An intergalactic journey involving square pigs, sex dolls, killer robots and Dennis Hopper's surly truck driver, Stuart Gordon's Space Truckers is now available on blu-ray.
To try to describe the plot of Space Truckers is an exercise in madness, but here we go. Hauling a truck of genetically modified square pigs (easier to stack) across the galaxy, Dennis Hopper's trucker John Canyon gets into a contract dispute with his bosses and is replaced in his delivery duties by the new kid on the block, Mike Pucci (Stephen Dorff). When that plan goes awry, they team up with Debi Mazar's waitress Cindy to ship a load of sex dolls back to Earth, encountering a gang of space pirates and Charles Dance's cybernetic enhanced mad scientist, and wait... those aren't sex dolls. They're deadly robot ninjas!
To say that Space Truckers has dated is an understatement. Thanks to the blu-ray transfer the zero G wire work is immediately, comically, visible, the costuming is sub par Super Mario Bros: The Movie (also starring Dennis Hopper) and the set of the Pachyderm (Hopper's rig) wouldn't look out of place in a second season episode of Red Dwarf; but there's an unescapable charm to Space Truckers, particularly if you are accustomed to Stuart Gordon's oeuvre. A director with a varied career, Gordon made his name with the Lovecraftian horrors Re-Animator and From Beyond, before giving us the Christopher Lambert dystopian prison classic Fortress and the schlocky-as-hell Castle Freak. Space Truckers, clearly made on a super low budget, has a few notable Gordon staples including an approach to genre classification that swings like a metronome and even a brief cameo from Barbara Crampton, who has appeared in a number of Gordon's films.
Made at that point in the 90s before Star Wars returned with The Phantom Menace, where CGI was becoming more and more prevalent and often used for its cheapness and logistic practicality than any aesthetic appeal. Space Truckers is a mix between practical effects and CGI, and to be honest, it's a judgement call as to which holds up better in the high definition era. It's abundantly clear through the front window of the Pachyderm that "space" is just a black backdrop with tiny lights attached, but there's a certain charm to that DIY look that can't be said about some of the rendering of the CGI effects.
But what about the cast? Well, Hopper is surprisingly game in his role of a grumpy old trucker who just wants someone to love him, namely Debi Mazar's Cindy. His John Canyon is a season vet who can handle being boarded by space pirates and knows how to talk his way out of the situation with all of his appendages attached. Hopper, a man whose career saw many highs and lows across the decades is apparently having quite a lot of fun with this role and this crew, and even when things take some ridiculous turns he keeps this unwieldy beast moving. As the younger members of his crew, Dorff and Mazar are perfectly fine as the loved up pair, taking the first opportunity they can get to fool around with each other (when the cooling system breaks on the ship and Hopper heads out on a spacewalk, leaving Dorff and Mazar to strip off in zero gravity like a couple of sweaty Barbarella's).
But what is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown, the lightning strike ornament or mudflaps with ladies on of this film is Charles Dance's Macanudo, a half robot, half man evil villain who not only delivers his lines with a straight face, but with gusto, all whilst revving up his motorised... organs. He's not in the film enough, but when he's on screen he's fantastic, and hammier than an intergalactic haulage vessel filled with square pigs. In Charles Dance's pantheon of on screen bastards, Macanudo is up there with the best.
Space Truckers is a bizarre, uneven film that struggles to find the balance between the sci-fi, body horror and adventurous trucker movies it draws inspiration from. There's weird, Guyver-esque killer robot ninjas who can incinerate enemies with a single laser blast, a finale that liberally steals from Alien but with Dennis Hopper donning a spacesuit to fight a robot with a microwave, Vernon Wells popping up as a ponytailed henchman with a face tattoo and, particularly for Stuart Gordon fans, the most ludicrous final act twist you will ever see.
Slightly naff, wholly stupid and adorably 90s, Space Truckers is a trucking good time.
Verdict
3/5
Special Features
- An extensive interview with director Stuart Gordon
- The Art of Space Truckers, an interview with the art director
- The Score of Space Truckers, an interview with the composer
Written, directed by and starring long time Saturday Night Live star Taran Killam, this mockumentary sees a camera crew follow Blake (Killam), a contract killer out for revenge against his old rival Gunther (and the deadliest assassin of them all) for stealing his girlfriend.
