BERNARD AND DORIS

US, 2006, 100 minutes, Colour.
Susan Sarandon, Ralph Fiennes, James Rebhorn.
Directed by Bob Balaban.

The Doris of the title of this film is Doris Duke, heiress to a tobacco fortune, associated with Duke University. Bernard is Bernard Lafferty, a rather illiterate Irishman, alcoholic, gay man, who was sent to Doris Duke’s house as a temporary butler and who became her confidante and received the bulk her will when she died.

There had been a miniseries with Lauren Bacall as Doris Duke and Richard Chamberlain as Bernard Lafferty (1999). Some commentators make the point that Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes are much more sympathetic in the film than the characters were in real life.

Susan Sarandon has shown versatility in performance for almost 50 years and brings Doris Duke to complex life, in her personality, in her inheritance and rich lifestyle, in her sexual liaisons, in her dependence on Bernard and yet her dominating board meetings. Ralph Fiennes is quite charming, even though alcoholic and deferring to Doris while actually in control of her.

The film is directed by actor Bob Balaban (ranging from Close Encounters to Seinfeld) who has also directed quite an amount of television and series.

This is a portrait of 20th century American capitalism and eccentricity.

1. An American portrait? The world of the wealthy? 20th century?

2. Audience knowledge of Doris Duke, Bernard Lafferty?

3. The period, 20th century, the 1920s, the death of the millionaire, tobacco background, the headlines device the past years, and Doris’s inheritance, her marriage to Cromwell, common Porfirio Bourassa, divorce, international connections, will, in the Marcos, her business success? Philanthropy?

4. The 1980s, Doris and her age, her care of herself, her facelift? Success, business, philanthropy, Board meetings, the handling of the members (and Bernard praising her for this)?

5. At home, the mansion, the only other properties around the world? Her attitude towards her servants, firing? Her meals, room, the blades, the men in her life? Who work in her garden and cried in her gardens and pots?

6. Wanting a new servant, Bernard arriving, waiting, haughty manner, giving the job, in himself, Northern Irish, working for is Taylor, the different jobs, his being in rehab? Her taking him for granted? His sitting in, the work, the development of the report report, Doris relying on him, and is insinuating himself into her confidence? His dislike of the board member, the interview and the offer of the payoff and his refusal?

7. Doris Alder, socials, the talk was Bernard, the self-revelation about her father, mother,? But that in his background, his parents, his homosexuality, his getting permission to go out on a date?

8. Bernard strict with the servants but stealing the wine and liquor? Discovered after his collapse?

9. Doris, her frailty, collapse, page, the discussions with record, becoming very ill, a quiet birthday, was Bernard, the injection? The degree that there be no funeral – and the president promotion, scattering the ashes over water?

10. Her will, the variety of requests? The was Bernard, that he be on the Board? His administration? Did three years?

11. A portrait of characters, the Porter American society, capitalist society, and human interest?

VIVA

Ireland, 2015, 100 minutes, Colour.
Jorge Perugorria, Luis Alberto Garcia, Hector Medina, Laura Aleman, Paula Ali, Luis Manuel Alvarez.
Directed by Paddy Breathnach.

This is an unexpected project for an Irish film. It is set in Cuba, filmed in Cuba and in Spanish. However, the directness by Paddy Breathnach (I Went Down, Shrooms). It was written by Irish writer, Mark O’ Halloran, who scripted such significant films as Adam and Paul, The Guard, Calvary.

However, the performers are all from Cuba.

This is a story of a young man who does make up for a troupe of drag queens who perform locally. His dream is to be a performer. We see details of his personality, his life, his ambitions, of his frustrations. However, when he finally has the opportunity to perform, an older man steps forward and punches him in the face.

The man who does this is his long-absent father and the rest of the film is the struggle of each of the men to understand the other, for the father with his macho Hispanic attitudes, the young man and his sexual identity as well as his desire to perform.

Also complications with others of the troop, of the women associated with the central character, pregnancy, babies, father-figures.

So, while the film has something of an exotic setting, it is also the story of a father and son, conflict and possibilities for bonding.

1. A Cuban story? 21st-century? Irish writer and director?

2. The Havana locations, the slums, the vistas of the city, homes, streets, shops, boxing gymnasium, hospital? Ordinary Cuban life?

3. The Cabaret, the Drag Queens, characters and life, their world, entertaining, talents, the impact on the audiences, the audience response? Behind-the-scenes, the chat, the banter, discussions about whores?

4. Drag Queens in themselves? Memories of the past, the Castro regime? Homosexuals, homosexual culture? Soliciting currently on the streets?

5. The music, the songs, Spanish-language, intense performance, costumes, make-up, the wigs and the care for the wigs? Jesus and his impersonations, with the drag costumes, without?

6. Jesus story, his age, young gay man, growing up gay, love for his mother, her death, his father leaving when he was three, effeminate style, resorting to prostitution for money, his friend soliciting in the park? The apartment, cutting hair, gossiping, Nita and her later help, Cecilia and Javier wanting the apartment? His reactions? Mama, her role, her skills, care, dealing with the others, chatting, awkward situations in the Cabaret, fights, her offering Jesus the chance, confronting his father? The father and the punch-up in the Cabaret?

7. Angel, his age, boxer, killing a man, going to prison, love for his wife, leaving her and his son? Returning, ill, the punch in the Cabaret, ousted, his talk, refusing to let Jesus perform, his drinking, going to the gymnasium, the welcome back? Jesus cooking the meals, his discontent? His collapse? In hospital, getting the food, Nita as help, weeks to live? His still forbidding Jesus to perform, Mama coming to the house and challenging him? Jesus being honest, declaring his will for his life, to be strong, the impact of performance? His visit to the Cabaret, supporting his son? The? The editing, cutting between performance with Jesus preparing his body for burial?

8. Mama, her age, look, the strength of her performances, dramatic, managing the Cabaret, with Jesus, with the other dancers, the offer, Angel acknowledging his son’s success and congratulations?

9. The other dancers, their life, personalities, the stories, memories of their fathers, growing up gay, the performances? Lydia, age, coming to the Cabaret?

10. Cecilia and Javier, Cecilia helping Jesus in the past, not having money, the sexual encounters, Javier and his conflict with Jesus? The pregnancy, Javier not wanting to help?
The decision to have the baby?

