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Film: The Milk Of Sorrow
Release date: 4th October 2010
Certificate: E
Running time: 94 mins
Director: Claudia Llosa
Starring: Magaly Solier, Susi Sánchez, Efraín Solís, Bárbara Lazón, Marino Ballon
Genre: Drama
Studio: Dogwoof
Format: DVD
Country: Spain/Peru
The niece of Peruvian author and political activist Mario Vargas Llosa, Claudia Llosa brings a psychological and sociological eye to South American cinema. The Milk Of Sorrow explores the consequences of terrorism on a highly superstitious generation of female victims who survived the brutal rapes of the Maoist group Sendero Luminoso, at the price of their loved ones and their way of life.
Death and sex never stray from the surface of this film. In the opening scene, we hear the cracked, brittle voice of Perpetua singing unflinchingly on her deathbed of the rape she endured while pregnant with Fausta years previously, and the graphic details of the torture she and her husband suffered.
Elaborate marriage ceremonies are part of the fabric of everyday life, and moments later we see Fausta’s cousin, Aída, trying on her wedding dress, and parading around the dusty family compound. Complete with ludicrously long train, the family dogs and children playing football underneath become emblematic of the rough and tumble nature of life and the need for stability.
The domesticity of the scene is upset by Fausta. Her nosebleed, followed by a fainting fit, marks the beginning of the twin concerns of the film: her mother has passed away, and her last connection to the provinces and her old way of life has ceased to exist, whilst her uncle decrees that Perpetua must be buried before the Aída’s wedding, lest mourning recalls memories of the horrors that have blighted Peru and would spoil their optimistic urban life…
Fausta is slow moving and defined by reticence, she bleeds when she is afraid; her family believe she has no soul and that fear was nourished at her mother’s breast. A gulf exists between science and what the family are prepared to believe, they cannot understand the psychological basis for Fausta’s behaviour, but are supportive nonetheless. When Fausta is faced with tactless chat up lines such as, “If red is the colour of passion, let me bathe in your menstruation,” you can understand her desire to uphold her mother’s precaution of using a potato as a barrier to rape. As Fausta’s condition deteriorates, we see her seated amongst blooming expectant mothers in hospital, or unable to accept the smallest of kindnesses from men, apart from being walked home.
The film makes apparent that death and marriage are booming industries. As Fausta searches for a suitable coffin for her mother, she starts at the high-end with paunchy salesmen to gaudy painted versions presented by a woman in white stilettos. Fausta’s family are in the lucrative business of lengthy wedding preparations, and this is where much of the humour lies. Her aunt carelessly decorates a cake, knowing her customer is illiterate and the presentation of wedding gifts rivals the Generation Game in terms of tack and enthusiasm. And yet death is ever present. Photographers goad the couples with comments such as “smile, you’re not dead” and “this is not a cemetery,” while Fausta runs upstairs to find Perpetua’s embalmed body has been hidden under the bed to make way for Aida’s dress. The juxtaposition of the mummy and this symbol of fertility underline Fausta’s own position: she IS unable to take part in life when she is so haunted by death, and a somewhat reasonable fear of men.
Magaly Solier’s unique and almost impossibly elegant bone structure makes you wonder if a there could have ever been a man involved in making her, while her broad hips and the male appreciation she inspires tell a different story. Fausta’s employment at the ‘Big House’, the home of an affluent composer and pianist, is considered “just what she needs,” after the loss of her mother. It allows her to meet different people, but the iconography she encounters in the kitchen of the Madonna and child, with her breast visible, is a suitably ironic statement on what she encounters.
A willowy blonde woman, shown to tower over the local workmen she hires, is presented to Fausta as the image of a strong independent woman. Fausta’s initial timidity is overcome by Noé’s encouragement of her deeply autobiographical folk-singing - something she has inherited from her mother alongside fear. Her song about mermaids, quinine and contracts has an authenticity Noé can only dream of, but can easily exploit. Fausta is subjected to what can only be described as cultural rape; Noé takes what she wants and leaves Fausta to her greatest fear, walking home alone. It’s a painful allegory - the body and spirit of a nation can be appropriated and abused, and not just by those who fit the mask of the brutal aggressor.
