PROSPERO'S BOOKS

UK, 1991, 132 minutes, Colour.
John Gielgud, Michael Clark, Michel Blanc, Erland Josephson, Isabelle Pascoe, Tom Bell, Kenneth Cranham, Mark Rylance.
Directed by Peter Greenaway.

It almost seems an impertinence to try to review this film, especially briefly. It is written and directed by the idiosyncratic Peter Greenaway.

He has taken Shakespeare’s The Tempest, used a great deal of its text, spoken characteristically and beautifully by John Gielgud.

An architect, an artist and a lover of the 17th century, Greenaway has presented the play as Masque of the time with its songs, its fairies and its magic.

He has also invented Renaissance books that Prospero might have had on his island and these structure the film.

There is a great deal more, two images of filling the screen. Perhaps that is too much – at least for one viewing.

It is a specialist film that will not appeal to the average audience. But there is an extraordinary richness in what he offers for eye, ear and for the mind and imagination. It is Shakespeare by way of Greenaway and Gielgud.

1. Impact of the film? Its demands? Vocal? Visual?

2. The work of Peter Greenaway? Baroque? A Masque of the 17th century? Action, screen borders, imagery and animation? Michael Nyman’s score?

3. The cast, John Gielgud and his voice, the gravity of his presence? The presentation of Caliban, Ariel? The purity of Miranda? The visitors to the island?

4. The Shakespearean basis, plot, dialogue?

5. Greenaway’s imagination, for example Ariel: a boy, adolescent, Acrobat, singer, the elements, earth, air, fire, water?

6. The physicality of the film, bodies, bodily functions, sexuality, nudity?

7. The books forming the framework and structure of the film:
A Book of Water
A Book of Mirrors
A Book of Mythologies
A Primer of the Small Stars
An Atlas Belonging to Orpheus
A Harsh Book of Geometry
The Book of Colours
The Vesalius Anatomy of Birth
An Alphabetical Inventory of the Dead
A Book of Travellers' Tales
The Book of the Earth
A Book of Architecture and Other Music
The Ninety-Two? Conceits of the Minotaur
The Book of Languages
End-plants
A Book of Love
A Bestiary of Past, Present and Future Animals
The Book of Utopias
The Book of Universal Cosmography
Lore of Ruins
The Autobiographies of Pasiphae and Semiramis
A Book of Motion
The Book of Games
Thirty- Six Plays

CARLITO’S WAY

US, 1993, 144 minutes, Colour.
Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, James Rebhorn, Luis Guzman, John Leguizamo, Viggo Mortensen, John Ortiz.
Directed by Brian De Palma.

Back to New York’s mean streets and memoir-novels from Judge Edwin Torres, author of Q and A.

Familiar material: gangsters, clubs, drugs, violence, but quite well done.

However, performances are better than the film overall. Al Pacino is at his best, a complex portrayal of the street-smart crook. A great surprise is the performance by Sean Penn, almost unrecognisable with curly hair and steely glasses as a greedy, ambitious lawyer who overreaches himself.

Director Brian de Palma has shown himself expert in gangster films with The Untouchables and Scarface, also with Pacino. For those who enjoy the gangster genre and solid performances.

1. A gangster film? The tradition of the gangster films? American in New York style?

2. The work of the director, his thrillers, his work with Al Pacino, Scarface?

3. The 90s perspective on the 1970s, and this gangster period in New York, the various racial factions? Drug dealers? Murders and violence?

4. The title, the focus on Carlito, Al Pacino’s presence and style, the opening with his dying, his voice-over, being carried along the subway station, his point of view, the sign of Paradise and the escape? The film in flashbacks? The ending, Carlito and his authenticity, his code? And seeing Gail dancing?

5. The court case, his speech, rambling, praising his lawyer, the reaction of the judge, the desperation of the District Attorney and his use of tapes, their not being admissible? His later use of tapes for getting Carlito’s help? Praise Dave, getting out after five years, going to the bar, a new life, reform? Sharing leadership in the bar?

6. His ethos, not ratting out others? His friend from the past, company – and later his being complicit in Carlito’s death? Meeting the young man, helping him, going to the centre, the murder of the young man, the shootout and Carlito’s escape?

7. The visit to the former gangster, his role, now in a wheelchair?

8. In the bar, the encounter with Benny, his friends, seem to respect Carlito? The variety of factions, racial, Carlito as from Puerto Rico, the Hispanics, the Italians? The drug dealing, the past?

9. Sean Penn as Dave, his origins and becoming a lawyer, the comment on his being Jewish, practising law, his getting criminals out of jail, his work for Carlito? His hold over him, Carlito being grateful? His turning to crime, the ownership of the bar, the visit to the dealer in prison, embezzling his money, the threats, his fear on the bridge? The plan, using Carlito, engineering the escape, boat, the captain, killing the escapee, the young man on the boat? Telling the truth to Carlito? In the office, his being stabbed, to hospital and surviving? The district attorney and the attempted turn Carlito, listening to Dave’s betrayal on the tapes? Carlito at the hospital, talking to Dave, the gun, removing the bullets? The vengeful son disguised as a policeman and killing Dave?