11. The hustler, friendship with Jesus, his range of injuries and props to get clients? Jesus and the scenes with the clients, the treatment, the friendly man, Jesus robbing his wallet? The later confrontation at the Cabaret?

12. The real Jesus, performing, strong?

13. The final credits, Cecilia and the baby, Jesus as a father figure, the friendship with the hustler? A future?

EMBER

Turkey, 2016, 110 minutes, Colour.
Aslihan Gurbuz, Caner Cindoruk, Taner Birsel.
Directed by Zeki Demirkubuz.

This is quite a grim film from Turkey.

The focus is on a woman surviving in Turkey while her husband has disappeared to Romania. She is uncertain as to when he will return. And their son is very ill and needs hospital treatment. She relies on her husband’s partner, going to work for him, his paying the bill for the medication and surgery, and her becoming part of a relationship with him.

When the husband returns, there is tension between the three people, the husband working for his friend, the wife in difficult circumstances in her relationship with each of the men, then an accident in which the owner of the business is killed.

The impact of the film is in the performance and body language of the trio as well is a great deal of dialogue as well as silences which give the audience enough time to ponder their response to each of the characters and situations.

1. A story from Turkey? Universal? Men and women, relationships, jealousy and violence?

2. The Turkish city, suburbs, highways, hills? Home? Factory? The musical score?

3. The prevalence in the screenplay of questions and questions and answering questions? The effect of revealing characters through questions?

4. The title, the relationship, remnants?

5. Introduction, Emine, her needlework, payments, the boss? Ziya and Ramzi arriving, asking her about Cemal, his absence, her reticence?

6. Her story, her marriage, work, the birth of her son, concerned about the hole in his heart? The phone call and a visit from Ziya, her explanations, Romania, absent, no news? The dinner, the long explanations about Ziya what had happened, Ziya and the lies and his reasons? His love for Emine?

7. His willingness to pay for the surgery, the success of the operation?

8. Phone calls, visits, the sexual encounter, Emine saying no, then yes, love?

9. Possibilities for the future, Ziya and his divorce, his wife, three children? The possibility of marrying The Emine? The affair, secret, dropping her off before her home?

10. Cemal, his arrival, no explanation, the effect? His age, appearance, rough? Staying at home, talking, watching the TV? Finding the hospital documents? Seeing the boy’s scar? Interrogating Emine, the brutal bashing? Her accepting this? The sexual aftermath?

11. Ziya, interview with Cemal, offering him the job foreman, closing his debts? Cemal accepting, his work, the factory prospering, the details of the work?

12. Emine, with Cemal, his remark that she was beautiful, and non-reaction, saying she was shy? His interpreting this as cold, the violence? His decision to stay and work continuously at the factory?

13. Emine, arriving, asking for the divorce, his easy agreement? Picked up by Ziya, speculation about his motives? Ziya asking Cemal to dinner, the accident, his warnings, dropping him off at home?

14. The phone call, Ziya and the accident, possibly dead? The effect on the Emine?

15. The club, his friends from Romania? Emine’s collapse, the hospital, her pregnancy?

16. His shower, asking for his underwear and pyjamas, Emine, his demanding her submission – and the darkness and the future?

TOP OF THE LAKE CHINA GIRL

Australia, 2017, 6X 60 minutes, Colour.
Elisabeth Moss, Nicole Kidman, Ewen Leslie, Gwendolyn Christie, Clayton Jacobson, Alice Englert, David Dencik, Kym Gyngell, David Wenham, Lincoln Vickery, Geoff Morrell, Marg Downey.
Directed by Jane Campion, Ariel Klieman.

In 2013 Jane Campion had a significant success with a six part series for television, Top of the Lake. It was cowritten with Gerard Lee with whom she had collaborated in the 1990s on such films as Sweetie. Direction on the first series was shared with Garth Davis who went on to make Liond and Mary Magdalene. This time she collaborates with young Melbourne director Ariel Klieman who had made several shorts and then the Balkan story, Partisan.

The first series was set in New Zealand and there are some moments when the action of this series returns there, taking up the story of the girl who disappeared when pregnant, was rescued and saved. There are allusions to the landowning family which caused so much of the tension in the first series and a re-capping of the character of the detective played by David Wenham.

However, this series is set in Sydney. Elisabeth Moss has returned as the detective, recovering from her time in New Zealand, the death of her mother, relationships, the tension in the search for the girl and the revelation that the exploitative ring in the town was headed by the detective – who comes to Sydney and has a violent confrontation with her.

The focus this time is on illegal immigrants and sex slavery. The series opens with the death of a young woman and her being thrown over the cliff at Watsons Bay and the trunk eventually washed onto Bondi Beach. While Elisabeth Moss is once again involved in detection, there are difficulties with her boss, Clayton Jacobson, and the police officer assigned to work with her (Gwendolyn Christie from Game of Thrones and Star Wars).

Also from the first series, there is the issue of Elisabeth Moss’s daughter who had been adopted out to a Sydney couple. The daughter is played, with great petulance at times, by Jane Campion’s daughter, Alice Englert. Her parents are played by Nicole Kidman and Ewan Leslie, devoted to their daughter but separated and the mother involved in a lesbian relationship with Marg Downey.

There are complications with the murder of the Asian girl and research into the brothel where she worked, the revelation that the women were being hired as surrogate mothers for Australian couples. And this is the case with the detective played by Clayton Jacobson.

Also involved in the case is a Scandinavian man, David Dencik, highly suspicious, who is in a sexual relationship with the daughter who is devoted to him and cannot see his evil, even willing to be a prostitute for his sake. There are clashes with the detective as well as with the parents. There is also a young man who visited the brothel and was devoted to the murdered girl and who wants some kind of revenge.

As with the original series which looked at the underbelly of New Zealand society, this series also looks at aspects of the underbelly of Australian society.

1. The impact of the original series? The value of this sequel? Continuity? Transition from New Zealand to Australia?

2. The miniseries format, the episodes? The contribution of Jane Campion? Ariel Klieman as director? The strong cast?

3. The Sydney settings, the harbour, the familiar sights? The suburbs, affluent, poorer? The brothel and its area? Police precincts? The musical score?

