A quickie

The Impossible

Behave!   Not that sort of quickie, but a brief review of a couple of movies we have seen since the Les Miserables post.  I'm glad to say that the lovely C and I are back on track as movie lovers and that Singapore continues to offer up a menu of delights.  The first course on that menu is French and features the amazing Juliette Binoche.  I have to confess (as often happens with French films) that I'm not sure I fully understood it.  This has nothing to do with the film being in French (with English subtitles), it's much more to do with the subject matter.  I say subject matter rather than "plot" as, in my experience, many French films do not have what most people would recognise as a plot.  Instead, they attempt to draw you in to what the main protagonists are experiencing as the film progresses and, since these are seldom feelings of joy and happiness with their lot, it is often a pretty depressing experience for the audience.  That said, I absolutely love French cinema.  I love the challenge of trying to connect with the characters and think myself into their motivation and their behaviours, which is quite a tough gig for someone with my Scottish Calvinist background.  For goodness sake, my mother was brought up in the Wee Wee Frees.  Enough said.  The lovely Juliette gave her usual excellent performance in "Elles", in which she plays a journalist interviewing student prostitutes for an article.  When I say "student prostitutes" I mean young girls who are funding their university studies by means of prostitution, rather than those who have signed up for a diploma course in the subject.  Wouldn't that be interesting?  Imagine the timetable:

Monday:  A.M. History (well, it is the oldest profession)
                          Oral skills - theory and practice. BYOB (Bring your own banana)

                 P.M. Languages - talking dirty and giving good phone
                          Field trip - making out in the outdoors

But I digress.  As Juliette begins to engage with the prostitutes she becomes more and more critical of her own life and comes to believe that she too, has sold out, although her comfortable, bourgeois life is very different from those of her interviewees.  If Elles comes to a cinema near you, give it a go.  It's not an easy film, and Hugh Jackman does not get his kit off, but it is, nevertheless, a worthwhile experience.

Next up - The Impossible, which is based on a true story of the 2004 tsunami.  Although the real family concerned was Spanish, they have become Brits in the film -  I guess because Ewan McGregor was more bankable internationally than Antonio Banderas?  In any case, it's a goodie.  Lots of action and emotion, and a happy ending for some.  

Finally, The Tree, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, famous for their duet "Je t'aime moi non plus".    My older readers will remember this song and the accompanying outrage from the British establishment, but if you have not heard it, have a listen to this.  Personally, I think it's a great song even though the lyrics are a load of rubbish, and you couldn't wish for a better soundtrack to that quickie :-).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fa4lOQfbA.  

But on to the film, which we saw at the Alliance Francaise, who run a cine club on Tuesday evenings.  I don't want to share too much, because it was truly extraordinary.  Moving, without being sentimental and deeply sad, yet optimistic and life-affirming in the end.  It was the closing film at the 2010 Cannes film festival and deservedly so, in my view.  It's in English and set in Australia, so have no worries about subtitles getting in the way of the experience.