10. Carlito and Gail, meeting one another, memories of the past, talking, regrets? Carlito’s change? Gail and her dancing, her hopes, auditions? The relationship, her fears, becoming pregnant, accompanying Carlito to the DA, the plan from Miami, Carlito’s friend accompanying her to Grand Central Station, the impact of his death?

11. Carlito his plan, to go to Miami, with the money, go to the West Indies? Going to the bar, getting the money, the Italians present, his escape, their chasing, the subway, the train carriages, Carlito’s shrewdness, avoiding the pursuers, on the escalator and the shootouts?

12. Meeting Gail, Benny confronting him, his friend from the past, his being shot? His final words, his being true to himself? Gail dancing in the paradise sign?

13. The film considered as underrated and more successful than first thought?

BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY

US, 2014, 91 minutes, Colour.
Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan, Jane Fonda, Ray Liotta, Norbert Leo Butz, Ben Schwarz, Ken Howard, Harrison Holzer.
Directed by Geoff Moore, David Posamentier.

Well, the title is certainly arresting. Since this is not a science documentary, the title can be taken as somewhat satirical, even with the touch of cynicism.

The focus is on Doug, a pharmacist in a small town, played very effectively by Sam Rockwell. His wife, Michelle Monaghan, is a dominating character, who has discovered skills in bike riding and winning all the races and trophies in the town. He has a young adolescent son who takes no notice of him, lives in a darkened room, plays the guitar, and is revealed to be persecuting, with excrement, some of the bully boys in the school. His pharmacy belongs to his father-in-law, Ken Howard, who is bequeathing it to him but keeping his own name on the signs. In some ways, he seems content, and runs his pharmacy with integrity – though his assistant for deliveries, Noah, is completely unreliable and an addict himself.

The drama changes when Doug delivers an order to a mansion where he finds the glamorous Elizabeth, Olivia Wilde, who, we are not surprised, attempts to seduce him. We are, however, surprised that Doug succumbs and begins quite a wild affair with her, even manipulating the drugs, making his own, living a literally high life, and even using drugs to beat his wife in a cycling race. He does, however, make friends with his son, and they go on vandalism spree on the pharmacy.

The film becomes a touch absurd with things going wrong, Doug being investigated by the authorities, his planning to leave his wife, and then planning with Elisabeth to murder her husband – Ray Liotta who turns up in two scenes and turns out to be more sympathetic than we thought. But, the best laid plans…

The film is narrated by Jane Fonda who turns up at the pharmacy at the end, as herself, with a bit of a joke at her expense, but an interesting device which we may not have been expecting.


1. The impact of the film as a drama, comedy, satire, fable?

2. The small American town, homes, streets, the square, shops? Mansions? The musical score?

3. The title and its tone? The pharmacy, drugs, taking them, creating them? The law?

4. And Jane Fonda and her narration, perspective, ironic comments, the narrative, her final appearance in the shop?

5. Doug, in himself, his wife and the past, the present, relationship with Ethan, his son ignoring him? The shop and his work? His father-in-law, heading over the shop? Ownership but the domination of Bishop? The sign? His reliability, reputable, the range of customers, his treatment, knowing their problems? His staff, the young woman? No and his deliveries, not being reliable?

6. Kara, tough, her father’s daughter, relationship with her parents, visits, the meals? Ethan and his ignoring his mother? Her cycling, the races, her winning, the team? Doug and his having to ride bikes? Her studio, the clients? Looking down on her husband? Going to the principal, the story about Ethan, her anger, refusal to believe?

7. Noah, not delivering the parcels, his being on drugs, his excuses, the final night, Doug relying on his delivery, his being found dead, the drugs Inspector, Doug let off the hook?

8. Elizabeth, in herself, relationship with her husband, the audience hearing about him, taking a dislike, then seeing him at the bar? Her wealth, style, boredom? Doug and the delivery, her reaction, her vampish behaviour, the seduction? Doug allowing it, the repetition, the affair, the collage of their being together, the effect on Doug? The drugs, his preparing them, the exhilaration? His taking the drugs, winning the cycling race, Taras reaction? The planned to kill Elizabeth husband?

9. Ethan, at home, the guitar, his room, refusing to talk? The principal, the explanation? His mother’s reaction, refusal of therapy? Her father, his gift, trying to help? Ethan, his explanation to his father, his enemies, the bullying, the excrement as an instrument of the ninjas? An ally with his father, they going out on the town, the vandalism of the sign in the window? The later explanation, the police, ducks father-in-law and his reaction?

10. The drug Inspector, nervous, searching, the infantry, his suspicions, the roof term visits, the discrepancies? And the discovery of Noah dead?

11. The planned to kill the husband, relying on the delivery, no phone calls, the delay, Doug meeting the husband in the bar, pleasant, talking about his wife, paints the drinks? His return to the pharmacy, the headache? The phone call to Elizabeth, meeting her, breaking off the relationship?