Hiring the camera crew so that he will have proof that he bettered his longtime rival, Blake spends a large amount of time trying to track down the mysterious Gunther, only to be constantly taunted and toyed with by him. If you don't want to know who plays the titular assassin I'm not going to spoil that for you here..... jokes, it's obviously Arnold Schwarzenegger, taking up the entire frame of the poster you've already scrolled past, featuring prominently in the trailer and (no disrespect to Taran Killam's fans) is most likely the only reason why you'd be interested in seeing Killing Gunther.
There's a long history of comedy classics released by former and current stars of the long running topical sketch show, Saturday Night Live. The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World started life as sketches on the show, whereas Tina Fey's Mean Girls showed that post 2000, it was still a fertile breeding ground for talent eager to make the leap to the big screen. The high benchmark for films released this millennium by the SNL alumni is, of course, Hot Rod, starring Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and directed by Akiva Schaffer. They hit the comedy jackpot by imbuing its central character with a charming but idiotic innocence and surrounding him with an array of colourful supporting roles. Killam tries to replicate that formula here, but only with a modicum of success.
Killam's character is pitched somewhere between Dan Aykroyd in Grosse Point Blank and Jon Hamm in Mad Men, dressed to the nines in some sharp suits but also clearly a tad unhinged. He veers between clueless buffoon to unrelenting fanboy of his prey, Gunther, just like the apparent relationship between Killam and the Austrian Oak. Despite his quest for revenge, Blake is clearly in awe of Gunther (even going to the lengths of hiring the crew to document it for posterity), and is happy to be on his radar if not too happy to be in his crosshairs.
Surrounding Killam's main schemer is fellow SNL alum Bobby Moynihan as an explosives expert and New Girl's Hannah Simone as a legacy assassin out to prove her independence to her father. There's also a fleeting but crucial appearance from Killam's real life wife Cobie Smulders as the cause of all this fighting. They're fun additions to the band of mercenaries, along with a professional poisoner and a man with a bionic arm, just to hammer home the Roger Moore Bond level of realism the film is pitched at. As you would expect from an action comedy there's stunts and explosions aplenty, although it's clear that budgetary restrictions can only buy you a certain quality of digital fire and blood, and that it should be used sparingly.
The major problem with Killing Gunther is that, despite what the trailer would have you believe, Arnie isn't in it very much at all. In fact, "Gunther" is quite obviously played by some large-framed stuntmen until the last half hour of the film. This is very much a case of creative filmmaking to accommodate the big reveal of one of the most famous action movie stars there has ever been, but then their efforts nullified by the necessity to put him front and centre of the marketing in order to sell the film to people. To be honest, I would struggle to believe anyone would sit down to watch Killing Gunther without knowing that it features Arnie (most probably as the distinctly Germanic sounding Gunther), and I say that as someone who would have sought this out for its SNL pedigree alone.
On the plus side, once Arnie eventually does turn up he's having an absolute whale of a time bouncing off this talented cast of comic actors, and his appearance raises the film in the way you would expect a star of his stature would. His extended cameo, which sees a tittering Arnie show why Gunther is a master manipulator and the best assassin of them all, is by far the most enjoyable part of the film and delivers more laughs than were present in the preceding hour. If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that if you gamble the relative success of your action comedy on the weight of expectation for the appearance of a big, big, movie star, don't complain if you get crushed by a 200 pound Austrian Oak.
Is Killing Gunther going to become a well-loved comedy classic? No, probably not. But thanks to Arnie it ends on a bizarre, giggle-worthy high, and if you can allow yourself to get swept up in the overall silliness of it all, there's fun to be had.
Screened as part of the BFI FLARE LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Lena Hall stars as musical Becks, returning home after a break up to reacquaint herself with her past and her mother.