Llosa’s poignant and perfectly nuanced story of a developing nation shows the people of Lima as dynamic force in the spiritual rebuilding of a country afflicted by civil war. Human kindness is shown to thrive in the most hostile of circumstances proving that a hopeful future can have roots in bloodstained soil. SR
Film: Patrik, Age 1.5
Release date: 23rd August 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 103 mins
Director: Ella Lemhagen
Starring: Gustaf Skarsgård, Torkel Petersson, Thomas Ljungman, Annika Hallin, Amanda Davin
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Studio: TLA
Format: DVD
Country: Sweden
A country notable for its tolerance of homosexuality, gay adoption has been legal in Sweden since 2002. Compared to the UK, where same-sex adoption was legalised in 2005, and Scotland, where the bill only passed in 2009, a film that explores the issue from a more established perspective deserves attention. Originally a play by Michael Druker, the film received a warm reception at LA’s Outfest in 2009. Following the media interest and Channel 4’s recent documentary about gay millionaires Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow, who have three children through IVF and surrogacy, this is a timely release.
Göran and Sven Skoogh are a loving couple who have just moved into a neighbourhood so perfect it could have been designed by Ikea. Unfortunately, some of the residents also have readymade attitudes towards homosexuality. The couple do not allow this to faze them - they want a child to cement their relationship, and so the arduous process of adoption begins.
Göran is a GP and the soft-featured, nurturing type who makes the local housewives lament his sexual orientation. Meanwhile, Sven is a hard-headed, hard-drinking businessman with a Dolly Parton poster and a daughter from a previous marriage. When there is a clerical error and the couple are given responsibility for 15-year-old Patrik, a homophobic delinquent, their opposite approaches to people and parenting have mixed results from disastrous to heart-warming…
Patrick, Age 1.5 is as much a critique of attitudes towards same-sex adoption as it is of bureaucracy in Sweden - in fact, the latter is what provides some of the strongest punch lines of the film. Sven’s fury at the error of Social Services is compounded by a parking ticket; he reaches boiling point when the priggish police receptionist seems more interested in reminding him to stay outside the carefully measured perimeter around his bulletproof glass.
The same can be said for the head social worker when Göran decides he does want to adopt Patrik and not hold out for a baby. He replies, “You think we’re just giving out children?” when, due to their own incompetence and limited opening hours, the couple have been looking after Patrik for the best part of a week. Despite the liberal subject material, however, there is still room for a little good old-fashioned xenophobia - if they cannot have a Swedish child, they would happily adopt from any country, although “not from Denmark,” remarks Sven.
Badly behaved and misunderstood, Patrik may look typically Swedish with his Nordic looks, but his attitude is far from tolerant. He is quick to point out, with much bravado, that he once attacked a homosexual, and that he thinks Sven and Göran are paedophiles. Göran, someone apt to make the best of things, teaches Patrik how to say paedophile properly and discovers his unlikely talent for gardening. A mutual respect quickly grows between the two, threatening his relationship with Sven, who continues to behave with a fear of the unknown verging on the Neanderthal.
Ljungman commendably plays the part of an abrasive and overlooked teenager, a role that is by no means easy and often performed very poorly, but it is Gustaf Skarsgård as the winning Göran who carries the film. Many of the most poignant scenes that deal with attitudes towards homosexuality are tackled by him. For instance, his honest conversation with an inquisitive boy he is meant to be immunising is spoilt when the boy’s father stampedes in, furious that his son is being treated by a gay doctor. Or when one of his neighbours, who is openly cheating on his wife with a younger woman, remarks on how convenient it would be for Göran to have someone like Patrik around.
Patrik, Age 1.5 ably confronts the controversial subject of same-sex adoption. The film does not shy away from some of the more unpleasant assumptions held against the gay community, undermines preconceptions and underlines some of society’s double standards. This may be a tall order, but Patrik, Age 1.5 succeeds and yet remains a gentle, thoughtful and, at times, provocative comedy. What better way to celebrate the legalisation of same-sex adoption in Argentina? SR
Film: No One Knows About Persian Cats
Release date: 26th July 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 106 mins
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Starring: Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad, Hichkas, Hamed Seyyed Javadi, Ash Koosha
Genre: Drama
Studio: Network
Format: DVD
Country: Iran
It is easy to become complacent and apathetic about the power of artistic expression in a pop culture soaked world such as our own. Director Bahman Ghobadi is a member of the third generation of Iranian New Wave cinema which is an important force in the cultural climate of the country. Far from being purely a commercial entity, Iranian cinema has become the main medium through which Iranians can access modernity and formulate a national identity outside proscriptive religious values.
This conflict between religion and cultural modernity is at the heart of No One Knows About Persian Cats. Negar and Ashkan have just been released from prison due to involvement in artistic activities prohibited by strict Islamic law. Far from deterred, the couple are keen to form a band so they can perform in Tehran before travelling to the UK to promote their music.