4. The crime story, deaths, the sexual dimensions, psychological dimensions, violence?

5. A police investigation? Detection? The role of the police, interrogations, clues? Tensions amongst the police? Partnerships? Men and women and derogatory attitudes?

6. Robin, Elizabeth Moss, her past, the effect on her? Her detection skills? Arrival, being disliked? Adrian as the boss, discussions with her, critical, his making demands? Robin, the work and her intensity?

7. Robin’s story, the flashbacks to the past, the after-effect of the New Zealand experience? Johnno and his relationships, preparation for the wedding, the dress, calling it off? With her friends in New Zealand, memories of the past, Tui? Her leaving? Coming to Sydney? The quest for her daughter, Mary writing at age 12, Robin not replying? The effect of being in Sydney, making contact, following Mary, the consequences?

8. Parker, his role in the past, the physical attack and his injuries? Civil cases? His coming to Sydney, injured, confronting Robin, standing up to her, literally, attacking her?

9. Adrian, the chief, his wife, relationship with Miranda? The panda and his taking it to the brothel? Work, communication with the other officers? The issue of surrogacy?

10. The death of the young woman in the brothel, the manager and her assistant, case, taking it to the cliff, its sinking, surfacing, on Bondi beach, the mystery of the identity?

11. The China girl, the coroner, the autopsy? Her pregnancy? Flashbacks, her work in the brothel? The issues of surrogacy and the brothel girls? Brett and his visits, relationship with her?

12. The issues of surrogacy, the law in New South Wales, Adrien and Miranda and surrogacy? Miranda and her pretence, the caution? The visiting of the centre, the pressure on the receptionist, the later questions and her death? The doctors, the discussions, the contacts? Couples, agreements, payments? The interviews? The couples and the discussions, photos, identifying the dead girl? Emotional situations?

13. The men and their discussions at lunchtime, computers and sex sites, the brothels and discussion, macho attitudes, Brett and the discussions the about coins, his quiet at the table, at home, his mother, on his computer, going to the brothel, the relationship with Cinnamon? Uncovering the mystery, the visits? His lies about his guns? The rampage and the brothel, killing the manager and assistant? Hiding on the beach, the box, with the gun, erupting, wounding Miranda?

14. Mary’s story, the adoption, her age, knowing the truth, writing to Robin at age 12, no reply? Her relationship with her parents, age, still at school, the relationship with Puss? Moving from school to the brothel, change of clothes? Helping the women? Knowing the truth?

15. Mary at home, alienation from her parents, their separation, her mother and the lesbian relationship with Isadore, Isadore present in the house? Isadore and her New Age attitudes and language? Mother and father as characters, the collapse of the relationship, yet their devotion to Mary? Trying to deal with Mary, her mother and the hard stances, her father more modified? Mary, her defiance, in her room, wanting privacy, school to the brothel, the birthday of the party? Turning up and not turning up, the school dance and going with her father, Push arriving and her leaving?

16. Mary and her reaction to Robin, the discussions? Robin following, meeting, the connections, the help? Mary relying on her? Contacting her instead of her mother? Staying with her? Robin, the discussions with Mary’s father, the sexual relationship? Robin and her interactions with Puss? Disliking him?

17. Puss, Europe, German background, discussing his degrees, philosophy? Arrogant and surly? As a character, working the brothel, helping the women? Language? Making the video? The women, the surrogacy issue? Visiting Mary’s parents, his behaviour at the table, her mother and the clash, defying him? The later meetings and the defiance by Mary’s father? Audience suspicions of him? The police, Robin’s confrontations, decision to leave, the passports, the airport, going with the women? His not being responsible for the deaths, the knowing about them? Mary at the airport, Robin, her disillusionment and regrets?

18. Miranda, with the police, her role, Robin’s assistant, resenting this? The relationship with Adrian? Getting Robin the flat? The issue of smoking? The issue of her pregnancy, the visit to the surrogacy centre? Criticisms of Robin, the verbal clashes? The gradual bonding, frankness, talking? Wounded by Brett? The truth about Adrian?

19. The cumulative effect of the series, the focus on crime and investigation, sex slavery and surrogacy, ordinary couples and their involvement, murders, cover-ups, families and tension, adoption?

TOP OF THE LAKE

New Zealand. Australia/UK, 2013, 6x60, Colour.
Elisabeth Moss, David Wenham, Peter Mullan, Holly Hunter, Thomas H. Wright, Genevieve Lemon, Robyn Malcolm, Jacqueline Joe, Luke Buchanan, Robyn Nevin, Jacek Koman, Lucy Lawless, Darren Gilshennan.
Directed by Jane Campion, Garth Davis,

Top of the Lake was a significant television series of 2013. Jane Campion and writer Gerard had collaborated in 1990s with such films as Sweetie. Here they have a six part series. Jane Campion shared direction with Garth Davis who was to go on to make the award-winning Lion and the biblical film, Mary Magdalene.

Jane Campion went back to her New Zealand origins and explored a kind of underbelly of New Zealand society.

The series focuses on an Australian detective by played by American actress Elisabeth Moss, going back to the New Zealand, relaxing after her work in Sydney, to see her mother, Robyn Nevin, who is dying.

The film shows a group of women trying to be independent in setting up a commune under the direction of Holly Hunter (who won the Oscar for Jane Campion’s The Piano). They clash with the local landowner, a frightening performance from Scotland’s Peter Mullan. He dominates his family, his sons who work for him, women who process drugs that he distributes. And he clashes with the women at the commune on his property.

In the meantime, a young girl, pregnant, disappears after she has been talking with the detective. The detective makes it her mission to find her after she disappears into the bush. In charge of the case in the town is the detective played by David Wenham, a truly ambiguous character by the end of the series.

There is a vigorous ugliness about the treatment of themes, the exportation of the women the men, a sexual ring in the town, some official correction…

The series was so successful for series, set in Sydney, Top of the Lake, China Girl, was screened in 2017.

1. A successful television series? Awards? Jane Campion and Gerard Lee? The strong cast?

2. The New Zealand settings, the range of the terrain, the town, the countryside, mountains and lakes, the farms, the commune? Bars, homes? The highways? The musical score?