Returning to your childhood home may be an indie movie staple at this point (Garden State perhaps the most obvious example), but for Becks (Lena Hall) there's an added element. Away from the judgement and conflicted feelings of her mother, Becks has been allowed to live her life as she wishes without having to justify herself. Moving back home, both to recuperate after her separation from girlfriend Lucy (Hayley Kiyoko) and because she's broke, she's once again under the roof and the watchful eye of her mother (Christine Lahti).
Feeling creatively stifled, she takes her friend Dave (Dan Fogler) up on his offer to perform live music at his local bar Perfectos, where she meets bored housewife Elyse (Mena Suvari). Agreeing to help tutor her on guitar, soon the chemistry between Becks and Elyse leads to a complicated romance. As a veteran of the LA dating scene Becks is well aware that Elyse may just be a bored housewife, using her to fulfil a longstanding lesbian fantasy, but soon starts to feel a real connection with her, despite their wildly different lives. Whereas Becks has struggled to live as a touring musician, Elyse has a huge house, close friends and a seemingly ideal relationship with husband Mitch (Darren Ritchie). Basically, as straight and white as their picket fences.
I wasn't familiar with Lena Hall before this film, but she's quite a multi-talented presence. It's a compelling performance that makes you wish for Becks to come out on top, even when she's less than likeable. The film is peppered with musical performances from Hall, bringing to mind the emotional heft of other musical films like John Carney's Once. It's quite clear the filmmakers know that it's best to just put the camera on Hall and let her do her thing.
Of the supporting cast, Becks has an interesting friendship with Dan Fogler's Dave, a former teenage flame who sees Becks potential but is also aware of her ability to sabotage herself. It's not a huge role for Fogler, but he and Hall have great interplay in all of their scenes. Top of the supporting cast is Christine Lahti as Becks' mother. It would have been quite easy to play her as a one note, judgemental religious stereotype, but Lahti sees the layers in her character and the conflicts she has between her beliefs and her love for her daughter.
But at the core of the film is the relationship between Becks and Elyse. Mena Suvari, looking like an all American girl cliche doesn't at first appear to have too much depth to her, but she does keep you guessing as to what her long term intentions are. Is she conflicted about her sexuality? Is she using Becks as a way of escaping her unhappy marriage? In what direction does she want her life to go? There is real chemistry between Mena and Lena, although their liaisons do lead to what might be the films only real mis-step, in a sex scene that although admirably frank, tips over into the kind of 'comedy of embarrassment' scenario that would be more suited to the American Pie series.
Although Becks might be walking a well-trodden indie film path, it does it well enough to be a standout. There's a sweet, endearing romance at the centre of the film, but it's the performance of Hall, whether behind a microphone or not, that makes this one worth seeking out.
After stealing a car and shooting a police officer, small time crook Jesse (Richard Gere) tries to convince French student Monica (Valerie Kaprisky) to abandon her future and start a new life with him in Mexico. Hoping to conceal who he really is from Monica, Jesse continues to lie, cheat and steal to fund their escape, all the while with the police hot on his trail.
With its charismatic leading man and stylish visuals, you could be understandably concerned that Jim McBride's Breathless might be nothing more than an Americanised remake of the French New Wave classic; but fear not, as there's some real substance to this under-appreciated gem. That's largely thanks to the performance of Richard Gere, still working his way up to the height of his star power (this was the capper to his one, two, three punch after American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman) and revelling in the opportunity to play an anti-hero with real depth. As Silver Surfer obsessed Jesse, Gere is able to hustle his way through life, hook up with the beautiful French student Monica and evade the authorities without breaking too much of a sweat, figuratively. That's because at its heart, this sun drenched LA odyssey is a sexy, 'beads of sweat on a shirtless chest with a bleeding heart tattoo' kind of movie, and plays to its film soleil strengths at every given opportunity.
If you're unfamiliar with film soleil, it's best categorised as an update on the well-worn film noir genre, taking in beautiful, sun soaked vistas with quite often a boy and a girl on the run at its centre. Breathless may not be as recognised as David Lynch's Wild at Heart or Dennis Hopper's The Hot Spot, but it's a key film in that run of films that appeared in the 80s and 90s. This film shares the almost artificially hazy, dreamlike sunsets and outrageous wardrobe of some of its genre-mates, but although there is a lot of style on show, it would be wrong to consider it style over substance.