What follows is an excursion into the thriving underground music scene in Tehran, courtesy of Nader played by Hamed Behdad, the self-proclaimed “Marlon Brando of Iran…”
Nader is in many ways the driving force of the film, not only does he promise to arrange passports and visas for Negar and Ashkan but also for their potential band members. When Nader is first introduced, he is a hurricane of activity; between claiming he can facilitate the couple’s artistic endeavours, he chatters to his budgies Scarlett, Rhett Butler and Monica Bellucci. It’s just unfortunate that the demo they give him sounds like derivate washed-out Britpop. Luckily, Nader fails to notice this and introduces them to some of the best musical talent Tehran has to offer; Rana Farhan, the Persian equivalent of a soul singer, rough-and-ready rapper Hichkas, indie kids The Yellow Dogs Band and a heavy metal group.
Nearly everyone featured in film is obsessed with western pop culture. Just waiting in the queue for her illegal papers, Negar gets talking to a woman about indie music and Madonna. David, the shady character who is to provide their visas, gives Nader a verbal lashing for giving him a black market film that contains romance when all he wants is high-octane Hollywood action. Nader meanwhile will swear on his mother, the Qu’ran and endure a real lashing in order to protect his film collection when it is discovered by the authorities. However, the excitement of one indie band member when Ashkan gives him a copy of NME lends a little absurdity - why get excited about the music of Green Day when you’re a subversive musician rebelling against a strict Muslim government?
Ashkan and Negar’s difficulty in getting a permit to play a gig in Tehran shows how stringent the rules are, but this also provides much of the humour. Ashkan complains that Negar’s lyrics are too gloomy, joking, “Did you write them in prison?’” When she replies in the affirmative he adds, “you’ll never get a permit for that.” The bands have to get creative if they want to practice and avoid being reported to the police, or be stopped short by a power cut. This being the case, the trio goes to watch a heavy metal band perform in a cowshed. The cows clearly object to amps being balanced on their hay bales, as the farmer complains they have stopped producing milk.
Much of the film is music combined with cityscapes which could easily be naff pastiche if weren’t set somewhere as exotic and unknown to western eyes as Iran. The ‘indie’ unsteady camerawork is forgiven for the shots of people and places: a man proudly standing in front of his shop with a knickers display in the window, chickens being butchered, children messing about on bikes, and building sites. There is also a nod to class struggle thanks to Persian street rapper Hichkas, who explicitly states that all human life is not treated with equal respect. After all, one wonders how Negar and Ashkan support their artistic ambitions without ever having to work, it seems.
No One Knows About Persian Cats does not end optimistically and represents a generation of disenfranchised youth and talent. Many aspire to leave Iran, as, at present, this is their only option to achieve their artistic goals, but what the film does prove is that art, culture and music can thrive even under the most hostile of circumstances. SR
Film: Amelie
Release date: 15th April 2002
Certificate: 15
Running time: 116 mins
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Dominique Pinon,
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: France
Rejected by the Cannes Film Festival for being “uninteresting,” but welcomed by the hearts of the French and Francophile alike, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie is a rare exception to the rulebook of foreign cinema. Despite the original setback, the whimsical story of a lonely Parisian waitress has gone on to be nominated for five academy awards and won the Cesar for Best Film.
A departure from Jeunet’s cannibalistic black comedy Delicatessen, Amelie details the life of shy waitress, Amelie Poulain (Tautou), who, rather than drunkenly gallivanting about town every weekend like most girls her age, prefers a simpler existence filled with simple pleasures, such as skimming stones, immersing her hands into sacks of grain and cracking the crust of her crème brulee.
In shock from the death of Princess Diana, Amelie inadvertently discovers a childhood box of treasures belonging to her apartment’s previous tenant and attempts to return it to the original owner. Glowing from her good deed of the day, she is inspired to carry out unselfish acts for family, friends and even strangers. These include the exploits of a garden gnome to awaken her father’s inner globetrotter, seeing for the blind, and an act of revenge towards the local fruit seller causing him to literally go bananas.