12. Jane Fonda in the shop?

13. Doug, his note, Kara reading it, wanting a reconciliation – and his refusal? The future?

THE REVENANT

US, 2015, 156 Minutes, Colour.
Leonardo Di Caprio, Thomas Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck.
Directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu.

With the success and awards for this film, we now have a word for more common use than we had before (even if we had known of its existence before): Revenant. As its derivation indicates, there is some kind of coming again, a return, especially from the dead, something of a ghost, something of a living corpse…

And that is what the character, Hugo Glass, turns out to be.

This is a very harrowing film experience, very physical, very visceral, reminding audiences of those endurance films from Deliverance to Man in the Wilderness to 127 Hours and Everest.

The film is the work of Mexican director, Alejandro G. Inarritu, best known for his Oscar-winning Birdman, as well as such films as Amores Perrou, 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful. He is a master film-maker and this is very evident in The Revenant.

He took his cast out into the wilderness, made them do a Boot Camp for survival techniques, filmed for months in very difficult weather, terrains, great physical discomfort. It pays off in terms of beautiful and savage scenery and locations, hard endurance sequences, tough action and performances. They include the hero being savagely mauled by a bear – which looks so realistic one wonders how it was actually filmed – carrying an injured man across snow-clad forests, climbing mountains, being swirled down rivers and over rapids.

The time is the 1820s with furt trappers roaming the forests, hunting the deer and other animals, skinning them, travelling with the pelts for trade. The Native American Indians are sometimes in pursuit, deadly with their bows and arrows.

It is in this context that we are introduced to Hugo Glass, an intrepid hunter, skilful, with a background of a Native American wife and son, now grown up who is accompanying the expedition, Hawk. There is also Captain Henry, Domnhall Gleeson, a decent man who has to make decisions of leadership under fire, including whether to leave the injured man with a small protective group and to return to camp. We are also introduced to the tough Texan, Fitzgerald, Tom Hardy, with a big mouth, challenging everyone, harsh and insinuating.

But, it is Leonardo Di Caprio as Hugo Glass who commands audience attention, in the details of the hunt, in his advice about escaping from the Indians, in flashbacks with his wife and the threat by soldiers to his son (and her continually appearing in his dreams as a guiding spirit). After he is mauled by the bear, he is carried part of the way but it is too much for the remnant and so he is left with his son, with Fitzgerald, and with an earnest young man, Bridger, Will Poulter.

From the title, it is clear that Hugo Glass will actually survive, otherwise no revenant. After he is abandoned – and that is a grim drama in itself – he begins to crawl, despite his severe wounds, gradually is able to get to his feet, with a branch as a walking stick, and slowly makes his way back to the Fort. This is certainly a journey of endurance for survival. He has various struggles on his way, hunger and thirst, including being tracked by the Indians and having to go down river, finding the camp of French trappers and rescuing an abused Indian woman, beingn found by a lone Pawnee Indian who helps him to eat raw bison meat and gives him a ride on his horse part of the way.

While the endurance gives Glass increasing physical and moral strength, his journey is also one of vengeance, to confront Fitzgerald and what he did to him and his son. And this is what forms the climax of the film, its moments of heroism, shrewdness in Glass’s manoeuvres against Fitzgerald, elements of tragedy, and, finally, the Revenant, sitting alone on blood-soaked snow, Indians passing by, including the woman he rescued, leaving him with his thoughts and his reflections on what he had been through and what he had done.

Not an easy film to sit through, but impressive and impactful of its kind.


1. The impact of the film? Awards?

2. The location photography, the wilds, the American outback, winter, the mountains, forests? The rivers? Lakes? Rapids? The hunting of the animals? The bear and the mauling? A film about endurance? Atmosphere? The atmospheric score? 19th-century North America?

3. The work of the director? Of Leonardo Di Caprio?

4. The title, the ghost returning, the live corpse…, The tone? Hugo Glass, as a character, his wife and son, the hunting expeditions, his knowledge of the wilderness? His experience, left for dead, the steps of survival? The various attacks? His being abandoned? The nature of his journey, suffering, endurance, survival? Physical, psychological, mental, emotional? And the journey of vengeance?

5. Situation, the wilderness, its beauty, ruggedness and savagery? The men on the expedition? The purpose, the hunting, the pelts? The group, their work and skinning the animals? Packing the pelts? The Indians pursuing them, the massacre? The survivors, getting to the boat, those killed on the boat? The others on land, hiding the pelts? Glass and the encounter with the bear, the cubs, the attack, the shot, knifing the bear, the details and close-ups of the mauling, the trampling, the wounds?

6. The introduction, Glass, his wife, his son, the soldiers attacking the Indians, burning the huts, Glass and his shooting at the soldier threatening his son? The memories of the past throughout the film? The dreams, the nightmares, the presence of his wife, guiding spirit? His son being with him, sharing the
expedition, tending to his father, the brutality of his death?