The basic plot of Breathless may concern Jesse's attempts to avoid incarceration and to cross the border to Mexico, but there's long scenes where little else happens except Gere and Kaprisky play cat and mouse flirting games in a hotel room, and these are as equally engrossing. It's the chemistry between these two that not only sells the romance, but the raw sexual power and the allure of the film. Special praise should be given to Kaprisky, who at only 20 years old at the time of production, puts in a star making turn against the established Gere. She ultimately opted to continue her career in her native France, but her relative obscurity only helps to make her character of Monica stand out all the more. It's also worth noting that McBride went on to direct The Big Easy and the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire, so he's clearly a director able to project a particular style to all of his work. His career took a down turn in the 90s, but this will be the film he is remembered for, and not just because of its relationship to its French older brother.
1960's Breathless will always be heralded as the more important film, but director Jim McBride should be commended for doing something new with the set up. Okay, so a guy and a girl on the run is a familiar tale, but I've never seen LA look like this before (it's rare that a wall is passed without some exotic fresco painted on it), and as a real rock and roll rebel, I've never seen Gere this compelling a screen presence before. For fans of hip, sexy road movies, this is a must.
After admitting to the murder of his boss, Misumi (Yakusho Koji) is now facing the death penalty. But his lawyer, Shigemori (Fukuyama Masaharu), unable to find a motive for the crime, begins to dig deeper and uncover a number of factors that raise doubts about the event as described. Kore-Eda Hirokazu's new film The Third Murder is now in cinemas.
The film starts by showing us the murder of Misumi's boss, at night, down by the riverside, first bludgeoned over the head and then his body set on fire. The film then spends the remainder of its running time making us question what we saw, and asking us to work out why the crime was committed. Misumi, previously convicted of a murder in his youth, confesses and admits culpability for the crime, but without an understanding as to why he would want to commit this murder, his lawyer decides to examine the case and everyone involved to see if there is a way to get his client's presumed sentence reduced.
At face value, the murder at the centre of this film isn't the most thrilling of set ups. All the evidence is plain to see, and with a man admitting to the crime, why would his lawyer argue with what is put in front of him? It is this question that drives the film and raises more questions about the legal system and the actual role of a lawyer in the proceedings. Is it to deliver the truth or the truth that best serves their client? Can there be or should there be a balance between justice, truth and winning? There is hesitation and manipulation from both sides, expressed creatively via the conversations Misumi and Shigemori have through the prison's reflective glass partition wall.
As the enigmatic title would suggest, there is more to this murder than first meets the eye. The film slowly builds this mystery, adding more questions involving the victim's wife and daughter, right up until its dying moments. However, if you go in expecting a gripping murder mystery you may feel short changed, as although the murder is at the centre of the film, it is the dubious legal quandaries that take up the bulk of the film's story. This is a constantly evolving narrative, the outcome of which is hard to predict or perhaps more pertinently, justify. At one point in the film when discussing the likely death penalty that faces him, Misumi asks why he should not kill a man who he thought deserved it when that is exactly what the court is proposing to do to him.
Don't go in expecting a Japanese version of Zodiac and you will find that The Third Murder is able to offer something that is rare in the crime drama; a film that is unafraid to ask important, difficult questions about its own story and the criminal justice system as a whole. It is at times a slow and ponderous tale, but it builds up layers of mystery and intrigue that, come the finale, cannot be easily answered.
The latest batch of Vestron Video titles have had their upgraded blu-ray releases this week, and first up for review is the unfairly forgotten Stephen Dorff horror, The Gate.
Left to look after the house for the weekend when their parents are away, 13 year old Glen (a ridiculously young Stephen Dorff) and his older sister Al (Christa Denton) are forced to fend off otherworldly spirits summoned by a broken orb dug up at the bottom of the garden by Glen and his best friend Terry. Manifesting themselves as all manner of creatures, Glen, Terry and Al must put their petty squabbles aside to avoid having the house, and maybe the entire world, destroyed.
