Sydney Film Festival 09

I have been wanting to see Claire Denis’ work for ages and was pleasantly surprised to find that 35 Rhums, Denis’ homage to Ozu, was screening at the Sydney Film Festival. Of course, given that Late Summer is one of my favourite films, it was more than likely that 35 Rhums would leave me a little disappointed but it was still a chance to see the director’s work. As in Late Summer, 35 Rhums deals with the strong bond between a daughter and father. There are two outsiders as in Late Summer though the potential erotic bonds between the four is made more explicit. The ending of 35 Rhums is a little different in that the daughter does leave her father but for someone she loves. Still, as the ending scenes make clear, the husband may well remain an outsider. I think the weakness of Denis’s film is that the father-daughter bond is affectionate but never makes you believe that it is the primary bond. There is an undercurrent of sensuousness to Denis’s film – this is not wholly absent in Ozu’s film either but it is subsumed by the filial bond. In 35 Rhums it simply seems to exist alongside. Perhaps one is prejudiced by the French setting but the characters all look like they are more than ready to explore any erotic impulses. And Denis’ has a misstep with an insertion of race politics (the characters in 35 Rhums are almost all French-African) by way of the daughter’s classroom lecture as well as a visit to the dead mother's family - both have little place in the film. Yet the film has a warm and sweet feel if not the poignancy of Ozu's film. Also the look and feel of the film is impeccable -the trains, the tracks, the night time scenes, the apartments, the bars are an integrated world (Denis’s cinematographer is Agnes Godard).

The Festival also screened Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7. Varda’s film follows a young singer awaiting the results of a biopsy over (quite nearly) a period of two hours. Above the fear of the results is the routine of everyday life – a visit from a lover, the impulsive buying of a hat, a song session (very sweet), a walk, the sudden decision to visit a friend. Through all this Cleo is alone with her fear. Till she meets a solider in a park on his last day of leave from Algeria – as one does. By the end Cleo is liberated from her fear and her persona. The movie was shot in the early 60s and Varda throws in plenty of references to the Algerian war – in fact the war and the impending illness are implicitly compared and contrasted. Does it work? It is woven into the narrative so its not a jarring set piece as in 35 Rhums (or even much of Ken Loach’s work). But Varda also lets her impish and curious side predominate so that the movie is not really a political statement. I like anything by Varda and whilst this is not her best, it was still an interesting little film.

I wanted to see a couple of other films (Goodbye Solo, Treeless Mountain, Everlasting Moments) but eventually only got to see Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl. Of course the most interesting nugget about the film is that its director, Manoel de Oliveira is 100 years old. Judging by the film, he is still sharp as a tack. The film intercuts a story being told to a fellow traveller on a train with the actual story. Briefly it’s the story of an accountant (who at one point states that commerce could never tolerate a sentimental accountant) who is infatuated with the golden haired girl of the title. It helps that she has a fetching fan which she uses to great effect (it should have featured in the credits). The film follows the courtship and the travails the accountant undergoes including a stint of poverty before getting the girl. Or does he? Or is he undone by bourgeois morality? The twist in the tale and the abrupt ending possibly arise from the 19th century short story the film is based on – in fact this is a film where you can imagine the way the story itself would have been written. It’s a curious, formal film (Lisbon almost looks timeless – apart from the train, the references to euros etc) and yet enjoyable and also a little enchanting.

This is only the second Portuguese film I have seen, the other being O Milagre Segundo Salome (on late night telly) which offers its own interpretation of the Fatima legend. Inspite of a somewhat similar history in the 20th century, both films have a conservative, dignified tone as compared to their Spanish counterparts. And a very specific sepia tinged, autumnal palette.

Jia Zhangke's short, Cry me a River, also screened with Eccentricities. Its a brief look at old friends and lovers who meet and has shades of Springtime in a Small Town. Not all is well 10 years on - youthful ideals and relationships have both given way to the demands of life. Its a short, bittersweet film and probably needs to be a longer film.