mar_solelie Reviews

The Dreamers (2003)

"Whoever speaks of love destroys love."

[2 February 2004]

I forget in my other review to mentioned this(and a few corrections): To me this film is a `homage' of classic French films like LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES(MELVILLE2-1949)about the relatioship between a brother and a sister.The two are inseparable, sharing the same bed room and playing strange games.Also a third protagonist joined them.Sounds familiar?.See also TRUFFAUT'S JULES ET JIM.In the Bertolucci film the three friends hold their hands and start running like kids,this sequence is taken from the TRUFFAUT film.Bertolucci is a `francophile',he is a fan of Godard films.THE DREAMERS is his homage to the Nouvelle vague (New Wave).

"Insolence is the new revolutionary weapon."

The Dreamers (2003)

"The young make love, the old make obscene gestures"

[22 January 2004]

Bertolucci said : `when I was shooting THE DREAMERS ,there was youth around me everyday.It was completely contagious…it's embarrassing to say this,but I felt younger than them.'

This is exactley my view of him and the film…it's a tribute to that particular energy in Mai'68,this lost attitude(especially for us the young ones…) _`transgression _sexual experimentation _the desire to `change the world and to rebel against the old tradition.This subjects still should remain powerful for every new generation.

The relationship between this three friends has that spirit,This film is more "Godard"(jules and Jim)and"Enfants terribles".In The dreamers"The protagonist create a game to explore their own sexual identity …they are also `cinephiles' or film buffs,this film can be a test of the viewer too.I could go on and on…I recommend you to see it first.Ah! EVA GREEN is the best of the film!.

The more I make love, the more I want to make revolution.

The more I make revolution, the more I want to make love.

Cries & Whispers (1972)

"The Camera is a kind of Mirror"

[20 January 2004]

Strindberg wrote(REFERING TO A DREAM):'The characters are split,double,and multiple;they evaporate,crystallize,scatter,and converge.But a single consciousness holds sway over them all-that of the dreamer.'

This is a good way to describe Ingmar Bergman's CRIES AND WHISPERS,his most `expressionistic an Gothic curious film'.Everybody knows the plot,Bergman has been studied,cinephiles wrote many essays of his works.still Ingmar Bergman is now an almost `absent artist'.This says something of the current world .

This film made a huge impression on me,maybe because I grew up with three older sisters and my house was surrounded by women.I won't bored you with my review,I just want to say that my all time cinematic scene it's from this film.INGRID THULIN(who just died last week) suddenly leaves the claustrophobic room___Bergman's close up concentrates on her face and we see a choking expression, an exhale almost like the last breath of life has trespassed from her dying sister.her unforgettable face will stay with you for awhile .just like a ghost.

9/10

The Killing (1956)

NOT AN ORDINARY FILM

[20 January 2004]

This is a weird couple.Geoge(Elisha Cook) and Sherry(Marie Peatty).We just know this kind of husband and wife.Sherry is the all american B!TCH and George is a pusillanimous.Kubrick concentrates more on this characters -we know why--.WOW the `robbery sequence' it's so good .well,I don't have the words to describe it.see it by yourself.Tarantino.eat your heart out!!!!!.

8/10

Faithless (2000)

La femme adultère

[19 January 2004]

Ingmar Bergman,as you may know it ,wrote the screenplay of Faithless.Bergman ,a great director and a writer-to me--he is more a `writer' than director.

Erland Josephson is Bergman 's best friend and favorite actor in Faithless he plays,well,Bergman!.Erland 's character is an aging film and theatre director who `conjures' up the ghost of Marianne(Lena Endre),an actress and ex lover ,who also became his muse.The film concentrates on her disastrous affair- years ago- with her husband's best friend and the terrible consequences for her own family(as the suffering of her child). Lena Endre is part of Ingmar Bergman troupe(she has worked with him in the theater) gives one of the most exhausting performance I ever seen!.she can seat next to Ingrid Thulin as one of the most captivating female actresses from Sweden(after Greta and Ingrid of course!).Liv Ullman(another Ingmar Bergman muse) in `Faithless',also gives something important:a tribute-- `homage'-- to this unique film-maker.Liv's directorial work it's strong -of course--she had learn from the best!.

Bergman's fascination -through his so productive- career has been the impossibility of relationship between a man and a woman;the egocentrism of an artist and also death.We tend to ` idealize' monogamy and fidelity.FAITHLESS is close to films like Scene from a Marriage,(starring Ullman) or Wild Strawberries(an aging man goes to a metaphysical journey).So ,my question is :was Ullman paying tribute to Bergman or this film is Bergman's gift to his long time muse?.I think is both.

See also Bergman's CRIES &WHISPERS.His tribute to all his important muses,women and actresses of his incredible career.

Anguish and uncertainty,just think of what this words means.Faithless is a complex film about many subjects: `adults' who can't have a connection.'complex woman'_one thing that I love about this film is how complicated the female psyche can be.and the perception of reality/fiction from an artist(he creates from his experience or it is based on fiction and fantasies?).Bergman_through close-up _ had show the `female GAZE'-that particular LOOK. In Faithless his woman sees an extraordinary old man,he is her confidant-she doesn't exist without him-(or viceversa?).Then, she vanishes. an artist can be very faithful with his own art,with his actresses ,with himself---this is a very powerful subject.FILMS are a prove that ghosts really exist,that characters are more alive than real people.Bergman and ULLMAN:faithful talents exploring the blurred line between an artist and his muse.Or when the muse surpasses the creator.(can this be possible?).A wife.A lover.A muse.all of this and more.

9/10

Show Me Love (1998)

The movie is gentle and real

[9 December 2003]

I know this film would have been different if extremist film-makers like Harmony Korine or Larry Clark were involved.Well, the film `Show me Love'(I like the original title more_but_this prudish site doesn't allow the `F' word) is great because it is not gross or extremist like other `teenaged' films. Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's first feature shows a special sensibility and respect for the young protagonists and what they are feeling:he does not pretend to judge them_with the beautiful `silent face' of the actress Rebecka Liljeberg ( Agnes in the film)he can show her inner self(he maybe learned that from another great Swedish director'Ingmar Bergman).

Amal is about the isolation of a certain age,the girl Agnes is a `new kid in town' far from being `pathetic' she just wants things right now not later (in one particular scene Agnes' father tries to comfort her by describing his triumphant return to a school reunion. "Yes, but Dad," his unhappy daughter replies, "I don't want to wait 25 years. I'd rather be happy now.").

The film also concentrates in the popular girl who had a crush on our protagonist,there is a lovely scene when they first kissed.

If you appreciate this kind of gentle film about teenagers,I recommend you another film ,the Spanish KRÁMPACK(this film focuses more about sexual exploration:it is very good)

Show me Love is more successful than THIRTEEN(don't get me wrong;I like this film too),I guess they are different.