French Cinema: Mon Roi (My King) film review

Mon Roi directed by Maïwenn, tells the story of Marie-Antoinette “Tony” and her passionate yet tumultuous relationship with Georgio.

Emmanuelle Bercot and Vincent Cassel are brilliant in their roles as Tony and Georgio; Bercot proved this by winning best actress at Cannes for her performance. The raw realism in their elation, passion and despair is extraordinary, and it is the driving force behind what makes this film so compelling. Louis Garrel also delivers a fantastic performance as Tony’s brother, who brings much-needed humour and familial support. But the beauty in this film very much lies in the complexity of the relationship between Tony and Georgio,

I love how Maïwenn uses Tony’s rehabilitation from a skiing injury as a framing device for the film, as it is a time for slowing down and reflection. Naturally, she starts to delve into her past during this downtime. In fact, it’s almost as if the treatment of a physical injury allows her the time to heal the mental one too. The injury Tony has is also very symbolic, which the physiotherapist points out a the beginning of the film. Le genou (knee) is the only joint that can bend backwards.

Thematically there is a lot to unpack in this film. You have the changeability of relationships, discussions of mental health and gender roles. At the beginning of their relationship Tony and Georgio seem perfect for each other; they share a sense of humour and have an electric chemistry, but as time passes, Tony and thus the audience finds Georgio’s behaviour increasingly problematic.

“You leave people for the same reason that attracted you in the first place.”

He abandons his pregnant wife to live alone, spends more time looking after his ex, and parties without consideration for Tony, who has clearly suffered a deterioration in mental health due to postpartum depression and Georgio’s behaviour. Mental Health is also weaved throughout the narrative of the film via the characters of Tony and Georgio’s ex Agnès who attempted to commit suicide upon hearing that Tony was pregnant with Georgio’s baby.

And finally, gender roles are examined through the idea of how men and women and thus mothers and fathers, are supposed to be in the eyes of society. Georgio mentions that as a husband and a father, he is supposed to always be strong and in control. But, he often finds himself taking drugs and sleeping with random women because he falters, and he tries to hide this to protect Tony’s image of him as a model man. Toxic!

François Ozon's Swimming Pool: The writer as voyeur

François Ozon's 2003 erotic thriller Swimming Pool follows Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) a successful yet dissatisfied crime novelist as she spends some time away from stuffy England at her publishers home in France.

Spoilers ahead…

From the get-go Morton is uptight and bizarre, her excessive consumption of yoghurt is rather uncanny, her interaction with a fan on the tube and simmering jealousy of a new writer is telling. She’s going to undergo a metamorphosis and become less stoic and boring by the end of the film. But how she gets there is going to be rather interesting.

Morton is also a voyeur, she watches Julie (the daughter of the publisher whose house Sarah is staying at) have sex with a random stranger one night and often finds herself watching her when she swims and also becomes irritated by Julie talking and laughing on the phone. A weird obsession grows. There's also a scene in Sarah’s imagination where the camera tracks the contours of Julie’s body as she sunbathes, it’s almost the male gaze at work but it’s actually Sarah’s gaze, her authorial imagination at work.

I feel like the writer as a voyeur is such an obvious yet intriguing trope in thrillers. I mean writers definitely have to be voyeurs to some extent, people-watching is a socially acceptable form of voyeurism. But a thriller always makes them a little more creepy, and to be honest, Rampling makes this trope work so well that it almost feels fresh again.

“When someone keeps an entire part of their life secret from you, it's fascinating and frightening”

However, this is when things start to get complicated, Julie reads Sarah’s book and invites the local waiter Frank (to who Morton has taken a liking) over to make her jealous, they party. The morning after a panicked Sarah sees the pool covered up with a lump in the middle of the tarpaulin. Is Frank dead? No, it’s just the inflatable lilo. This moment was done well, it was predictable but it still makes your skin crawl for the duration of the scene.

Unsurprisingly, Frank does actually turn up dead, the two women bury him and vow to get on with their lives, Sarah even has to seduce the gardener after he starts to inspect the grave they dug the night before.

But this is all a ruse.

The entire plot of the film is put into question when an emboldened Morton returns to London with her finished novel and announces to her publisher that she has signed with someone else to release the book. Upon leaving the office a young girl enters and is addressed as Julie and greets her father. The Julie in France is not the real Julie in fact she never existed at all!

What a brilliant twist. She’s just an over-imaginative and slightly perverse writer. The metamorphosis I mentioned earlier happens because she gets her inspiration back, she blooms again because she has written something that excites her. I love how Ozon weaved this narrative and for a while, I thought it was going to follow an obvious course but I was really pleasantly surprised.

Ozon himself said ‘Charlotte's character kept mixing fantasy and reality. Although in Swimming Pool, everything related to fantasy is part of the act of creation, so it is more channelled and less likely to end up causing madness. In terms of directing, I've treated everything that is imaginary in Swimming Pool in a realistic way so that you see it all – fantasy and reality alike – on the same plane.”

French Cinema: Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World) Film Review

It’s Only the End of the World is a French-language film directed by Xavier Dolan. The film stars Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, and Vincent Cassel who are arguably some of the biggest names in French cinema.

Based on the play of the same name by Jean-Luc Lagarce the narrative of the film follows Louis, a playwright on his trip home for the first time in 12 years wherein he plans to tell his family that he is dying.

It’s easy to see that this film is based on a play due to its intimate settings, small core cast and telling dialogue where what isn’t said is just as intriguing and important as what is said. I also love how there is so much ambiguity throughout the film as it’s never revealed why Louis left in the first place only that something triggered it. This for me adds to the realism of the film as the story is essentially about how important communication is and how we often fail to listen to each other which results in awkwardness and resentment especially when it comes to family. In some parts, it did feel a bit over the top, especially when Louis is in the company of his aggressive older brother Antoine, who just can’t help but be a complete prick to everyone around him, but for the most part, it was a compelling family drama.

This is the first film by Xavier Dolan that I have seen and I must say that I’m kind of annoyed that I haven’t watched any of his work sooner as I was really quite taken aback by the cinematography (claustrophobic close-ups, intense colour grading) and the use of soundtrack in the film. Especially the use of O-Zone’s Dragostea Din Tei (yes that so cheesy it’s kind of good song from 2003) and Exotica’s Une miss s’immisce and how they weave into moments from Louis’s memories. These scenes are a world away from the claustrophobia of the family home in the present. Running hopefully over a sun-drenched field as a kid or a sensually lit (oranges, pinks and greens dominate the colour palette here) teenage sexual encounter, these flashbacks are beautifully nostalgic and the music only helps to create the atmosphere for each one.

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“We'll be better prepared next time…”

The film’s ending is also quite visually striking with severe fiery oranges that take over the colour palette due to the sun setting. It is also a fitting symbol for how intense and fraught the whole day has been for Louis and that perhaps like the setting sun signals the end of a day, this sunset is the end of his connection with his family. Bird imagery is also dispersed throughout the film but most notably at the end with a surreal moment where a small cuckoo escapes the cuckoo clock and flies frantically around the house searching for a way out. Almost certainly a metaphor for Louis himself, he flew the coup and should not have returned and as it lies dying on the floor at the close of the film, he too is on his journey towards death, alone.