3. Robin’s story? Elisabeth Moss as the detective, building up the picture of her life, growing up in the town, her being raped, 16, her pregnancy and the adoption of the child? Her relationship with her mother, no abortion, the Catholic background? Becoming a detective? The engagement, Stephen, communication with him? Her mother’s illness, the man living with her? The search for Tui? The bond with her after the interrogation? Taking her back to her father? Meeting the brothers, going to Tui’s mother, the visit to the commune, interrogating the women? Working with Al Parker, the meetings, the male police ignoring her as a woman? The search, the helicopter, speculations? The meeting with John, the relationship with him? The past? The sex offender, his reputation, the visit? His killing himself? Not being the father of the child? Investigation of the house, his death? In the bar, the violence against Sarge, his role in raping her? Talking with John, the flashbacks to the rape, the dance, their being together, his going out for a smoke, the men waiting in the truck, his seeming signal, the rape, his later explanation that he was in the truck, ashamed that he was cowardly, could do nothing for her? The effect on her? For continuing the relationship? Continual concern for Tui, searching? Planning to convict Matt? Her visit and the recorder, the truth of her paternity, the flashback, disbelief and upset? Encounters with John and his disbelief (and the later DNA revelation of his paternity). Desperate, with Al Parker, the mountains and Matt’s death, the baby? Going to the commune for solace? Her mother’s death? Her suspicions, going to Al’s house? The truth?

4. Jude, her history, marriage, death of her husband, her present relationship, Maori, his concern. Her illness, doctor’s visits, prognosis, talking with Robin, Robin’s visits? The past, Robin’s rape, pregnancy, Catholic, no abortion, adoption? Jude wanting to see her grandchild? Leaving, the last phone call? The truth about Matt and the affair?

5. Tui, her age, Matt as her father, her mother? The half-brothers? Her rage, walking into the lake, her pregnancy, the mystery of the father, with the police, Robin and the interrogation? Confidence? Background at school, with the other girls? Going home, the dog, going to the commune, the horse, with the women, her disappearance? The video of her learning to dance, the music, Robin continuing to watch it? Her hiding in the mountains, the others bringing her food? The old man, the milk, his book and the details of anatomy and giving birth? The visitors? The women from the commune and communicating? Matt, his search, the hunters, scouring the woods? The birth, the child? John and Robin with the guns, Matt and the gun, Tui shooting Matt, John wounded? Her being brought down, the care with the women? Tui upset with the child crying? Going back into town, Robin trying to phone her, her being found at the house of Al Parker?

6. Matt, Peter Mullan? Gruff, arrogant? A law unto himself? His power? Owning the land, working it, with his sons? The Paradise land, the agent, selling it, confronting the women? The agent, on the boat, confrontation, pushing him over, not rescuing him, his dying? The lies? The sons, their work, opinions? Al Parker, the search for Tui, on the boat? His visit to the commune, propositioning Bunny, accepting Anita, the episode with her, the touch of tenderness, going to his mother his mother’s grave, Anita on the grave and his vicious reaction? Taking her back, the reaction of the other women? His meetings with G J? Asking her questions about the meaning of life? How the human mind worked? The revelation about the drug lab? His dealings in money? Financing his home? His arrogance but sense of guilt – and the scenes of him whipping himself and his mother’s grave? Continued search, the hunters, his declaration that Tui was alive? Robin and the confrontation, the meeting, the tape, the flashback and his revealing that he was her father, her mother’s affair with him – and her mother warning her before she left not to have a relationship with John? And the irony of Al Parker later discovering that John was not Matt’s son? The reaction of the women, willing to testify against him? In the house, his headaches, anger with his sons, violence? The hunters? Going to the woods, finding Tui and the baby, her shooting him after he pointed the rifle at the baby?

7. Al Parker, in himself, in the police, his position, authority? The meetings? Collaboration with Robin? Meeting her, the search for Tui? The helicopters? His relationship with Matt and his sons? The meal with Robin, her drinking, her being sick, his letting her stay at the house? Her embarrassment? On the boat with Matt? His knowing the truth about Robin’s paternity? The experts from outside? The group of youngsters, his working with them, their serving at the canteen, his teaching them style? The photos on the wall? Robin and her suspicions? Ringing the children? Going to his house, the confrontation? The truth about his home and the centre for the abuse of the children? (How sudden was this revelation that he was the villain – and sufficient clues throughout the series or not?)

8. GJ and the women, Holly Hunter as GJ? As a person, her appearance, her ideas, control, power, detachment? Setting up the commune, the containers? The range of women, their characters, their problems, joining in the commune, following GJ, their talk? Bunny, her story, sexuality, the man in the pub, giving him seven minutes? The lawyer bringing his daughter, anger with his wife? Matt’s visit and the interactions? His asking GJ questions? Robin and her visits? Robin wounded, GJ urging her to sleep? Yet GJ’s exasperation with the women, deciding to move to Iceland? The range of the women and their characters, support of each other, living the commune life, naked, washing, cooking? Devout listening to GJ? The reaction to her leaving?

9. The women in the drug lab? Simone, her son, his not talking, dyed hair, yes and no on his hand? In prison, interrogation? Al Parker’s brutality? His shoplifting – and the goods for Tui? Robin’s visit, the interactions? His going up the mountain, supporting Tui? Helping her, the pursuit of the men, his death? His mother’s grief? And his not being the father of the child because he was gay? And his photo on the wall in Al Parker’s group?

10. The women, turning against Matt, willing to give testimony? His anger against them?

11. The role of women and men in the town, the subservient women, independent women? The men, outnumbering the women, the drinking, rough?

SO YOUNG, SO BAD

US, 1950, 86 minutes, Black-and-white.
Paul Henreid, Catherine Mc Leod, Anne Jackson, Anne Francis, Rosita Moreno, Enid Pulver, Cecil Clovelly, Grace Coppin, Mike Kellin.
Directed by Bernard Vorhaus.

So Young, So Bad is worth seeing even though it is a B-budget film of 1950. While there had been many films about prisons, men and women, this film came out the same year as Caged, with Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson, about life in an adult women’s prison. The setting here is juvenile detention, rigorously disciplined.