7. The captain, as a person, leader, taking Glass’s advice, tending him and stitching his wounds? The return, leaving orders with Fitzgerald to save Glass? At the Fort, Fitzgerald and Bridger and their return, giving them the fee, Bridger refusing it? With the men and women and the drinking, saying he could not remember his wife’s face? Glass’s return, his reaction? Punishment for Bridger? His care for Glass, the pursuit of Fitzgerald in the snow, their separating, the captain being shot, Glass with the branch, sitting upright on the horse, Fitzgerald shooting him again and then discovering the truth?

8. Glass, his injuries, the visual focus on them? His being transported, too heavy, the mountains? Putting him down, the decision to leave him, Hawk and the bond with his father? Bridger and his care? Fitzgerald, his provocations, from Texas, arguing against the behaviour, the reaction of the group, the promise of money if he stayed, his decision to stay? His wanting Glass dead, the clash with Hawk, stabbing him, dragging him away? Persuading Bridger that there were Indians, that they should leave? The harsh travel through the terrain, the trek, their arrival at the Fort, the interview with the captain, Fitzgerald and his plans?

9. The French, the pelts, the deals with the Indians, guns and horses, their having the Indian girl, treatment of her? The brutality? The arrival of the Indians,
local languages, speaking French?

10. The Indians, their pursuit, the search for the woman, killing the hunting group, tracking them, the confrontation with the French? Glass and his hiding in the cave at the river, his going into the river, firing arrows at him?

11. Glass, his injuries, being left, the wounds, his lack of voice, the ability to crawl, getting the water? Gradually walking, the stick? Hunger, capturing the fish? Eating the bison meat? Later the horse, gouging out the innards of the horse, crawling inside to find warmth and shelter? The Pawnee, surviving the Sioux, sharing the food, talking, the ride with him? Coming to the French, seeing the leader abusing the Indian woman, taking the horse, rescuing the woman? His losing Bridger’s canteen and the French finding it, the French trapper hungry, coming to the Fort, talking about the mysterious man, with the canteen and Bridger’s scratchings on it?

12. Progress through the mountains, through the fields of snow, gradually improving health? But his dreams, with his wife, his son, the soldiers’ attack on the Fort?

13. Finally arriving at the camp, the captain and his enquiry, Fitzgerald escaping, Glass and his desire for vengeance?

14. Going out, tracking Fitzgerald, his running away, the tracks of the horses, separating from the captain, the captain’s death, Glass’s trick with the captain sitting upright? The fight with Fitzgerald, guns, knives, tomahawk? The fall in the snow, desperate, Fitzgerald’s collapse, being dragged into the river, his drowning?

15. Glass, sitting in the snow with the blood, the Indians riding past, with the rescued woman, their letting him be?

16. An exploration of human nature, suffering and endurance, vengeance – and something of its futility, the need for integrity?

THE MIDNIGHT WARNING

US, 1932, 63 minutes, Black and white.
William Boyd, Claudia Dell, Huntley Gordon, John Harron, Hooper Atchley.
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett.

The Midnight Warning is only of historical interest, the type of film made with a small budget for supporting release in the early 1930s.

The film is confined to rooms, with a great deal of dialogue, making it the visual equivalent of a radio program. The staging and some of the performances are more than a bit stilted.

A brother and sister arrive in the US from Sumatra, following up on an inheritance. At a hotel, delegates gather for an international conference and a detective and a doctor are in a room, discover the remains of a human ear in the fireplace, and the doctor is suddenly shot from outside and collapses. Later, there is a further firing from outside.

The sister arrives back at the hotel where the staff act in a very sinister fashion, obviously concealing something. They say they have no knowledge of her brother or her booking into the hotel days earlier. Then she is taken away. In the meantime, a young man, friend of the woman, is unmasked as the person firing through the window but explains to the doctor and the detective the situation.

Eventually, everybody goes to the morgue where the young woman is being confined, the authorities that be determined to intern her as insane. There is a rescue, the confrontation, and an explanation that audiences would not be expecting: that the couple brought the bubonic plague into the United States, the hotel authorities didn’t want the conference to be closed down and so covered everything up, taking the body of the man to the morgue, putting the sister into an institution, rearranging the room, burning the body – hence the burnt ear (which we are told takes longer to burn than the rest of the body!).

All solved. And everything more righteous than it seemed earlier in the film. It is pointed out that a similar plotline was used in the British drama of 1951, So Long at the Fair.

RIFFRAFF

US, 1936, 93 minutes, Black and white.
Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy, Una Merkel, Joseph Calleia, Mickey Rooney, J.Farrell McDonald?.
Directed by J.Walter Ruben.

A star vehicle for Jean Harlow. One of her last. She released four films in 1936 and her final one in 1937. Spencer Tracy was up-and-coming – his next roles were in Fury and San Francisco. Una Merkel was once again the wisecracking companion/sister. Joseph Calleia is a heavily-accented corporate villain, with Mickey Rooney still with a juvenile role but with several scenes, anticipating the Boys Town films, with Spencer Tracy. J. Farrell Mc Donald is the union leader, Brains.