When I think of Stephen Dorff, I think of the 90s heart-throb who was the villain in the first Blade film and the washed up movie star in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. What I don't think of is the teeny, tiny, teenage poppet who appears in The Gate, a munchkin not dissimilar to a young Leonardo DiCaprio in Critters 3 or River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke in Explorers. Filmed in Canada when Dorff was just 13 years old, this was his debut movie role but still manages to show some of the laid back performance style that would define him as a movie star later on. Glen is perpetually blindsided by the events in his house, which given the believability of the effects work does make sense.
First things first, The Gate is almost objectionably 1980s. The odd "fag" insults here and there, horrendous clothing on literally everyone, and one poor girl who seems to have been the model for Cameron Diaz’s There’s Something About Mary jizz hair, presented without explanation. It’s a portrait of suburbia as a barren wasteland of fun; with identikit houses with huge lawns and nothing for the kids to do except play in the dirt, which of course is what leads the kids into trouble when they uncover a pit from hell.
It’s a bit of a slow starter, and the first couple of scares aren’t especially ground breaking (pun intended), but when it kicks into gear and shows off its effects work, The Gate is great bordering on fantastic. In a blatant pilfering of The Evil Dead’s Necronomicon incantation recordings, the film features a goofy subplot about playing a record backwards to find out how to banish the demons; but in classic The Evil Dead fashion all they manage to do is piss off some demons and speed up their ascent from hell.
One of the canniest moves this film plays is the gradual ramping up of the effects work, beginning with some dry ice and back lighting and then shifting up a gear as mini Dorff put his fingers through the eye sockets of a demon, allowing for a horrible soupy substance to flow out. Yes, this is a real treat for gore hounds who appreciate the artistry of a good effects shot, and the originality and execution of the special effects is worth commending.
The story of a young boy and his sister battling monsters from beneath is simple enough, but this film is still able to wrong foot you and provide a number of pleasant surprises. When it feels like The Gate has reached its natural end you then realise the story hasn’t even hit the hour mark yet, and then the teens head into the basement to retrieve the spell they need to close the gate (hello again, The Evil Dead) leading to a solid 40 minutes of absolute bedlam; with zombies, demonic children, even more mini orc beasties and one of the most jaw dropping special effects shots I’ve seen in a long time. It's perhaps sacrilegious to say you can afford to sacrifice a cleverly nuanced script when the entirety of your budget is up there to see in the tremendous VFX work, but this is definitely a perfect example of that happening. There are numerous moments where you’ll find yourself wanting to rewind it and watch a VFX shot again. And now you can.
The title is unremarkable, the acting is never beyond what you’d expect from a bunch of kids, there’s not much way in plot and what there is has been taken from other films; but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Gate to anyone with a fondness for slightly naff 80s horrors. Seriously, this is a special effects bonanza that deserves to have a bigger midnight movie following. Buy this, invite your friends around and watch their jaws hit the floor.
Verdict
3.5/5
Special Features - Two commentaries from the director, writer and special effects crew - Isolated score and interview with the composers - Modern featurettes about the making of the film - Creature workshop - Teaser trailer - Theatrical trailer - Storyboards - behind the scenes gallery
Released this week in a newly re-mastered special edition is Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers.
Set during the Algerian War of the late 1950s and early 1960s, The Battle of Algiers sees a band of freedom fighters push back against the restrictions imposed by the French military forces that controlled the streets of Algiers. Following the story of Ali La Pointe (Omar Hadjadj) from petty thief to leader of a group of insurgents, it pits him against Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin) as he attempts to bring the streets under control.
The Battle of Algiers has long been regarded as one of the most important war films of all time. Released in 1966 a mere four years after the conflict came to an end, it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival that year but due to the controversy surrounding it was not widely released in France until 1971. Adopting what they refer to as a "newsreel" (read, documentary) shooting style to create added realism, what is notable about this film is that although it arguably errs its allegiance to the freedom fighters, it offers unglamorous viewpoints of both sides of the war in all its ghastly detail.