This was the era in which there were films about juvenile delinquents – with screenplays that sounded true in the succeeding decades and into the 21st century. This is a sincere film about rehabilitation, at a time when liberals were under suspicion, the time of House of Un-American? activities, denunciation of those connected with the Communist Party. Director Bernard Vorhaus, who made a number of significant films, was blacklisted, made one more film in America after this and then another film in Italy and no more for almost half a century. The writer of the film, Jean Rouverol, was also blacklisted but was able to make something of a comeback even in the late 50s with The Miracle and Later, The Legend of Lylah Claire.

Paul Henreid is the benign psychiatrist. Catherine Mc Leod is the assistant, part of the system and trying to do her best but not wanting to lose her job, sitting in on the psychiatrist’s interviews with the girls and becoming more sympathetic.

Of great interest, historically, is that this film introduced Anne Francis, Anne Jackson, Rita Moreno, Enid Pulver. The first three had significant careers for many decades, especially Anne Jackson, working with Eli Wallach, her husband of 66 years. 11 years after this Rita Moreno won an Oscar for West Side Story. Enid Pulver had a brief acting and writing career. Anne Francis was leading lady at MGM – recapping this kind of role five years later in Blackboard Jungle.

This was an earnest film of 1950 – and screenplay could serve as earnest material for any year later.

1. The emergence of the women’s prison genre? The 1950s? Prison film traditions? This film contributing to further traditions? A sincere message rather than exploitation?

2. The 1950s, the concern about juvenile delinquents? Children and rebellion? Juvenile detention halls? Cruel regimes? Punishment? Issues of rehabilitation? Liberal sentiments in 1950? The atmosphere of the times? A continuing theme for the next many decades?

3. The detention centre, no walls, the human barriers? The discipline, the dormitory, the meditation room, hard manual labour? Changes, freedom, clothes, sport, professions, the dance? The plea for psychiatric understanding and help? Therapy?

4. The opening, the girls escaping, the truck, the girl falling off? Dr Jason and his puzzle, regrets? The head of the centre and his stern discipline, the threats to Dr Jason? Jason and his methods, the appointment of a psychiatrist against the head’s wishes?

5. The girls, the busload, their being offloaded, registered, the physical examinations, the showers, the clothes and uniforms? The marching? The dormitory? Mrs Beulah and her discipline? Mr Riggs and his discipline?

6. The focus on Loretta, and Dolores, Jackie and Jane? Each given an introductory segment with Dr Jason? Loretta, flirtatious, single mother, her father and his affirmation, his death? Dolores, her mental condition, Hispanic? Jackie and Jane, the loving friendship and suggestions? Jackie as tough, Jane and her background, never having met her father? Jackie never crying? Dr Jason and his personal attention to each of them, finding a place for work, for professional learning? Jane’s father visitng?

7. The dormitories, the discussions, the girls? The discipline, Dolores being put by herself and her collapse? The rumpus, Mrs Beulah and her turning the hoses on the girls? An intense sequence? Dr Jason and Ruth recovering the girls?

8. Dr Jason, his personality, Ruth Levering sitting in, her long work, not rocking the boat, gradual admiration for Dr Jason’s work? The outing, the shooting gallery, the merry-go-round, her falling off, the bond between the two?

9. Loretta, the hard work, the interviews with Dr Jason, coming onto him? His arranging for her to go to the adoption centre, Ruth, the clash, Loretta’s taunts, Ruth losing her temper, feeling she should resign? Dr Jason urging her to stay?

10. Mr Riggs, his discipline, harshness, driving the girls, pictures down from the walls, so defacing public property, the burning of the teddy bear…? The consequences of the hosing? His preparing the report, Dr Jason and Ruth coming to see him, his threat that they would send somebody more severe than he? Their control over him, changing the program, the girls clothes, sport, freedom, professions? The morale?

11. The buildup to the dance, the excitement for the girls, the girl stealing the perfume from Mrs Beulah, Mrs Beulah coming, asking Dolores, Dolores and her mental state, Mrs Beulah cutting her hair? Dolores hanging herself? The assumption by the authorities that Dolores cut her own hair and hanged herself?

12. Loretta and Jackie taking the opportunity, taking the truck, escaping? Jane falling off, her return?

13. The hearing, Jane and the others fearful, not telling the truth? The findings against Dr Jason and Ruth, their losing their jobs? Dr Jason’s proposal and Ruth’s acceptance?

14. Loretta and Jackie, going to the adoption centre, Loretta holding the baby, reconciled to it? Jackie and her feelings about Loretta? Weeping? The return, giving the testimony? The vindication of Dr Jason?

15. Rehabilitation, and the new group coming in?

TIERE/ ANIMALS

Switzerland/ Austria, 2017, 95 minutes, Colour.
Birgit Minichmayr, Philipp Hochmair, Mona Petri, Mehdi Nebbou, Michael Ostrowki.
Directed by Greg Zglinski.

A film designed to intrigue. A woman, in scarlet, falls to her death from an apartment balcony and then her body disappears. A novelist goes on holidays to Switzerland with her husband. He is having an affair with a woman upstairs – who seems to be the woman who has fallen from the window.

During the journey to the holiday house, the couple hit a sheep and what follows plays on time and identity. The couple let their house out to a woman who is eager to live there, has an accident hurting her neck, is treated by local doctor who is attracted to her and they begin an affair. The actress who portrays this woman also portrays the woman upstairs.

The ex-husband of the woman upstairs comes to the building, accosts the boarder who explains who she is. There are also phone calls from the husband – and then the death of the woman.

In the meantime, the wife, who is a novelist, has dreams, hallucinations, suspects her husband of affair – which is true.

Something of a psychological jigsaw piece puzzle.

1. The title? Suggestions of the English translation should be “beasts� instead of “animals�?

2. The contemporary settings? The city and homes? Workplaces? Florist shop? The open roads, the Swiss countryside? The home? Cafes? The musical score?

3. The opening with the woman falling to her death? The red dress? The disappearance? The indication of shifts of time?

4. The couple, going on holiday, her being a writer, the tensions between the two, his professions of love? The car, his going upstairs, speaking with Andrea, his affair with her, being away six months?

5. The travel on the road, talk, bickering? Hitting the sheep? Nick buying the sheep, his wife not wanting to eat it? His cooking it? And the episode of the bird flying in the house, its death? The sitting in the car in the rain, the wife being dragged from the car? A dream?