The setting is a contemporary 1930s scene, a fishing town on the California coast, the workers and the unions, the clashes with corporate bosses and their wanting strikes so that they can bring in scab labour. Spencer Tracy portrays a hero of the waterfront, but too smug in his self-appraisal, leading the men, but humiliated, throwing his weight around and finally expelled from the union. Jean Harlow works in the canning factory but attracts the eye of the boss who buys her furs. She is always clashing with Tracy. However, they marry, even squabbling at the wedding, he providing her with a luxury house but, losing his union card, everything is repossessed and he goes off.

Meanwhile, Jean Harlow is pregnant, has a baby, finds out that Tracy is in a hobo camp, steals money from the boss to go to find him but is arrested and jailed, giving birth in the jail, having to to give up the baby to her sister for care.

Tracy learns his lessons, returns, is heroic in a security job, gets his card – meanwhile Jean Harlow escapes from prison and is prepared to run away with Tracy. But, because he has changed, she is happy – and the film ends before we find out whether she returns to jail or not.

1. A Jean Harlow star vehicle? Her career at MGM in the 30s? Cut short?

2. Spencer Tracy in support, soon becoming a star? The supporting cast?

3. The waterfront, the tuna boats, the homes, the union meetings, the boss, 4 July celebrations? Hobo camps, prisons? The musical score?

4. Hattie’s story, her alcoholic father, her sister and her husband and the baby, her brother Jimmy, cramped quarters, living close together, the initial episode of his cake? Her going to work, in the cannery? The protest meeting, her watching, listening to Dutch, clashing with him, throwing the mackerel and his going into the water, and the scene on the newsreel? Their arguments? Nick and his attraction, giving her the fur, her resistance? Dutch and his leadership? The wedding, squabbling? The new house, pink, all the electrical goods? Dutch, throwing his weight around, his ignorance, the men turning against him, his being expelled from the union? The repossession, Hattie being upset? The encounters with Nick, her resistance? Hearing where Dutch was, taking the money, not finding him? Being arrested, going to prison, pregnant, Dutch not knowing, giving birth, having to give up the baby, her relationship with her sister, support? Dutch and his visit, the explanation for the escape? The decision to escape, with the girls, the storm the rain, getting away, returning home, hiding, the police not finding her? Waiting for Dutch, his finally coming, her admiration for his change? Prepared to go back to prison?

5. Dutch, the best fishermen on the coast, hard work, full of himself, Brains persuading him to talk, explaining Nick’s plan to break the strikers? His speech, the newsreel, into the water, watching the newsreel? His becoming vain, thinking he had all the answers? The clashes with Hattie, the mackerel, the arguments, the wedding? The new house? His rabble-rousing? The men turning against him, excluded from the union? The repossession, his going on the road, destitute in the hobo camp, visiting Hattie, the baby, urging her to escape? His return, desperation, visiting Brains and his wife, too proud to eat, getting the security job, the attack, his fighting back? His heroism recognised, getting his card back, Jimmy trying to get information, his finally going back, Hattie proud of him – the future?

6. Lil, good-natured, the older sister, looking after the father, the baby, her musician husband? Jimmy in the household, mischief, on the roof, the fireworks? Being around the wharves, seeing Dutch, his security job, getting the police, later trying to indicate to Dutch where Hattie was?

7. Nick, smug, accent despite his name, mixing words, confident in his plan, attracted to Hattie, the gift of the third, Dutch and the money, the gambling, Dutch winning? His plan to get in scab workers? His assistants and their being done?

8. Brains, a good man, the union, fostering Dutch, giving him the ideas, confronting with the truth, giving him the security job, recognising Duchess heroism?

9. The flavour of life in the town, the social concerns of the 1930s, fishermen, the unions, the bosses and their attempts to exploit the workers, the protests?

WELCOME TO NEW YORK

US/France, 2014, 125 minutes, Colour.
Gerard Depardieu, Jacqueline Bissett, Maria Moute.
Directed by Abel Ferrara.

French politician and businessman, Dominique Strauss- Kahn, was head of the International Monetary Fund and thought of as a candidate for the French presidency. Very high profile.

When he was arrested in New York City, accused of sexually attacking a maid in his hotel, he fell from grace, spent time being interrogated by the local police, some time in prison, before a judge and finally granted bail. The case was settled out of court.

There were certain salacious aspects of the story, especially about Strauss- Kahn and his sexual behaviour. But, he was French. But, he offended in the United States.

This film was co-written and directed by Abel Ferrara, a significant director, never afraid of taking on dark and sleazy subjects, giving them a downbeat treatment unlike other film directors. At his best he maid films like Bad Lieutenant, as well is making a film about the last day in the life and death of Italian director, Pier Paolo Pasolini.

This film is in three acts. The first 30 minutes are almost unrelieved sexual activity, making the audience realise that the protagonist is not merely a womaniser as he is described but also a sex addict, a term in which he describes himself. Audiences may well be very uncomfortable during the first 30 minutes, seeing more activity (and more of actor Gerard Depardieu) than they might think necessary. But, it makes its point, culminating in his attack on the maid in the hotel.

