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Reviews
Wesele (2004)
An intellectual farce with plenty of vodka
A delightful and meticulous farce with a touch of poetic realism (something along the lines of "La règle du jeu" by Jean Renoir updated and in a Polish context). Wedding reception, the puffed-up romantic climax of the "happiest day of your life", is turned into a satiric interpretation of the materialistic laws of the "money rules" society and the "keeping up with the appearance" attitude that comes with it. At times at an incredible pace, the montage shows guests playing vulgar games, while the bride's grand-father's corpse (and the old values with him) are already rotting in the toilet. And then there's vodka, the other ever-powerful social lubricator of all Slavic cultures (and some others as well; mind me saying, as Aki Kaurismäki depicts in his movies the same obsession found in Finland quite well, too).
By choosing to portray a "typical" wedding with all its weird and, at the same time, obligatory traditions, "Wesele" manages to smuggle the wider context of social change into the world of fiction. - How about that ostentatious wedding gift, a car stolen from Germany, following the often-told joke both by Germans and Polish: go to Poland - your car already is there! Not wanting to offend the Polish culture and its traditions here, on the contrary: "Wesele" is a poignant example of merciless but humouristic self-irony in the national context; still, it manages to find its reference also in the international field, as we all in the western culture are wrapped up in a consumer-crazed society and the style of living that comes with it. So, everything has a price and is up for a bribe.
The zenith comes when the bride's father - a central figure arranging everything with money, from the stolen wedding gift to driving under influence arrest - finds himself not only robbed of his money (he has it hidden in a greenhouse; as my Polish friends pointed out, the Polish do not trust banks... another subtle social commentary here), but abandoned by his wife, his daughter the bride, and even by his dog. The happy end? - Bride running away with her old boy-friend, the cameraman, finally united with her true love (maybe). At least it seems to underline the film's subversive stand, and the longing for values more profound than those found in cold cash.
Non credo più all'amore (La paura) (1954)
Ingrid Bergman as a guinea pig
The Italian director Roberto Rossellini is mostly known, and has gained his reputation as a great director mainly for his neorealistic films from the 1940's. However, by the 1950's he had moved on and concentrated on depicting human relations, mostly couples who are going some sort of a marital crisis.
"La paura" (fear in English; actually its original title is "Die Angst", because the film is in German not like in Germania anno cero, which did take place in Germany, but whose characters spoke Italian) can be seen in continuance with these works, for example with "Viaggio in Italia" (1954), where Ingrid Bergman also plays the female protagonist. "La Paura" focuses on showing the emotional distress and literally the fear of a woman who has had an extra-marital relationship and who is, besides tormented by her infidelity, now being blackmailed by her lover's ex-girlfriend.
In no way could this film be characterized as neorealistic, so obvious is the use of melodramatic music to underline the suspense, and furthermore the film doesn't really criticize the society as it does its individuals in their private affairs (or does it?). Genrewise, it is located somewhere between a melodrama and a psychological thriller. It owes a lot to the German expressionism of the 1920's in its use of shadows and camera angles, and might be defined as somewhat film noirish (which isn't actually a genre, but a style) both in its gloomy imagery and in its ambiguous moral universe. In film noir the world is always a twisted place, where traditional values have been lost and individuals feel alienated, all of which is connected to the threatening urban atmosphere. Normally women are corrupt and not to be trusted, but in this European version the most cruel role plays the husband, who is mercilessly putting his wife on a test, as he himself has hired the girl to blackmail his wife.
One of the most memorable scenes shows Irene Wagner (Bergman) following her husband's crew performing a laboratory test on a guinea pig, where first poison and then antidote are injected in the object-victim. The monotonous and anguish-producing sound from the measurement device makes the scene a small masterpiece, corresponding with and further emphasizing Irene's agony.
The etymology of the original title 'Angst' (anguish) carries within the meaning 'godless', which is not too far-fetched as the film's persons are concerned. Without God there is no homogeneous moral construction, and so no universal ethics or values exist. This can be extended to the end of Great Narratives, which might have existed still in the 1950's, but in general there was no universal guideline to follow. People, individuals, are thrown into a world full of insecurity, and there lives appear to be meaningless. Their actions seem often sporadic and they can't really empathize with other people's feelings. In the end the husband saves her wife from suicide and they embrace each other in fervor, repeating "I love you" an ending very similar to that of Viaggio in Italia. The film ends very abruptly after having reached its climax, which left me doubtful on the credibility of the outcome and made the solution seem merely a pseudo closure (as David Bordwell calls a closure which seems forced and thus false).
All in all, I recommend this film as another case study on human psyche.
Viaggio in Italia (1954)
That gripping sense of mortality
The neorealist director Rossellini introduces us a firm cinematographic study of a couple (played by Ingrid Bergman, Rossellini's spouse at the time, and George Sanders) with marital problems midst of beautiful Italian landscapes.
I would above all underline the central theme of death, mortality, and the ever-so-relentless notion of the fleetingness of human life. The scenes with a funeral convoy (seen by Catherine/Bergman from her car), or Natalie telling about the catacombs with dead people in them ("the forgotten dead"), the museums in general, and very last the visit to Pompey where the archaeologist digging up and dusting a couple dead in the eruption of the volcano - these all add up into a quite clear, yet not so obvious as to be irritating, message. In the end, this time in the middle of a communion (?) parade, after several discussions and a decision to get divorced, the couple decides to go on, after all they do love each other (and may I remark here, why on earth is the film's Spanish title, "Te querré siempre" = I will always love you, such a spoiler? - This often happens when titles are translated...) and they only have this one life to live.
There are many other successes to Viaggio in Italia, such as for example showing subtle notions on people's feelings and attitudes (Catherine notices Alexander flirting with another woman in a restaurant while a band plays a cheerful tune; Catherine and Alexander talk on the balcony while sunbathing; Catherine waiting for Alexander and feigning to have fallen asleep...); these moments someone might call "realistic" but I am far too careful to do so.
All in all, Viaggio in Italia is a great film for a film aficionado/a to watch with their mother (it she's anything like mine), the both will love it, but maybe not for all the same reasons ;).