6. Nick, going into town, his alleged business? Recipes? His wife finding his notes, copying them from books? Her burning the notes, confronting him? The affair with the woman at the shop?

7. Mischa, her coming to take over the flat during their absence, showing her around, the wife clutching her hand saying she would not see her again? The woman surveying
the flat? Falling and injuring her head? The doctor, bandaging her? Her impression that he had lost a finger? His inviting her out, going back home, the affair?

8. The man buying the flowers from the florist, his phone call, his relationship with Andrea? Divorce? His going to the apartment? His knocking on the door, Mischa and his mistaking her for Andrea? The episode of Andrea’s death and Mischa’s reaction?

9. The wife, her injury, the hospital, difficulties in time, the fortnight passing? Her being inside and outside? The repetition of the scene with the sheep? Her writing, her novel about killing a husband? The chapters?

10. The interconnection between what was happening in the city, Andrea and her death, Mischa and her taking the apartment, relationship with the doctor? Injury? The wife’s injury? The husband and his infidelity, the phone call and the messages on the phone? Andrea’s husband? The same actress as Mischa and Andrea?

11. A multifaceted dramatic jigsaw pieces?

TULIP FEVER

UK, 2017, 107 minutes, Colour,
Alica Vikander, Christoph Waltz, Dane de Haan, Holliday Granger, Jack O’Connell?, Judi Dench, Tom Hollander, Zack Galifiniakis.
Directed by Simon Curtis.

One of the difficulties of reviewing is the eventual comparing notes with other reviews. And, it is sometimes surprising when a reviewer finds that a film that he has very much liked and enjoyed is the object of so much derision and condemnation. Reviewers and IMD bloggers seem to be unanimous in their dislike of Tulip Fever. What a pity!

The screenplay has excellent credentials, a collaboration between the author of the original novel, Deborah Moggach and celebrated playwright and screenwriter, Tom Stoppard. So many amateur bloggers have dismissed his writing as uninspired! The performances are interesting but those who did not like the film consider the central characters as so unlikable. Being likeable is not the essential for audience entertainment – Macbeth and his wife were not the most likeable of characters!

So, after these observations, what can a reviewer say about Tulip Fever and why it seemed such an interesting entertainment.

The setting is Amsterdam in 1634 – and a postscript set eight years later. If ever there was a film which spent a lot of attention on settings, costumes and decor, a recreation of the city, the canals, the markets, mansions, convents and churches, then this is a strong contender. And the frequent scenes of Amsterdam are totally atmospheric, a great number of extras, all in the dress of the period (remember Rembrandt), all busy, scurrying through the streets, the side of the canals, the fish markets, the door-to-door sales, crowded gatherings for trade in tulips, and the convent where the tulips are grown. The audience is immersed in the atmosphere. (And the score is by Danny Elfman.)

The cast is strong. We are introduced to the central character, Sophia (Alicia Vikander), along with her siblings at an orphanage Judi Dench as the abbess. For the children to go abroad for a new life, Sophia has to enter an arranged marriage with a local merchant, Cornelis (Christoph Waltz). His great desire is to have an heir and the couple make frequent strenuous attempts but fail.

When the merchant has the idea that the couple should have a portrait painted, an inexpensive young painter, Johan (Dane de Haan) is employed. Actually, there is a lot of detail in how posing (with the subjects and substitutes) is done, details of paint mixing and sketching. It is not difficult to predict what will happen – and does, although the details of the romance and its consequences become quite complicated.

In fact, everything is narrated by Maria (Holliday Grainger), the maid of the house, an astute observer of characters and situations who is in love with the local fishmonger, Will (Jack O’Connell).

And the tulip fever? A kind of 17th-century Dutch dot.com frenzy with the buying and selling and exploitation of tulips – with the abbess quite a business manager in the cultivation and sale of tulips. And financial collapse.

Actually, there are quite a lot of complications and Tom Stoppard is able to suggest a lot of psychological dimensions in telling lines of dialogue, audiences needing to be alert.

Difficulties? The characters are in difficult situations and struggle with them and so audiences are not able to identify entirely with them. And the trouble with Dane de Haan is that he looks so young (as he did in Valerian) although, in fact, he is older than Alicia Vikander. But Judi Dench is always interesting. Holliday Grainger and Jack O’Connell? do get our sympathy, Christoph Waltz is a master at a blend of the harsh and ironic, and Tom Hollander has a good cameo as a doctor who in later centuries would be immediately disbarred.

It is hoped that audiences venturing into see Tulip Fever will also find it interesting and entertaining.

1. A popular novel? Award-winning playwright, Tom Stoppard? Dramatising the novel?

2. The 17th century, 1634, the 1640s? The Netherlands? Amsterdam? The externals, the markets and canals, the sea and the beach? The interiors, the convent, the tulips, the world of painting, the world of finance? The audience immersed in this world?

3. The background of 17th-century Dutch painting? Costumes and décor? Memories of Rembrandt, the characters, their poses, their clothes? Photography of portraits? Background of paints, posing, sketching, substitutes? The reputation of painters? The musical score?

4. The introduction to the atmosphere? The title and the fever, the focus on the tulips and their beauty, white, colours? The visuals? The convent, the beds of tulips, the community working on the tulips? The sales, the certificates, a financial rush? Boom? Possibilities for bust? The exchange, the crowd of people, the shouting? Honest citizens, rogues? The prostitute and robbing Will? Boom and bust?

5. Convent, the abbess, as a person, her work, the other nuns, the place of the orphans, arrangements for marriages? For freedom and travel to the New World?

6. Cornelis? Businessman, his firm, spices, the East Indies, the imports, the cheating and the barrels? His partners? Not interested in tulips? His house, his wives, children and deaths? Marrying Sophia, the arrangement, her being indebted to him, the many attempts for pregnancy? His desire for portraits? An inexpensive artist? The visits, the sketching, the posing, the reaction of the couple waiting, their clothes? His being happy about the portraits?

7. The artist, his age, his work? His assistant and his drinking? Hopes, more work? His abilities, getting the subjects to pose, using the substitutes for further painting after the faces? His infatuation with Sophia, her response to him, resistant, succumbing to him? Her visit to his house, wearing a cloak? The affair, hurrying home for her husband from his card playing? The walk on the beach? Hopes for the affair? The effect on each?