The second act shows his leaving the hotel, leaving his phone behind, asking for it to be brought to the airport, in the meantime security and the police deciding to follow-up and removing him from the plane, taking him to holding cells, interviews, spurning him, with his discussions with his lawyer, appearing before the judge, his denying the charges, the interrogation of the maid and her version of what happened, his being released on a hefty bail.

The third act of the film is his release, staying in an expensive apartment, meeting with his wife of 20 years, played by Jacqueline Bissett, her love for him, her desperation, and the issue of his ambitions or not, and her ambitions, of his becoming the French President. At the end, there is quite a rumination on his part about his life, his addiction, his career, his ambitions or not.

Gerard Depardieu, as always, seems to fit whatever role he undertakes. There is a brief prologue where he discusses, as himself and as his role, his attitudes towards characters and making movies.

This kind of film does give some kind of insight into characters but, with the topic, always runs the danger of some sensationalising and exploitation.


1. Audience knowledge of the case with Dominique Strauss- Kahn? His position in the International Monetary Fund, possible contender for President of France? His behaviour in the city, the maid, accusations, arrest, imprisonment, court proceedings, verdict and aftermath?

2. The work of the director, his particular interest in some sleazy aspects of life, public life, politics? The tone of his films? Dark, the touch of the sensationalist or exploitative?

3. Gerard Depardieu? The prologue, the interview with Depardieu, as himself, as interpreting the role, his attitude towards movies?

4. The New York settings, offices, hotels, the rooms, the airport? The arrest, prison, holding cells, interview rooms, prisons? The musical score?

5. The first act: The introduction to Devereaux, his being presented as a womaniser, the comment made by his daughter, womaniser, but sex addict, which he later admitted, his behaviour with the women, leering, physical approaches, the women willing and unwilling? 30 minutes of the film showing Devereaux and his party, individually, with groups, with two women and lesbian tone, arranging escorts? Associates, the group, his meeting with them, orgiastic behaviour? The effect on him, seemingly insatiable? His crass behaviour, nudity, being finished with the women, self-satisfied? The hotels providing the rooms, with choice of women? And decadent lifestyle? His underlying business acumen?

6. His love of his daughter, the meal with her and her fiancé, pleasant, the particular thrust of his questions, explicitly sexual? Later scenes with his daughter, her understanding, describing his him as a womaniser?

7. Getting up in the morning at the hotel, the maid coming in, his accosting her, his behaviour, the reaction? The later interviews, his defence? The maid and the interrogation and the descriptions?

8. The complaints, the hotel management, the police, the airport, his leaving his phone behind and the using this as a pretext to approach him? His going into the plane, being taken, the guards accompanying him, handcuffed, taking him for interrogation?

9. The second act: his reactions, standing on his dignity, the experience of the police and their treatment, the attitudes of the police, spurning him? The handcuffs? The car, the questions? The holding cells, the other types there? His demands for his phone call and the officials’ delay? The interrogations, his explanations? His lawyers, the support, advice? Before the judge, the accusations, the attitude of the judge, the rooms, prosecution, defence, a case to answer? His being allowed bail?

10. The third act: his meeting with his wife? Her personality, style? Second wife? Many years married? Her supporting his career? Allowing for his
womanising? Her interest in his presidential candidature? Her love for him, yet her desperation, her attempts to help him? His response to her, in the apartment, the attention to detail, the kitchen, chairs, conversations? His wife’s revelation of her character and ambitions, the impact of the case, the cost of renting the apartment, the consequences? His responses, his acknowledging the womanising, yet his denial of the interaction with the maid? The continuing challenge to him, the dramatic move to his speeches of reflection on himself, his weaknesses, yet his self-justification, his attitudes towards the presidency, and the end of his life and career as he had known it?

11. The value of this kind of film, filling in details from headlines and stories that people got from the media? Insight into Strauss- Kahn’s character and personality, his relationship with his wife and family, his business success, and his personal downfall?

12. This kind of film as insightful – as sensationalist or exploitative?

THE BELIER FAMILY

France, 2014, 106 minutes, Colour.
Karin Viard, François Damiens, Ericmosninno, Louane Emera, Roxane Duran, Ilian Bergala, Luca Gelberg.
Directed by Eric Lartigau.

The Belier Family proved to be a box-office charmer for French audiences. It seems to have had something of the same effect for audiences around the world.

One could say that it is a typical enough French film, a focus on characters, a focus on family and their interactions, some meals (as always), life in a small town, opportunities, disappointments, ultimate success.

What distinguishes it from other films is it sense of humanity. This is especially the case with the character of Paula, the teenager daughter of the Belier Family, still at school, listening to music on her headphones always, chatting with her best friend, Mathilde, going with her to enrol in a special activity and choosing choir, with a glance at a boy in the other line, Gabriel.

