"the Life of Jesus" (1997), Bruno Dumont's previous movie ended with the murder of an Arab teenager. "Humanity" (1999) starts where "the Life of Jesus" ended: with the rape and the murder of a little girl in the same small town: Bailleul. Obviously, police is on the alert to launch an investigation and track down the slayer. A superintendent, Pharaon Winter (Emmanuel Schotté) has been assigned to find him again.
If you think that you deal with a sempiternal detective plot and that the movie will be exclusively built around it, you are partly right. First of all, on the surface, "Humanity" is akin to any detective film with the usual ingredients of the genre. Yes, but Bruno Dumont, the director takes these ingredients back to concoct a recipe in his own manner. The first merit to be attributed to his work is that it bewares of every commonplace and every easiness of fashion. All the clichés which bit by bit endowed in an artificial way the genre of the detective movie have been shelved and consequently, Dumont's work is a real breath of fresh air. Now, if you take a closer look, the quoted investigation plays eventually a subordinate role and almost serves as a pretext to a nearly documentary about Pharaon's life. The less we can say is that his portrait is a far cry from the usual portraits of cops French and American cinema have been cramming us for several decades. So, Pharaon Winter is a policeman in Bailleul. He's the great-grandson of a famous painter with the same name. Throughout the film, we learn vague scraps of his tumultuous past life including this most important one: he lost his wife and little girl in an accident. Now he lives with his mother. He is also secretly in love with his neighbor, Domino (Séverine Cotreele) although the latter has a lover, Joseph (Philippe Thullier). The three of them regularly go out either it is in restaurant or by the sea...
So, Dumont goes beyond a simple history of killing to shot a real study of customs that would be worthy of an entomologist. Not only about the life of Pharaon but also on the close relatives who surround him, notably on Domino's and Joseph's. Then, to plunge more on the contents of the film and for a better understanding of it, let's write Dumont's words about the main reason which incited him to shot this gem: "I wanted to make a movie that would deal with the love of humanity while bearing in mind the reality which is grievous". Indeed, this humanity suffers and is made of rather dumb or sad human beings. and we mainly perceive them through Pharaon's eyes which are full of empathy and sympathy. With the presence of Pharaon, we learn to like them and become sensitive to their sorrow. In the last sequence when the murderer has been found (I won't reveal who it is), Pharaon kisses him on the mouth. If you don't bear in mind Dumont's words, of course, it will seem ludicrous to you but it is perfectly coherent with the philosophy of the film. On another extent, Pharaon sympathizes to the humanity's pain but this reality can be sometimes unbearable (the primal scream in front of the Eurostar, the embrace with the male nurse at the mental hospital. At last Dumont isn't afraid to shot the brutish sides of this humanity as the wild sexual relations between Domino and Joseph testify.
"The Life of Jesus" brought out a strong Bressonian odor in its cinema writing. In "Humanity" it fills the whole movie so much that Dumont could be Robert Bresson's deserving grandson and heir. Although he declines any link of relationship with the author of "Diary of a Country Priest" (1951), their respective cinema approaches perfectly agree: an absolute supremacy of the image, rare or reduced to the extreme dialogs to make the action progress and hiring of non-professional actors. Dumont's directorial style perfectly exploits these features and silence speaks much louder than dialogs. Through the actors' countenances and gestures, the viewer can guess or try to find what the comedians may think of. Dialogs are largely scattered throughout the flick, they notwithstanding contain another part of brilliance from Dumont: with few dialogs, he can express so much... Furthermore, Dumont distinguishes himself from Bresson and perseveres in his way with characteristics which belong to him. By watching this film, we can feel that there's such a will to depict life as it really is without distortions or extravagances and there's such an intensity in the presentation of Bailleul that it is close to the extraordinary and sacred. And of course, like in its predecessor, there's always this sharp sense of detail (which says a lot about several characters), of space and observation which contribute to solidify "Humanity" in its place of winner.
Such an arty work would be no worth without its actors. Like in "the Life of Jesus", these non-professional actors seem to live more than to act what they go through. One can't forget Emmanuel Schotté's neutral performance and his lifeless, melancholy face. Robert Bresson would probably have cried to work with him...
"The Life of Jesus" was the act of creation of an author, "Humanity" is the step of maturity and for Dumont it is astounding. A pure marvel as well as an undeniable tour-de-force in the so much massacred genre of the detective film, "Humanity" leaves an indelible mark in our mind. The odds are that this slow-paced, one of a kind detective film will throw a viewer or two, used in watching whodunits shot in a vigorous and dry manner but if you are sick of them, why not spend a DVD evening in front of this gem? If it hypnotized you, maybe will you see the world differently.
