French Cinema: Les Confins du monde (To the Ends of the World) film review

Les Confins du monde is directed by Guillaume Nicloux and stars Gaspard Ulliel, Guillaume Gouix, Lang Khê Tran and Gérard Depardieu.

Set during the volatile days of France's colonization of Indochina, most specifically Vietnam, Les Confins du monde follows a soldier on his quest to avenge his brother’s violent murder.

Beautifully shot, Les Confins du monde uses lingering shots on sumptuous jungles and beautifully framed quiet conversations suffused with poeticism to juxtapose with moments of extreme violence and gore.

The opening of the film is a brilliant example of this. The ghostly calm, represented by Ulliel’s Tassen sitting alone with people drifting past in a misty army post, a colour palette of pale blues, greys and greens suddenly becomes a contortion of bodies rendered in deep reds, oranges and rich green. A mass grave of bleeding corpses.

This is a shock to the system, a glimpse at the horrors of war and the film to come. This abrupt shift from peace to violence also represents the nature of guerilla warfare; a moment of solitude and silence very quickly descends into chaos and death.

The narrative of Les Confins du monde is very evocative of Apocalypse Now, and Tassen teeters on the edge of becoming a Colonel Kurtz figure as he obsessively hunts for a revolutionary figure waging a guerilla war against French occupation and Japanese invaders whom he deems responsible for the death and mutilation of his brother and his brother’s wife.

Tassen also falls in love with a Vietnamese prostitute, but his love manifests as control and psychological punishment, and his relationships with his fellow soldiers don’t fair much better.

He is poisoned by the need to avenge; he isolates those around him and breaks rules and causes many to die. It’s a brutal film, and the story sort of just fades off towards the end, symbolising that Tassen will probably never find the man he is hunting and that his whole journey is in the end completely futile.

«Le deuil est une drôle d'épreuve. Un jour, on croit en être sorti, et puis non... Il est toujours là, incrusté avec sa colère»

“Grief is a strange ordeal. One day we think we’re cured, but no… it’s still there indivisible from our anger”

Another central theme to the film is that of grief, Tassen is grieving, but he is blinded by rage and PTSD after being the sole survivor of a massacre. He has quiet conversations with Saintonge, a writer who asserts that he is on no one’s side, that he has fallen in love with Vietnam and its people, but who is ultimately crippled by grief.

Tassen is almost disgusted by Saintonge, by his defeat and continues on his journey. With each loss of life around him, Tassen contorts into a more savage, cruel and empty version of himself. This in itself is what makes the film interesting to watch, the study of a broken man on a deadly and endless quest.

The Souvenir Film Review

Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir is a semi-autobiographical film about a young filmmaker who gets caught up in a fraught relationship with a charming older man.

Hogg shoots The Souvenir perfectly. It’s a visual delight of soft dreary colours and a grainy film texture.

Also, Interestingly, the apartment Julie lives in is actually a full reconstruction of Hogg’s apartment, and the views seen through the windows are old photos that Hogg had taken back in the 80s. Filmmaking doesn’t really get much more personal than that.

Furthermore, Hogg represents this with the use of close-ups and mirrors. There is a wall-length mirror that occupies Julie’s apartment, and it acts as a device that reflects the characters back to themselves unflinchingly. Then, when the mirror is broken, it distorts them and splinters their reflections.

On the other hand, to counteract this intimacy with the personal past, Hogg also shoots many moments from afar and in one particularly striking scene in Venice, we see the action from the reflection of a small mirror in a vast room, the complete antithesis of the mirror that occupies Julie’s apartment, yet it tells the same truth.

And while it’s a gorgeous film to behold, I did find The Souvenir to be just a little too slow in its unfolding of the plot; sure, it had a lot to say about class, relationships, gaslighting and art, but it said them all a little too slow for me. Which I was rather surprised about as I do love a slow-burn film where characters and mood take centre stage.

“Stop inviting me to torture you,”

The casting in this film is spot on; Honor Swinton Byrne becomes enmeshed with Julie, and Tom Burke plays Antony with the right balance of pretension and charm that is soon replaced with utter deplorability. Tilda Swinton as Julie’s Mother (who is also Swinton Byrne’s real Mother), who dances on the line between maternal love and being overbearing, and Richard Ayoade’s cameo as a patronising filmmaker and friend of Anthony is rather amusing.

While I struggled with the film due to its pacing I will definitely be watching The Souvenir Part II as I am intrigued to see where Julie’s story is heading. But above all else I loved the cinematography and casting (as I’ve mentioned earlier in this review) and to be honest that is enough for me.

French Cinema: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) film review

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu is a historical drama directed by Céline Sciamma.

The film tells the story of a forbidden love affair between an aristocrat and a painter; being both women in 18th-century France, the romance between Marianne (Noémie Merlant) and Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) is deemed by society just as much a social taboo as it is a sexual one.

The film competed at Cannes for the Palme d'Or but instead won the Queer Palm, a significant achievement as Céline Sciamma is the first woman to win the prize.

I love how female-orientated this film is: Céline Sciamma, the director is a lesbian woman, the cast is literally just women (except a few male extras here and there), the cinematographer, yes, you guessed it is a woman, Claire Mathon, to be precise and I am fast becoming a fan of her work. And this shows big time in how the film feels. There is no male gaze, and there are difficult issues such as abortion present.