But what distinguishes it from other films even more strongly is the fact that Paula’s parents and her younger brother are both hearing impaired, death and unable to speak except in sign language. We first discover this when Paula is helping her father and a vet in the birth of a calf. Her parents are farmers, with cattle, with tractors working in the fields with crops, making cheese. The family has a stall in the market, and are well-known to the locals, especially the Mayor of the town who is rather patronising, is making adaptations to modern change, and is up from re-election.

The actors portraying mother and father and not hearing-impaired and do a fine job of acting and signing, the bearded father looking rather patriarchal, the harassed mother generally smiling broadly.

What is significant for Paula, apart from the fact that she is able to hear and speak, quite articulately, attracted to listening to music, is that she is singled out by the eccentric music teacher at the school (who is heard initially inveighing against education authorities, desperate to move from the provinces to Paris, but not succeeding). She auditions, and the teacher suggests that she sing a duet with Gabriel. He also advises her to practice and to do an audition for a Paris music school, sponsored by Radio France. This means a lot of the time with the instructor, with Gabriel – although, she has a crisis when she has her first period and is embarrassed with Gabriel and angry with his telling the girls at school. This undermines the possibility for the duet.

When she sings at a concert, her parents are in admiration – although the director turns down the sound so that the audience sits with the family, unable to hear anything, simply watching.

There has been a clash because her father has decided to stand for Mayor to combat the incumbent, has photo shoots, television interviews, which clash with Paula’s lesson time. Eventually she tells her parents and they are very disappointed, not wanting to lose her, not quite understanding her passion for singing as well as her talent.

It wouldn’t be a nice French film if there wasn’t happy ending, a touch of comedy and everybody getting into Paris, and even getting lost, and quite some pathos as her parents are present during the audition and she sings a song with telling lyrics about someone having to move out of home, leave her parents, develop her talent.

And just when you think, as the final credits come up, there are a lot of loose ends in the storytelling, there is a gallery of photos to accompany these credits which fill in the story of her studies in Paris, relationship with Gabriel, the future of her family – and whether her father became mayor or not!


1. The French film? The French audiences? World audiences?

2. The Family, the family unit, hearing impaired, parents and letting go?

3. Normandy, the town, the farm, cattle, tractors and the fields? The school, homes, the hall?

4. The musical score, the range of songs, French style?

5. The title, the family, the parents of the being deaf, Paula as able to speak and fear? Home life, work, the birth of the calf, the working the fields, making the cheese, at the market, a family working together?

6. A young girl, teenage, the circumstances, family, friends, the singing talent, possibilities?

7. The father, his appearance, patriarchal, fond of his family, affectionate, the relationship with his wife, sexual – and the visit to the doctor, her rash, his not wanting to use the lotion? The cheese and the market, sales? The politics of the town, the mayor and his coming to the store, the decisions about the town, change? The father deciding to stand for Mayor, the photo opportunities, television interviews, Paula translating and not translating? The campaign, the meeting, his insulting the people and challenging them? Seeing him as the mayor during the final credits?

8. The mother, the family, her smile, making the cheese, the domestic sequences, the relationship with her children? The visit to the doctor? Participating in the campaign, the photos? The support?

9. Paula’s brother, age, part of the family, deaf? Mathilde, Paula’s friend, the brother teaching her sign language, the sexual encounter, his rash and allergy?

10. Paula, her age, the birth of the calf, at school, sleeping during class, learning Spanish? The friendship with Mathilde and their discussing everything, antagonism towards Karen? The decision to go to the choir, the choirmaster, singling her out, the duet with Gabriel, the songs and its lyrics? The plan for the duet, for the audition, the special coaching? Her reactions, the lessons, not telling her parents? At home, her room, listening to music, on the bus? Her work at the market? Her first period, the shock? Gabriel present? Karen and her mockery? Paula slapping Gabriel, not talking? Upset?

11. Continuing the training, the personality of the teacher, his anger at not getting promotion to Paris? In the provincial town? The auditions, acceptance and rejection? Singling out Paula, encouraging her voice, encouraging Gabriel? The lessons at his home? The Spanish teacher and the relationship? Paula and the campaign, not translating for the television, her being upset, telling her parents, their reactions? Going to the teacher in the rain, his refusal?

12. Explanation, the reconciliation, the family being together?

13. At the concert, the parents and brother, the sound track going down, the audience sharing the experience of watching but not hearing with the family? Applause, happy, Paula taking the air, her father encouraging her? Singing for him, his holding her vocal chords?

14. Going to Paris, early in the morning, getting lost in Paris, late for the audition, the emotion, Gabriel going to the teacher, their driving to Paris? The audition, the choice of song, the accompanist not ready, the teacher stepping in, Paula’s nerves, heartfelt singing, the response of the panel, her parents’ response, the lyrics and the farewell to parents and going out on one’s own?

15. The photos during the credits, Paula studying in Paris, relationship with Gabriel, the father became the Mayor, the family?

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT

US, 2015, 96 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland.


Peggy Guggenheim was an extraordinary figure in the art world of the 20th century. Not an artist herself, she was collector, patron of the arts, fostering new talent, fostering a sensibility for 20th-century modern art, founder of a very significant gallery.

