I saw it on the big screen then and absolutely
loved it. I picked up a used DVD of this for $3.99; even
the song sang by Birkin in the end credits would have
been worth more than that to me. The only possible
objection to this film is its strange and anti-grammatical
title.
Tavernier made a subtle but profound point about the
universality of father-daughter relationship through the
ages when Birkin's characters comes out of the train
station and sees (and smies at) the actor who plays
the aging father in Tavernier's _A Sunday in the Country_.
(Wouldn't I want to get a copy of that!) Colo T. suggests
that these two films are indeed similar, and quite different
from her husband's other works. Personally, I rate them
the high points of the eclectic filmmaker's career.
In comparison, Resnais' _I want to go home_ does not
have relationships that feel as fresh. In the interview,
producer Martin Kamitz compares this film, this
unappreciated "ugly duckling" among his films, to _The
Rules of the Game_. I may have to watch it again to
appreciate it, although the daugher's envy for a foreign,
more "intellectual" French culture is something I know
from personal experience, only too well. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Guest |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:34 pm |
|
|
|
|
I forgot to mention the Rohmer connection in _I want to go home_:
while most of the leads are American/English actors (many of whom
not household names), it is nice to see Anne Teyssèdre and
Emmanuelle Chaulet, who are the leads in Rohmer's _A Tale of
Springtime_ and _Boyfriends and Girlfriends_, in cameo roles.
They play two of the most interesting Rohmer heroines, but
it is rare to see them in anything else (especially in the U.S.).
I heard the Rohmer has announced his retirement. Too bad!
He may have a _Private Fears in Public Places_-grade masterpiece
in him yet. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| |
|
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:27 am
|
|