Hounded by the military and forced to live in wall spaces in the casbah, the FLN (National Liberation Front) are seen to use women and children to help fight their cause, often during the numerous and shocking assassination scenes that see soldiers killed by calculated and unexpected methods. Another notable contribution to these scenes is the score provided by Ennio Morricone. It's a vital, urgent piece of music that propels the film towards its dramatic conclusion.
As important a film now as it was 50 years ago, The Battle of Algiers is not just an important document of the impact this war had on the steep, winding streets of the casbah and the propaganda used by the French military to persuade the inhabitants that their way was the only way forward, it is a strikingly timeless film about the power wielded by the oppressed that should be never far from the thoughts of any government contemplating war. Impactful and resonant, this is one to watch.
Verdict
5/5
With its slipcase, booklet, reversible sleeve and two disc blu-ray and DVD combo, it really is an attractive package. What's more, the in depth documentary on the special features shows how this classic war film was painstakingly restored and reconstructed by a lab in Italy. For fans of cinema and those curious about how these 4K restorations are put together, this is a brilliantly revealing look at what it takes.
Released this week to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death, I Am Heath Ledger uses hours of footage shot by the man himself, as well as interviews with some of his closest friends and family to tell us who he really was.
Produced with the blessing and involvement of his family, I Am Heath Ledger isn't a collection of recycled red carpet footage or ghastly countdown of his last 24 hours, but is in fact a well produced and very heartfelt look at what drove him as an actor and creator. It's perhaps not well known, but Heath Ledger liked to document his life via photographs and homemade videos - sometimes short films, sometimes conversations with friends and sometimes him just doing nothing. That footage is used here and helps paint an intimate portrait of who he really was behind closed doors.
Leaving home at 17 to go travelling around Australia, after finding acting work on television programme Roar, he soon made the leap to the US and stardom. As well as interviews with his family, there's also touching anecdotes from stars like Naomi Watts and Ben Mendelsohn telling stories about how after he found fame, Heath's home became a halfway house for numerous up and coming actors trying to replicate his success in LA. He was a generous spirit who didn't care for the pomposity of the Hollywood scene, and so he kept his old friends around him at all times and shared his good fortune.
It's apparent that with his leading man looks and debut role in a successful teen movie that Ledger was underestimated as an actor for far too long. This film is not a dissection of his entire career (his work in Australia is barely mentioned), however Heath Ledger is still an interesting case study of how to become a respected actor with career longevity by choosing projects carefully and opting to work with people you admire and respect. His agent recalls the time Heath was being talked about for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, something he was quick to dismiss as something he knew he was not right for and what wasn't right for him. Instead he worked with talented directors like Ang Lee, one of the many voices here who praise his devotion to his work.
Among the revelations from the film is his interest/bordering on obsession with artists such as Nick Drake, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain, all of whom died before their 30th birthday. The film does briefly ask questions about the manner of Ledger's death, but it isn't concerned with trying to find answers or indulge speculation.
Perhaps the most enjoyable element of this film is the use of his homemade footage and recordings. It's a revealing and ever expanding diary of footage that strips away any sense of Hollywood glamour or ego and shows a young man dealing with his celebrity status by finding the ridiculousness in his life. It's difficult to speculate where his career might have taken him in the last ten years, but he did seem to want to edge his way behind the camera at any given opportunity. Sure, this footage is rough around the edges and his intentions may have been for it to be for his eyes only, but there's a playfulness on show and even recurring motifs, like his spinning selfie shot that builds into something quite moving by the end of the film.
It could be easy to presume that this documentary, released on the tenth anniversary of his passing, is little more than a shoddily made, cynical cash in; but thankfully that isn't the case. What is most striking about the film is how many of his closest friends and family have come forward to talk about their admiration for him as an artist and as a man (the only real key voice missing is Michelle Williams, and her absence is understandable), and how it is able to tap into real emotion when using his self made footage to show us a side of him not always visible in his films. Extremely touching and at time heartbreaking, I Am Heath Ledger manages to avoid over-sentimentality to be a true celebration of who he was.
Verdict
4/5
Extra features include more stories from family and friends and a trailer.