If you think that you deal with a sempiternal detective plot and that the movie will be exclusively built around it, you are partly right. First of all, on the surface, "Humanity" is akin to any detective film with the usual ingredients of the genre. Yes, but Bruno Dumont, the director takes these ingredients back to concoct a recipe in his own manner. The first merit to be attributed to his work is that it bewares of every commonplace and every easiness of fashion. All the clichés which bit by bit endowed in an artificial way the genre of the detective movie have been shelved and consequently, Dumont's work is a real breath of fresh air. Now, if you take a closer look, the quoted investigation plays eventually a subordinate role and almost serves as a pretext to a nearly documentary about Pharaon's life. The less we can say is that his portrait is a far cry from the usual portraits of cops French and American cinema have been cramming us for several decades. So, Pharaon Winter is a policeman in Bailleul. He's the great-grandson of a famous painter with the same name. Throughout the film, we learn vague scraps of his tumultuous past life including this most important one: he lost his wife and little girl in an accident. Now he lives with his mother. He is also secretly in love with his neighbor, Domino (Séverine Cotreele) although the latter has a lover, Joseph (Philippe Thullier). The three of them regularly go out either it is in restaurant or by the sea...
So, Dumont goes beyond a simple history of killing to shot a real study of customs that would be worthy of an entomologist. Not only about the life of Pharaon but also on the close relatives who surround him, notably on Domino's and Joseph's. Then, to plunge more on the contents of the film and for a better understanding of it, let's write Dumont's words about the main reason which incited him to shot this gem: "I wanted to make a movie that would deal with the love of humanity while bearing in mind the reality which is grievous". Indeed, this humanity suffers and is made of rather dumb or sad human beings. and we mainly perceive them through Pharaon's eyes which are full of empathy and sympathy. With the presence of Pharaon, we learn to like them and become sensitive to their sorrow. In the last sequence when the murderer has been found (I won't reveal who it is), Pharaon kisses him on the mouth. If you don't bear in mind Dumont's words, of course, it will seem ludicrous to you but it is perfectly coherent with the philosophy of the film. On another extent, Pharaon sympathizes to the humanity's pain but this reality can be sometimes unbearable (the primal scream in front of the Eurostar, the embrace with the male nurse at the mental hospital. At last Dumont isn't afraid to shot the brutish sides of this humanity as the wild sexual relations between Domino and Joseph testify.
"The Life of Jesus" brought out a strong Bressonian odor in its cinema writing. In "Humanity" it fills the whole movie so much that Dumont could be Robert Bresson's deserving grandson and heir. Although he declines any link of relationship with the author of "Diary of a Country Priest" (1951), their respective cinema approaches perfectly agree: an absolute supremacy of the image, rare or reduced to the extreme dialogs to make the action progress and hiring of non-professional actors. Dumont's directorial style perfectly exploits these features and silence speaks much louder than dialogs. Through the actors' countenances and gestures, the viewer can guess or try to find what the comedians may think of. Dialogs are largely scattered throughout the flick, they notwithstanding contain another part of brilliance from Dumont: with few dialogs, he can express so much... Furthermore, Dumont distinguishes himself from Bresson and perseveres in his way with characteristics which belong to him. By watching this film, we can feel that there's such a will to depict life as it really is without distortions or extravagances and there's such an intensity in the presentation of Bailleul that it is close to the extraordinary and sacred. And of course, like in its predecessor, there's always this sharp sense of detail (which says a lot about several characters), of space and observation which contribute to solidify "Humanity" in its place of winner.
Such an arty work would be no worth without its actors. Like in "the Life of Jesus", these non-professional actors seem to live more than to act what they go through. One can't forget Emmanuel Schotté's neutral performance and his lifeless, melancholy face. Robert Bresson would probably have cried to work with him...
"The Life of Jesus" was the act of creation of an author, "Humanity" is the step of maturity and for Dumont it is astounding. A pure marvel as well as an undeniable tour-de-force in the so much massacred genre of the detective film, "Humanity" leaves an indelible mark in our mind. The odds are that this slow-paced, one of a kind detective film will throw a viewer or two, used in watching whodunits shot in a vigorous and dry manner but if you are sick of them, why not spend a DVD evening in front of this gem? If it hypnotized you, maybe will you see the world differently.