Weber: "You judged me, because I'm different from you."
By Agnès Jaoui
With Anne Alvaro, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Alain Chabat
I remember going to a friend's house once, and she translated some Arabic poetry for me from a small book that I'd been very excited to see. Seeing the book was disappointing as the cover was tacky, depicting some cheap drawing of a sentimental looking woman. I criticized the cover to her, to the point I think I couldn't concentrate as much on the beautiful poetry inside. In much the same way, the poster for this film on IMDB was very off-putting -- a sort of made-for-TV feel to it--and even though I had read this film won various awards, I was going to put it away to see later. I'm not sure what changed though and why I saw it--but I felt the film had a remarkable, albeit not revolutionary by any means, message to impart.
The film explores the life of Castella, his driver Bruno, his bodyguard Franck, an actress/English tutor Clara, his wife, and a waitress/marijuana dealer Marnie. Since Castella is in negotiations with an Iranian company for steel and the only common language between the company and him is English (which he barely knows), his consultant, Weber, advises him to learn English. He interviews Clara, an actress, who he is later entranced by when he sees her on stage while watching his niece perform Bérénice in a theater. Castella's bodyguard and driver converse as they sit outside the theater and soon we are drawn into their lives.
I liked this film very much. The characters are marvelous--from Castella's pet-obsessed wife who insists on blocking out the harsh realities of the world with her excessive love of pets and her frilly pink house to Marnie, the lovable waitress whose kind eyes and generosity won't leave you indifferent. The troubles the characters have are run-of-the-mill, but I think this is one of the only films I've seen which truly celebrates the potential for human growth and change.
In many ways Castella starts out as a unlikable character, with a heavy mustache and his constant gorging on food, we only realize how unhappy he is when he enters the theater (which he had initially objected to visiting) and the tears begin to well in his eyes. He slowly enters the world of art and "culture", and in the process falls in love with Clara. Clara and her bohemian friends take advantage of his wealth and think he is uncultured and as such make jokes on his expense. Nevertheless, we see him gradually transform, and witness art and theater with a hunger and appreciation far more genuine than Clara's group of friends who are artists or critics. In one particularly adorable yet revealing scene, Castella reads Clara a poem that he wrote for her in his broken English (and a rather good poem at that) which Clara interrupts to correct the tenses and grammar as he reads.
The other characters undergo similar subtle transformations, and in some instances remain in part how they are, but with greater awareness of what drives them. I would say this is a masterful yet also comedic psychological film, dealt with a light hand.
I liked: The characters, the dialogue, the theme. It was beautifully cohesive.
I disliked: In some cases I felt that the Castella's wife was a flat character. They put so much energy into all the other character's they just left her as a cliche. It was noticeable.
76/100
A solid performance from most of the cast, and a heartwarming message about conformity, society, and self discovery.
0 comments :
Post a Comment