CENDRES ET SANG (ASHES AND BLOOD)

France, 2009, 105 minutes, Colour.
Ronit Elkabetz, Abraham Belaga.
Directed by Fanny Ardant.

A striking opening in black and white showing a father and three children at the beach. Then a shooting and red blood oozing on the path. Though there is little blood shown in the rest of the film, blood is, indeed, the theme, passionate blood and a drama of blood feuds.

Most of the film is set in Romania, filmed in Transylvania, its old mansions and churches, and the open fields and forests.

The mother of the three children, now grown up, return to Romania for a family wedding. She hopes that not only will it be a happy occasion and an opportunity for the children to discover their roots and their family history, but an occasion for herself to be reconciled with the family.

This seems to be happening. However, there are secrets and lies, old feuds that rankle and burst out destructively so that hate dominates and leads to tragedy. While the audience might not always follow too well who belongs to which family (though the cast in the final credits is presented according to the three family trees), the drama is intriguing and colourfully – and intensely - presented.

This the first is the first to be directed by one of the leading actresses of French cinema for many decades, Fanny Ardant.

1.The impact of the drama, melodrama, the portrait of a family, family feuds?

2.The opening, the father with his children, black and white photography, the confrontation with the hit men, the shooting, the red blood on the path?

3.Marseilles, the apartment, mother and children, the two sons, Mira, the landlady and her complaints and insults, the smashed window, the mother fixing the window? The revelation of the characters of each through these incidents?

4.The invitation to go to Romania, the mother’s motivations for going?

5.The Transylvania locations, the mansions, the church, the fields, the forests, the animals? The musical score?

6.The family, adjusting to Transylvania, the three families and their history, the issue of land and possessions, the flashback to the story of the twins, the dead man, dragging his body, to the wrong land? Louppos telling the story? The influence on his life?

7.Judit’s family, the matriarch, the preparation for the marriage, Judit and her being cut off, her father arranging for her husband to be killed? Judit’s exile, her defiance, the cousins, the meetings and the discussions, shared experiences?

8.The Polyglades family, the husband-to-be, the preparation for the wedding, the patriarch? The twins, their grudges against the rival family?

9.The Drins, their land, Judit’s abandoned husband, memories, meeting him?

10.The wedding sequence, the joy, the reconciliation, the feast, the dancing? The religious ceremony?

11.The men, their meeting, the clashes, the bows and arrows, the fights?

12.Mia, her deafness, her playing chess with the patriarch? A good woman? Her mother wanting the water? Her going into the house, her being accosted, her being attacked?

13.Louppos, his vengeance, fighting, causing the death of the twin? Judit’s son, his defending his sister, hitting the twin, his collapsing and hitting his head, his death? The mother’s grief at her daughter’s death?

14.The laws of the feud, the son having to go to the family, the table set, the men and women sitting, all in black, the son and his accepting his responsibility? Louppos appearing, his confession that it was his hatred that caused the situation, his lie? The mother and her being witness?

15.The patriarch, asking the advice of his wife? The forgiveness? The film as a critique of the old ways of family feuds?