Friday, June 03, 2005
ROYAL FLUSH
Saw Kings and Queen at the Music Box yesterday. I had to wait in line when I got to the theater. The guy in front of me said that he wanted a ticket for "that French movie." The cashier pointed out that there were two French movies playing at the theater. The guy paused for a second, trying to process this information, I suppose, and said, "I want a ticket for the French one." Honestly, it's a wonder that I haven't killed anyone yet.
On to the film: Nora (Emanuelle Devos), runs a Parisian art gallery and is engaged to, Jean-Jacques, a fantastically rich businessman. The film begins with her journey to Grenoble to visit her young son from her first marriage, Elias, who has been spending the summer with her elderly father, an esteemed writer. Things take a turn for the worse upon Nora's arrival, as she discovers that her father is likely to die from cancer within a few days.
Meanwhile, back in Paris, Ismael (Mathieu Amalric), an accomplished violist and Nora's estranged second husband has been committed to a mental asylum against his will. Apparently, he has been behaving erratically and owes the French tax authorties several hundred thousand francs.
The film proceeds to cut back and forth between these two stories, one tragic, or at least solemn, and the other, comic, or at least kind of funny. Nora attempts to deal with her father's imminent death while trying to take care of Elias and maintain her relationship with Jean-Jacques. Ismael tries to get himself out of the asylum, having multiple consultations with two psychiatrists, one played by Catherine Deneuve. We also see him strike up a cautious friendship with a troubled young woman at the asylum.
Kings and Queen didn't work for me at all. I noticed that one critic wrote that the film is "full of life." Well, I suppose it is in the sense that, in life, a lot of random shit happens without much purpose. The things that happen in Kings and Queen don't feel connected in any way; the characters that are supposed to be related to each other seem to have never met before. For instance, it seems impossible that Nora and Ismael were ever married; or that Nora and her father were ever father and daughter. The film just doesn't provide enough convincing detail to make their pasts come alive in our imaginations. I don't think that the director, Arnaud Desplechin, is trying to make the point that human realtionships are inexplicable, that we don't know why we form bonds with certain people and not others, I think that he is just interested in mixing as many different styles together and seeing what happens. Kings and Queen is at times serious, silly, melodramatic, and surreal. Its music ranges from jazz, to rap, to a recurring Moon River motif. The idea of mixing all of these genres is interesting, but the film comes off as an annoying, overly-long mess, not a bold, visionary experiment.
Kings and Queen isn't a total loss. There are some nice performances. Mathieu Almaric, looking like a young, shaggy Roman Polanski, brings considerable charm and charisma to the role of Ismael. Magalie Woch is especially good as the young woman that Ismael befriends in the asylum. She nicely balances showing her character's humor and intelligence with her instability. And of course, there is Catherine Deneuve as one of Ismael's psychiatrists. She plays her part with a wonderful understated coolness that offers a stark contrast to the sometimes hysterical tone of the rest of the film. She's like the proverbial calm in the eye of the storm. ¶ 7:51 AM
On to the film: Nora (Emanuelle Devos), runs a Parisian art gallery and is engaged to, Jean-Jacques, a fantastically rich businessman. The film begins with her journey to Grenoble to visit her young son from her first marriage, Elias, who has been spending the summer with her elderly father, an esteemed writer. Things take a turn for the worse upon Nora's arrival, as she discovers that her father is likely to die from cancer within a few days.
Meanwhile, back in Paris, Ismael (Mathieu Amalric), an accomplished violist and Nora's estranged second husband has been committed to a mental asylum against his will. Apparently, he has been behaving erratically and owes the French tax authorties several hundred thousand francs.
The film proceeds to cut back and forth between these two stories, one tragic, or at least solemn, and the other, comic, or at least kind of funny. Nora attempts to deal with her father's imminent death while trying to take care of Elias and maintain her relationship with Jean-Jacques. Ismael tries to get himself out of the asylum, having multiple consultations with two psychiatrists, one played by Catherine Deneuve. We also see him strike up a cautious friendship with a troubled young woman at the asylum.
Kings and Queen didn't work for me at all. I noticed that one critic wrote that the film is "full of life." Well, I suppose it is in the sense that, in life, a lot of random shit happens without much purpose. The things that happen in Kings and Queen don't feel connected in any way; the characters that are supposed to be related to each other seem to have never met before. For instance, it seems impossible that Nora and Ismael were ever married; or that Nora and her father were ever father and daughter. The film just doesn't provide enough convincing detail to make their pasts come alive in our imaginations. I don't think that the director, Arnaud Desplechin, is trying to make the point that human realtionships are inexplicable, that we don't know why we form bonds with certain people and not others, I think that he is just interested in mixing as many different styles together and seeing what happens. Kings and Queen is at times serious, silly, melodramatic, and surreal. Its music ranges from jazz, to rap, to a recurring Moon River motif. The idea of mixing all of these genres is interesting, but the film comes off as an annoying, overly-long mess, not a bold, visionary experiment.
Kings and Queen isn't a total loss. There are some nice performances. Mathieu Almaric, looking like a young, shaggy Roman Polanski, brings considerable charm and charisma to the role of Ismael. Magalie Woch is especially good as the young woman that Ismael befriends in the asylum. She nicely balances showing her character's humor and intelligence with her instability. And of course, there is Catherine Deneuve as one of Ismael's psychiatrists. She plays her part with a wonderful understated coolness that offers a stark contrast to the sometimes hysterical tone of the rest of the film. She's like the proverbial calm in the eye of the storm. ¶ 7:51 AM
