SEDUCED AND ABANDONED
US, 2013, 95 minutes, Colour.
Alec Baldwin, James Toback, Bernardo Bertollucci, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Diane Kruger, Berenice Bejo, Ryan Gosling, James Caan, Ari Lerner, Mark Damon.
Directed by James Toback.
Seduced and Abandoned is a film that will appeal only to film buffs – and there are many. Audiences will need to know a lot of the people who appear, not just the popular actors but also something of the directors and producers. It may be possible to learn from this film, but it is filled with so much detail and presuppositions that the audience will know what the protagonists are talking about, the careers of many presented and the clips from their films.
To that extent, the film is something of an indulgence for cinema buffs.
The film is something of a documentary, something of a fiction, something of a mockumentary. The basic premise has Alec Baldwin wanting to get back into his film career after many seasons of television’s 30 Rock. He joins up with director, James Toback, to watch the screening in New York of Bertollucci’s Last Tango in Paris. The pair get the brainwave of redoing this theme in a contemporary 21st-century setting, possibly the Middle East, possibly Iraq, a Last Tango in Tikrit.
Toback is the more optimistic as they set off the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 to seek financial backers for the project. Baldwin is far more sanguine, setting the bar fairly low.
The film was interesting and entertaining, especially when the pair go to visit producers like the prolific Mark Damon and Ari Lerner. They suggest some estimates as to how much money could be invested. Baldwin is to be the star but they have already talked with Neve Campbell and promised her a role in the film. But, she is not considered big and bankable – and sometimes neither is Baldwin himself. So, there are all kinds of speculations about the film, the plot, changing plot details, introducing a big star and putting Neve Campbell in the more supporting role, suggestions about where it should be filmed. And the producers are not really all that keen on investing a great deal of money.
Where the film is really interesting for film buffs is in the interviewing of four prominent directors, seeing clips from their films, listening to the directors explaining their career, the opportunities, what happened during their careers, their hopes and ambitions. Bernardo Bertollucci is the veteran, in a wheelchair with back trouble which prevented him from filming for 10 years, but reminiscing about his friendship with Pasolini, working as his assistant, and, especially, working with Marlon Brando in Last Tango (with several clips, some rather jolting seen in isolation). Roman Polanski is interesting in his talk about Poland, his training, his early films, the making of Rosemary’s baby, of Chinatown. Francis Ford Coppola talks, of course, about The Godfather and about Apocalypse Now. He seems to have lost some edge and infusing is about making films.
Martin Scorsese is always interesting, his rapid-fire speech getting through a lot of material in a short time, mentioning once again his time and study of the priesthood and the religious dimensions of his career in film.
There are also some stars who were in Cannes at the time, Berenice Bejo from The Artist who hosted the awards at the Festival, with Ryan Gosling more articulate than might be expected, James Caan and his reminiscing about his career and opportunities, Diane Kruger offered a role in the new film but graciously putting it on hold until she examines the script.
And all of this to the background of the city of Cannes, the beauty, the sea, the market, the razzle-dazzle, the red carpet.
For those not in the know about the movies, probably best left. For those in the know about the movies, an entertaining indulgence.