Moreover, through Marianne, a female artist, the art world and its restrictions on women are challenged; traditionally, the woman is the muse but here, she can play both roles, the painter and the muse.

And at the very crux of the story is the beautiful, passionate and poetic love that Marianne and Héloïse have for each other. It’s safe to say that the ending of the film broke my heart, I sobbed and ugly cried long after the credits rolled. Even thinking about page number 28 or the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice chokes me up, and ‘Summer’ from Vivaldi's Four Seasons will never be the same.

«Vous pensez que tous les amants ont le sentiment d'inventer quelque chose?»

‘Do all lovers feel they’re inventing something?’

This film is exquisitely shot, the cinematography feels like a painting and the stolen looks and glances between Marianne and Héloïse are shown in beautifully framed close-ups. Portrait de la jeune fille en feu feels like a love letter to love, to Queer love and to the poetry of the soulmate.

The symbolism in Orpheus and Eurydice is heartbreaking, and when Héloïse calls for Marianne to turn around and look at her one last time, you can’t help but feel a dagger in your heart. It’s almost criminal that this film did not get nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, as it quite clearly could have won.

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu is a masterpiece of cinema. And like Call Me By Your Name, Moonlight, and a plethora of other exquisitely shot LGBTQ+ films, Portrait de la jeune fille en feu proves that love outside of heteronormativity is beautiful and worthy of a place in cinema and should be celebrated all year round and not just in Pride Month.

Film Review: Sorry to Bother You

Sorry to Bother You is a satirical masterpiece tackling capitalism and racism simultaneously. The film was directed by Boots Riley in his debut behind the camera and stars Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Danny Glover, Steven Yeun, Omari Hardwick and Armie Hammer.

This film is beyond wacky like it is a trip and a half. Yet it feels so relevant right now because of how linked it is with our current reality. Capitalism is critiqued through the adverts Cassius sees on TV and around his neighbourhood, the evil corporation ‘WorryFree’ is a modern incarnation of the slave trade and to truly escalate his career Cassius adopts a “White voice” as a telemarketer.

The concept of the “White Voice” is really quite terrifying, a white supremacist construct that serves to restrict black voices. Before adopting this voice, Cassius is unsuccessful in selling to a predominantly white public, but as soon as he uses this “White Voice”, he connects with them and starts racking up the sales!

Yeun’s character Squeeze also starts a union to protest against unfair working conditions and terrible pay, which also fits in with how 0-hour contracts, discrimination and dehumanisation occur in workplaces within our reality.

These critiques of society are so cleverly woven into the narrative, and the humour is just so brilliant, I think I could gush about how absolutely original and funny and important this film is for hours. It is definitely a new favourite, and I can’t wait to see what Riley does next as a Director!

The costume design and just the general aesthetics of this film really stand out, especially with the character Detroit, Cash’s girlfriend played by the always brilliant Tessa Thompson. She wears custom earrings and clothes with political and feminist messages, her hair is dyed several different colours and her makeup defies convention. She is an artist through and through and I love how expressive her costuming is, she is an iconic character and I loved how independent she is.

With the Black Lives Matter movement gaining massive traction this past month after the awful murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd this year, it is important for Black voices to be amplified and given a space to shine. One of the best places for this to happen to reach a wide range of people is in the film industry.

Movies are so influential; they can inspire, they can celebrate, and they can educate, and a film like Sorry to Bother You does all three. Riley, alongside other Black Directors like Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins, Ryan Coogler and Jordan Peele are making fantastic films right now that challenge how White Hollywood is, so get watching!

My next step is to seek out Black Female Directors, as the film industry, in general, is dominated by male voices. So far, I’ve added Ava DuVernay, Melina Matsoukas, Chinonye Chukwu, Wanuri Kahiu and Mati Diop to my list, but if you have a favourite Black Female Director, then feel free to share with everyone in the comments section.

French Cinema: Un prophète (A Prophet) film review

Un Prophète directed by Jacques Audiard is an award-winning French crime drama. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes, several César Awards, a Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA, Best Film at the BFI London Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards. Quite the collection of accolades and there is most definietly a reason for that.

Tahar Rahim is exceptional as Malik El Djebena, an incarcerated small-time criminal who ascends up the prison hierarchy. Rahim commands the screen completely even though this was one of his first film roles, and we, the audience, follow his startling metamorphosis step by step.

One of the most visceral scenes comes early in the film, where Malik is tasked with the assassination of Reyeb, a fellow Muslim prison mate, by the all-powerful Corsican mob boss César Luciani (Niels Arestrup). It is a startling scene that is hard to watch but brilliantly depicts Malik’s desperation to survive. As a result of his violent and botched murder, he is thus haunted by the spectre of Reyeb throughout the rest of the film.

Impressively, Un prophète is not exactly an original tale, but its execution and exploration of race make it a compelling entry into the prison drama genre. Due to Malik El Djebena’s French-Algerian heritage, he is able to navigate the diverse cultures of the prison; he straddles the gap between the Corsican mobsters and the Muslims and cultivates his position within both groups to further his position in the prison’s hierarchy.

He also finds time to learn how to read and write through the prison school, arming himself for life outside when his six-year sentence is finally over. His journey is a complex and compelling one, and you feel yourself rooting for him throughout.

A familiar story made brilliant through execution and a star performance by Tahar Rahim, who is easily one of France’s most compelling actors working at the moment.