8. Maria, her narrative, her work as a servant, diligent in the house? Flirting with Will? Buying the fish, Cornelis complaining about too much fish? Her relationship with Sophia, good service, cheerful? Will, fishmonger, flirting with Maria? Interest in the tulips, the money, selling his round, the certificates, the bidding, going to the convent, with the abbess, the special tulip? His making money? His seeing Sophia with a cloak, thinking her Maria, following to the artist’s house? Upset, with the prostitute? Her taking his certificate, his being bashed? Going To sea? Maria upset, pregnant, worrying about his absence?

9. The plan about the pregnancy? Maria and her experiences? Sophia covering? No sexual relationships with her husband? Morning sickness, clothes, Sophia and her pretences? The birth, the midwife, Cornelis and his wanting his wife saved? The effect? His love for the child, the deception about Sophia, the coffin, nailed down, her being carried out, her husband mourning her but consoled with the child?

10. The doctor, disreputable, examining Sophia, flirtatious? Misunderstanding about the abortion? Misunderstanding about impregnating Sophia? His being present at the birth, talking with Cornelis?

11. The artist, the speculation on the tulips, his many creditors? Sending his assistant to the convent, the bulb and the onion, the beating and his wanting to save the young woman, the drinking, carousing, eating the onion? The bust and so many losing their investment?

12. Sophia, the plan to go abroad, the effect of the experience, dropping her cloak in the canal, her being presumed dead?

13. The eight years passing, the artist, the abbess inviting him to paint in the church? His glimpse of Sophia? Her being in the convent, her passing, her smile?

14. Cornelis, his bequest to Maria and Will, the house, their children? His new life in the East Indies?

15. Maria, Will, the children, family and prosperity?

16. An interesting transition from novel to film?

GOODBYE, CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

UK, 2017, 107 minutes, Colour.
Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, Kelly Macdonald, Will Tilston, Alex Lawther, Stephen Campbell Moore, Richard Mc Cabe, Geraldine Somerville.
Directed by Simon Curtis.

Enjoyment of this film does not depend on whether the audience has a familiarity with the Winnie the Pooh stories or has even read them. It is said that Winnie the Pooh is the most beloved of bears (well, Paddington might be a little envious).

This is very British story and is directed by Simon Curtis, a television director whose films include the Marilyn Monroe’s story, My Week with Marilyn and the German art story, Woman in Gold.. It opens in 1916, playwright and author, A.A.Milne experiencing war in the trenches, the bombardment, the many deaths and his suffering from shellshock. On his return, he is against war, but finds it very hard to settle back to ordinary life, writing for the theatre, his relationship with his wife, Daphne. Milne is played by Irish actor Dominique all Gleeson and Daphne by Australian actor, Margot Robbie.

One of the solutions that Milne needs to recover from the war is to move to the country, Daphne rather unwilling, with their young son, Christopher Robin whom they nickname Billy. Most of the action of the film takes place when Billy is eight years old.

Billy is very cautious about disturbing his father and his writing. His father and his mother have instilled this in him. He goes for walks in the woods, has a lot of animal toys, has a strong imagination. This has been fostered by his alternate mother-figure, his Scots and nanny, Nue (Kelly Macdonald in a very sympathetic performance). At one time, they visit the zoo in London where there is a huge grizzly bear called Winnipeg, which is where nickname Winnie comes from.

At one stage, while his mother is in London, Billy goes for a walk with his father, sharing three very happy days, bonding between father and son, delight in the woods, delight in his toys, delight in animals. Billy would like his father to write a story for him. His father does. Winnie the Pooh.

The impact is immediate, books literally flying off-the-shelf. The public as well as the media can’t get enough of Christopher Robin and so the eight-year-old is subjected to innumerable interviews, autograph signings, being in the public eye, international celebrity in the United States. His father is not against it. Daphne is at pains to promote and exploit the success of the stories.

Billy is rather excited when, to get out of the limelight, his sent to boarding school. However, he is mocked there. He is bullied.

The film has started with a prologue in a melancholy tone, 1941, the telegram coming to his parents – the audience not knowing the content until the end of the film.

When Billy returns from the war, he wants to live very quietly, marries, has a family, owns a bookstore in the south-west of England, never taking any money from the royalties from Winnie the Pooh books.

This might be described as a British heritage film, re-creating the period, highlighting a writer, telling the story of a little boy, reminding audiences of the power of imagination and story.

1. England in the first part of the 20th century? Atmosphere? World War I? War in the trenches? The effect, deaths, post-traumatic stress? The 1920s, British revival?

2. The recreation of period, costumes and décor, settings? London, the theatre, homes? The countryside, the house, the interiors? The woods? The musical score?

3. The reputation of A.A. Milne? Is playwright, his book against a wall? His Winnie the Pooh stories? Domnhall Gleeson in the role, age, the war scenes, the aftermath, Milne’s career, writing, relationship with Daphne, with his son? The creation of Winnie the Pooh and the consequences?

4. The focus on Christopher Robin? His birth, aged eight, his appearance, dimples, cheerfulness? Billy, Billy Moon? His life, in the city, going to the countryside? Older, school, reactions, his military service? The aftermath of the war?

5. Milne and his inventiveness, Billy and his toys, the beer, the Tiger…? The names, the donkey? Winnie the Pooh, the visit to the zoo, the grizzly bear, Winnie and Winnipeg? Writing the stories? The publications, the enormous sales? The popularity, the media? The effect?

6. The effect of the prologue, 1941, World War II, Daphne in the garden, Milne and the message, Billy mixing in action?

7. The war sequences, brief but vivid, the trenches? The dead bodies? The shock, Milne and his return? Daphne and her reaction? Ernest and his support? Milne and his nickname blue? Reputation, scenes in the theatre, the social gatherings? His denunciations of war? The theatre, his own inability to speak, walking off? Busy, writing, Ernest and the friendship?

8. The portrait of Daphne, in herself, Margot Robbie? Is wife, love for her husband? Promoting him? Her delight in society? Having to handle Milne and his war shock? Pregnant, giving birth, the effect of her son, the depression after the birth? Giving all her attention to the baby, protection? Her wanting to be in London, the move to the countryside?