This is both a portrait of Peggy Guggenheim as well as an appreciation of her role in art.

One of the interesting features of the film is that the director has incorporated a great deal of footage from the periods of Peggy Guggenheim’s life, using footage from newsreel, documentary material, feature films of those times. This brings to life the various periods with an authentic and historical feel.

Her family were migrants from Europe, coming poor to the United States, building up their family and fortune. She married into the wealthy Guggenheim family, her uncle being Solomon Gorgon home who founded the Gallery collection in New York City. The film shows her relationship with her two children, her successful son and her tragic daughter.

The film utilises many photo portraits of Peggy, filmed material, so that the audience has a feel for what she looked like at various stages in life, from young to almost 80, with a commentary that explains her background, her education, her interest in art, the beginnings of her collection, her significance.

She spent some time in Paris, mixing with so many celebrities, especially the American ex-patriates, in the 1920s and into the 1930s, where she started to exercise her taste, began to collect as well as to be a dealer in selling many paintings. This continued during the 1930s but she returned to the United States at the outbreak of World War II, bringing all her art works with her.

During the 1940s, she continued to foster talent, the film detailing many of the artists, but most especially Jackson Pollock, and showing her, growing older, her marriages, her affairs, and her place in American society.

She decided that she did not want to stay in the United States and moved back to Europe, choosing Venice as her favourite city, buying a palazzo, setting it up as a gallery, incorporating the various works of art and continually increasing them – over 300 at the time of her death. She collaborated with the Guggenheim in New York City though she was not close, personally, to her uncle Solomon.

She lived in Venice from 1947 until her death in 1979. There is a great deal of footage of her during these years, made an honorary citizen of Venice, building on to the gallery, seeing it become a Mecca for art lovers and art students.

As expected, there are many talking heads, a range of artists, range of celebrities (and for film lovers, an interview with Robert De Niro, his mother’s paintings being in the gallery). There are speculations about her character, relationships, the consciousness of herself as an art collector.

The film is of interest to the general public although there is much more detail and presentations of art than they might be able to deal with. But, of course, it is a must for the visuals of the works of art, the backgrounds of the artists, and an appraisal of Peggy Guggenheim’s contribution to art in the 20th century.

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

UK, 1999, 107 minutes, Colour.
Rosalind Ayres, Julian Firth, Charles Kay, Charlotte Coleman, Edward Jewesbury, Bobby Williams, Joseph Williams, Nicholas Farrell, Danny Nussbaum.
Directed by Jasmin Dizdar.


Beautiful People is set in the 1990s at the time of the wars in the Balkans, especially in Bosnia. While there are action sequences of the war in the Balkans, the five different stories generally take place in the UK, in London.

The stories range over a wide group of characters, doctors and their families, in hospitals, surgery… There is the also a focus on the daughter of a parliamentarian and her impending marriage. A Serb and Croat beg the clash on a bus, move to hospital, where they encounter a Welsh nationalist, anti-English. There is a young woman and her pregnancy and the possibilities of an abortion. And the young hooligan, drugged, finding himself in Holland, sleeping in the crate full of aid for Bosnia, landing in Bosnia and becoming involved in the event, especially with a young boy, blind.

The film won Ecumenical awards at festivals both in Cottbus and Karlovy Vary.

1. The Balkans in the 1990s? Bosnia? United Kingdom?

2. The atmosphere of the Balkans, war, authentic feel, action? Military, aid deliveries?

3. London, settings, the city, the range of stories?

4. The style, real, natural? Edited, pace? The musical score?

5. The title, who are the beautiful people? Everyone beautiful or not?

6. The structure: the fight to the reconciliation, the London stories, the doctor and his trauma, the hooligan parachuted into the Balkans?

7. The neighbours, Serb and Croat, in the bus, the clash? Chase, church? The injuries? Hospital? The presence of the Welsh patient and his anti-British stances? The doctor, the nurse? The issue of pulling the plug? Telling the stories? The cards?

8. The family, Parliament, subservience? Papers? The attitudes, the girl and swearing? The wedding, speeches? The brother?

9. The doctor, his wife, children, the hassle? Sleep? The pregnancy and the truth? The video – and the end? The issue of abortion, the birth of the child, children, planning, neighbours, the wife and demands? Going home, sick? Chloe and the hospital? United?

10. The wife, art, the television news, injured, the operation of the, syndrome, the victim? The doctor and hypnosis? The wife and the doctor, coping?

11. The young men, the drugs, football and introduction, the parents, heroin, landing in Holland, the robbery of the black man, taking the drugs, going to sleep in the crate, transferred to Bosnia, the discovery of the boy, saving him, blindness? Finding the syringe? Television and his reaction? The bullet, the hotel, the fight? Reading the story?

12. Pero? English background? Life, chasing the woman, the purse, the police, identification? In the car, the doctor, the attraction? The home, the deported neighbour, visiting family, piano, the plan, the wedding?

13. The incident, at the shop, Pero, the hospital? The effect?

14. Contemporary stories of the 90s? Later relevance in Civil War areas in the 21st century?