Now in cinemas and soon to be released via the Mubi streaming platform, Lover for a Day is the latest film by Philippe Garrel about a young woman’s love affair with her college tutor and the friendship she forms with his daughter of the same age. Philippe Garrel's daughter Esther, recently seen in Call Me By Your Name, stars as heartbroken young woman Jeanne, moving back home to live with her father and his young lover after breaking up with her boyfriend. Her father's girlfriend, Ariane (Louise Chevilotte), is a woman confident about her sexuality and aware of the power she has to manipulate men into doing what she wants, whereas Jeanne is far more openly emotional and comparatively "girlish" in her behaviour. Through their friendship they explore their differing stories and approaches to love and heartbreak. As Ariane says to Esther upon their first meeting, "you'll get over it. We always do".
It may be set in present day, but this could have been made at any point in the last 50 years. Shot in black and white and with an adoring love of the hum of busy Parisian streets, it's an unashamed French New Wave throwback that confirms to stereotypical French attitudes towards age gap romances, but not to its detriment. Although it is easy to have presumptions about an older teacher pursuing one of his students, Lover for a Day attempts to balance this with Gilles' worries that his younger lover will inevitably make love to someone else. It's an attitude that may come off as somewhat creepy to audiences unfamiliar with this dynamic, although one would suspect that audiences wanting to see a black and white French romantic drama will be accustomed to this very, almost stereotypically, European stance. There are disturbing hints of jealousy, such as Ariane's reaction to Gilles' arriving home from work and giving his daughter a kiss on the cheek before approaching her, and a dramatic confrontation between the three leads that reads as a father telling off his two disobedient daughters. Coupled with the casting of director Garrel's real life daughter Esther, this dysfunctional family set up is something that could be studied in textbooks.
The poster inaccurately sells this film as something sweepingly romantic or possibly erotic, but it is neither of those things. It is an exploration of sexuality and the contrasting differences between girlhood and womanhood in two women of the same age. Lover for a Day packs in a hell of a lot of relationship drama for its zippy 76 minutes running time, but thanks to the compelling performances of its two female leads it remains a bright and breezy offering that's well worth devoting your time to.
Based on Guy de Maupassant's novel and directed by Stephane Brize, A Woman's Life sees Judith Chelma's 19th Century noblewoman Jeanne spending many years dealing with a number of trials and hardships that befall her and her family.
There's a great anecdote that de Maupassant would often eat at the restaurant at the base of the Eiffel Tower, not because he liked it there, but rather because it was the one place in the city where he wouldn't have to look at the imposing structure he so despised. If true, that's an amusing story about a man with a clear sense of humour about life's many hills to climb. Which is why it's a shame that Une Vie (A Woman's Life), although pretty to look at with a fine attention to period detail, is such a dry, humourless affair. It's a bit like finding yourself trapped inside an elegant French armoire; it certainly looks nice, but it soon becomes stuffy and suffocating.
That's not to say there aren't elements of joy on show, but these invariably lead to deeper disappointments, often thanks to the antics of Jeanne's Viscount husband Julien (Swann Artaud). When his adulterous actions begin to have repercussions, the pressure is put on Jeanne to offer forgiveness, rather than on him to change. T here's a troubling, ominous darkness to be read that the literal translation from the original text, A Life, was instead interpreted as the more specific A Woman's Life. Yes, the main character as you would expect in this case is a woman, but there's an almost definitive aspect to it, as if to act as a warning that this is the best women could expect from marriage and motherhood. That perhaps may have been the case for many women in the 19th century, and for the most part the film operates as a traditional period drama that could have been made at any point in the last fifty years (shot in the boxy Academy ratio but with some abrupt editing choices that reveal its modernity), is able to deliver these themes in a way that will speak to a more gender role conscious audience fearful of such trappings.
At its best, A Woman's Life is a misery memoir that wouldn't be out of place alongside British social realism, except with period drama details. Jeanne's life of wealth and privilege should be enviable, but it's a life of love, passion and ultimately disappointment. It is a tale of immense hardship and tough times that the lead character is forced to endure, that only thanks to the performance of Chelma doesn't become too draining an experience.