9. London life, society, theatre?

10. The decision to move to the country, Daphne’s reaction? Christopher Robin and his being called Billy? The house, having quiet for Milne to write, the various sequences in
the house, Billy upsetting his father? Billy and his toys, his imagination, the bare? The walks in the woods? His mother and her visits to London?

11. Olive, the nanny? From Scotland? Her work as a nanny? The bonding with Billy? Daphne treating her as a servant? Billy and his attachment, her going to her sick mother and his touch of tantrum? Her return? Her finding a friend, despite Daphne saying she would be single, the outings? Her being dismissed? Olive is the humanising presence in the household?

12. The three days with father and son? Moving from irritation to sharing? Daphne absent? The walks, the conversations, the animals, the experience in the woods? Billy asking for his father to write a book for him?

13. The writing of the book, the preoccupation, the focus for a children’s audience? Publication, the immediate response, scenes of the books in the shops, the shelves? The media, photography, coming to the home? The interviews, the crowds, the children, the events, autographs? The American interest?

14. Christopher Robin at eight, coping? Billy versus Christopher Robin? His father’s response to the publicity? Reputation? Value? America? Daphne, her enjoying the celebrity, promoting her son?

15. The aftermath, the effect on Billy? His going to boarding school, hopeful, thrown down the stairs, his being bullied?

16. Military training, Milne and his anti-war stances and publication of his book in 1934?

17. Billy, going to the war, the discussions with his father, his reaction about the book and celebrity? The return, the effect of the war, his parents’ reaction? Billy and his talking about the groups, anticipation of action, Winnie the Pooh and songs? Morale boosting? His apology to his father? His joyful going to visit all of?

18. The information about Billy’s life afterwards, Christopher, marriage, the bookshop, not taking any money from the royalties?

IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD

Japan, 2016, 130 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Sunao Katabuchi.

World audiences have become used to animated Japanese films from the Ghibli Studios, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, Arietty…. The audiences have appreciated their animation style, the creation of characters and their simplicity, the backgrounds, the local stories, many serious and reflecting on Japanese history, especially of war.

The film has all these qualities but comes from a different studio. However, it is an invitation for world audiences as well as Japanese audiences to go back into the past, to appreciate different times, different difficulties and how characters coped.

The film opens in the 1930s, focusing on the little girl, Suzu. We see her family, her siblings, the life and style in rural Japanese villages around Hiroshima in the decade before the war. Suzu is quite imaginative, a great capacity for drawing and bringing stories to life.

The screenplay offers many dates which makes the film something of a diary, something of a chronicle. Some years are skipped over quite rapidly, Suzu growing up during the late 1930s, then into the 1940s and her reaching the age of 19.

Audiences will be expecting explicit references to the war and Japanese involvement but this does not immediately happen. So much of Japanese life and international events do not impinge very strongly on people in local villages. What is important for Suzu as a young woman is that she marry. We see an arranged marriage, negotiations, finding a husband, the wife meeting the husband and the grandmother urging her with the symbol of the umbrella and the bride saying that she was willing to open her umbrella for her husband… Human feelings and love come later.

Suzu’s mother-in-law is quite hard on her. While Suzu is a loving wife, she also become something of a servant on the household, being relied on to clean, to mend and sew, to find ways of making meals where food was so scarce. She has a variety of recipes, gathers herbs from the countryside. The family survives. However, her husband goes to war.

The people in the village and the audience become much more conscious of the war, looking at the naval base of the ships in Hiroshima Bay. Then the planes begin to fly over, exploding in a variety of colours over the screen. Then there are the bombardments, the family seeking safety in dugout shelters.

We know that the atomic bomb is coming. Suzu wants to go back to her home in Hiroshima from her husband’s village but has lost her hand in a bomb blast, the hand with which she drew. The bombardment also kills her companion, a little girl. Which means that she is not in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. And the audience does not see it. Rather, there are vibrations, the vast cloud, and the repercussions for the people of the city as well as of the neighbours.

Then the war is over, the Emperor surrenders, the Americans arrive, offering chocolate, and the Japanese have to adapt to defeat, the prospects of a different life and the rest of the 20th century. That, of course, is something that the audience for this film supplies in retrospect.

The film is bright in colour, gentle in its storytelling, a different perspective on Japan in the 1930s and 1940s.

1. The reputation of Japanese animation? Quality? Themes? Japanese stories and visual style?

2. The characteristics of the visual style, the backgrounds, Japanese scenes? Japan in the 1930s and 40s? Hiroshima, Kure? The countryside? Homes? The Navy in the bay? The war sequences, planes and flights, bombardments? The aftermath of the atomic bomb? The American presence after the war? The musical score?

3. The title, the narrow focus? Japan, the 30s and 40s? The touch of isolation in the countryside? The world events? How much did they impinge?

4. The film indicating times, dates, years? This screenplay as a kind of diary, chronicle?

5. Suzu’s story? Little, growing up, her place in the family, the siblings? Imagination? Her ability to draw? The drawings come alive? The kidnapping story? The friends, the boys, meetings, school?

6. The 1940s, her growing older, the family and its situation? ? The planned marriage? The arrangement, the unknown husband? Moving to Kure? Her husband, the bond with him, the image of the umbrella? Her mother-in-law, personality, strong-minded? Their beautiful life? Yet in many ways her being a servant in the house, cleaning, cooking, mending? The issue of clothes during the war? The years passing? Her bond with Harumi?

7. The meeting, the boys, the memories? Husband at war, his returning?

8. The light touch, themes of play, with Harumi? Love?

9. 1944-1945? Audience knowledge of the events? The people in Japan not knowing the broader implications of the war? Suffering, privations, lack of food, growing crops? The recipes, the herbs from the fields? The tensions?

10. The experience of war, the shelters, the bombardments, the planes flying over, the vivid colours of the exploding planes in the sky?

11. The Navy, Hiroshima, the different ships, the sailors, their work, the destruction of the ships?

12. The experience of the atomic bomb, Suzu Kure? The vibrations, the radioactivity? The repercussions and results? The visuals?

13. The war and its impact, the death of Harumi? Suzu her losing her hand?

14. The surrender, the voice of the Emperor, the ending? The American presence? Recovery? The sailors returning from war? Their work?

15. Looking to the future – and audiences watching this film, the retrospect? Japanese perspective, the gentle storytelling? The non-Japanese perspective?