Isolated from a young age due to a wrongly diagnosed heart defect, Amelie feels comfortable within her sheltered life yet due to the superhuman responsibility undertaken, she begins to desire the love and friendship of another. However, unbeknownst to Amelie, as she watches the world from the outside looking in, a kindred spirit is observing her actions. Known as ‘the glass man’ due to his brittle bones, Amelie befriends the wise and short fused Mr Dufayel who has painted Renoir’s famous work ‘Le Déjeuner Des Canotiers’ on multiple occasions, yet is never satisfied with the end result. Through his dedication to painting the image perfectly and their own philosophical discussions about the lives of it’s inhabitants, Amelie begins to reassess her life, and gain the courage to speak to quirky photo booth rejects collector, Nino…
With his previous outings containing darker elements, Jeunet’s Amelie is a refreshing take on love, life and friendship, leaving the film to be difficult to label; an aspect that probably contributed to the reasons it wasn’t allowed to enter the Cannes Film Festival. However, this is exactly what makes the film charming and endearing without the sugar coating often added to plots containing elements of romance.
Whilst, to some, the lead character may seem perfect on paper, the combination of Jeunet’s direction and Tautou’s performance provides an honest portrayal of an introvert with the character’s subtle cracks visible to the audience. Audrey Tautou’s quietly moving performance transforms Amelie into someone who is relatable to audiences despite the great lengths she goes to commit acts of kindness for others.
Narrated by the haunting piano of Yann Tierson, the lead character’s loneliness is felt even when surrounded by large groups of people, whereas in contrast, the happier aspects of the soundtrack are what some may perceive as francophone music adhering almost to a stereotype.
Jeunet’s vision of Amelie’s world is dominated by the colours green and red that, although at first puzzling, creates a unique trademark aesthetic that has since been imitated, most famously by the TV series Pushing Daisies. Not that this is a negative aspect of the film - in fact, the effect is quite the opposite, and separates Amelie’s home from the trite tourist hubbub so often associated and portrayed in Parisian set films.
Whilst being quietly and at times daringly comic, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie is a film of poignancy, wit and intelligence, yet still keeps a certain amount of simplicity in tact without seeming too pretentious. A film that will have you re-evaluating your own life and relationships, Amelie will be with you long after the end credits have rolled. SR
Film: Amelie
Release date: 15th April 2002
Certificate: 15
Running time: 116 mins
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Dominique Pinon,
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: France
After a so-so Hollywood detour with Alien: Resurrection, Jean-Pierre Jeunet regained the favour won with such visionary works as Delicatessen and The City Of Lost Children, with this worldwide smash hit.
Amelie Poulain lives a solitary and sheltered childhood with few friends for company. She is educated at home whilst her father works as a doctor, and has precious little time for his only child.
Her mother dies when she is very young and, as a result of her lonely surroundings, Amelie begins to retreat more and more into her own mind for solace, where she spends most of her time in a dream world instead of facing the reality around her.
Years later, in her early twenties, Amelie moves to Paris and starts working as a waitress at the Two Windmills Café. The adult Amelie is an imaginative but introverted young woman, who lives a quiet and isolated life.
After a string of coincidences lead her to find a box hidden in her apartment, she develops an insatiable desire to help others. Due to her introverted nature, she chooses not to help people openly; instead she sets up intricate plans and trails and watches from a distance as they are touched by her actions. But when Amelie finds she is falling in love, she realises that the hardest person to help is herself…
There is more than a touch of fairytale to this charming story, even down to Jeunet’s picturesque portrayal of the city of Paris. But the main credit has to go to Audrey Tautou, who makes the character of Amelie completely her own, depicting the contrastingly innocent and mischievous nature of Amelie perfectly. With this film, she shot to fame not just in France but worldwide, and deservedly so. Given her career and performances since, it seems this role was tailor made, with the depth of perception she brought.
Although the story itself is a fairly simple one, which anybody can relate to and understand, and it is told eloquently and imaginatively. The side storylines of the characters in Amelie’s life – her work colleagues, parents and neighbours – often add comic value without taking away from the focus of the tale. Instead, they provide us with a backdrop to Amelie’s ventures; first as she goes about trying to improve other people’s lives, and later as she turns to seducing one man in particular (Mathieu Kassovitz) in order to enhance her own.
The filmmakers encourage us to pay attention to detail, as it reveals people’s small quirks and habits, which generally go unnoticed by society. Amelie is a firm believer in life’s small pleasures, and she encourages the audience to consider those little things in our life that brighten up our day. As each of the main characters is introduced, the narrative voice-over provides us with titbits of information about the character’s personality, including their ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’, which help in turn to give us a sense of intimacy, as we begin to understand how these people work. It is that beauty in the small details, even though it may not always be visible to the naked eye that makes this film so precious.
A combination of comedy genius, witty one-liners (“She liked to spread her legs, but only on silk”), a hint of fantasy and a touching sentiment, make this a rare success in the blending of comedy and romance.
Whimsical and life affirming, Amelie is a unique experience which shouldn’t be missed. A rare movie gem. EW
