You, the Living

Fin août, début septembre/Late August, Early September (1998) - Assayas Again, more I watch Olivier Assayas's films, they remind me what a great writer he is - how perceptive and insightful he is in every character and situation. That he is one of the great working writer/directors I admire most. Late August, Early September is no exception. Its down to earth characters and their approach to life that they lead, warts and all, are all too believable. I remember someone on the internet asking what filmmaker's films you want to live in- a decidedly a corny question, and thinking about it for a minute at the time but couldn't come up with an answer. After watching August/September, if I have a choice, I can safely say that I'd want to live in Assayas movies.

Late August, Early September concerns Gabriel (played fluidly by the great Mathieu Amalric), a literary editor/translator/documentary filmmaker, being tasked to interview a recluse writer Adrien (François Cluzet), since they think Gabriel is the one Adrien can trust and open up to. Adrien is a good writer - not a big famous one, but a good one. Always broke. And he does open up to Gabriel, after Gabriel accompanies him to the countryside to his childhood hometown. It's a friendship built on respect and admiration.

While juggling his professional career, Gabriel is also going through a breakup with live-in partner Jenny (Jeanne Balibar). They are trying to sell their apartment and split the money. It's hard when they still have feelings for each other and all your friends and family are mutual, wherever they go. Then there's Anne (Virginie Ledoyen), Gabriel's new young, hot-headed fling who is very into a physical, sexual relationship. Anne is trouble and she herself knows it too.

Then there is Vera (Mia Hansen-Løve, the real life partner of Assayas and an esteemed director herself), a high-schooler and Adrien's secret girlfriend: there's a poignant thread of this unrecognized love, only to be revealed after Adrien's untimely death, which affects great many people, especially Gabriel.

Early August, Late September sketches out very naturally (with Assaya's signature handheld, grainly Super 16mm), a creative person's life and its ups and downs and the meaningful relationships he forms. As usual, jobs don't define these characters. Their interactions feel genuine and truthful. Their joy and sorrow deeply felt. It's amazing how everyone looks so young in this, but at the same time so mature, compared to other characters these actors imbibe in their later years. Wistful yet hopeful, the film is a beautiful elegy to the vagaries of life. Loved it.

Rebel Rebel

L'eau froide (1994) - Assayas Baby-faced Gilles (Cyprien Fouquet) and Christine (Virginie Ledoyen) are always in trouble. When they steal stacks of records at the music store, Christine ends up getting caught. She pulls some wild stories at the police station about a store security guard mistreating her sexually. Their parents don't know what to do with them. Christine's dad, who owns a hardware store, sends her to a mental asylum. He's done it before. Gilles, who's from a more privileged background, will be sent to a boarding school if his shenanigans keep up. Christine's mom and her boyfriend chastise Gilles;It might be a silly game for him, but for Christine, he is toying with her life.

Christine breaks out of the asylum, ends at the party in the woods where young ones hang out. There's Bonfire, drugs, alcohol and music. Christine asks if Gilles wants to run away with her to some artist colony that her friends live in. There won't be running water or electricity or phones. It will just be her and him. He hesitates first, then says yes.

Always in tight close up with a handheld camera, Assayas creates a raw, intimate portrayal of young rebels without a cause. Their pledges of love and promises seem as fleeting as the water stream Christine bathes in. L'eau froide, epitomizes the adolescent genre French cinema is known for. Ledoyen has the same rawness and volatility of Sandrine Bonnaire in A nous amours and stunning in her youthful beauty. The fitting soundtrack consists of many of the 60s rebel anthems by Joplin, Dylan, Cohen, Twisted Sisters and more.

Fragile Social Hierarchy

La Cérémonie (1995) - Chabrol

Two of the France's top actresses star as a couple of social miscreants slowly wrecking havoc on upper-class family is perhaps the most delicious Chabrol thrillers I've seen so far. Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a perfect maid hired by Mme. Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset) who needs help in taking care of her remote big mansion in a seaside town. She was a former model now running a gallery. Her husband and two children live in relative comfort and luxury. But there is something odd about Sophie that the Lelievres quite put their fingers on. She befriends with another odd ball in town, a nosy post-office clerk, Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert). They acknowledge each others' secrets in which they got away with crimes and starts to hang out, watching TV together and giggle at others expenses. Sophie's another big secret is that she is illiterate. Which isn't really a problem, but to her it is a big deal that no one can know.

Already taken a dislike of Jeanne, M. Lelievre, disapproves Sophie hanging out with her. After Sophie threatens their young daughter (Virginie Ledoyen) because her illiteracy was discovered, he fires her, giving her a week to vacate the premises. Our troublemaker couple decides to take action.

Huppert in pigtails and miniskirts, is a riot as a chatty, morally ambiguous Jeanne while Bonnaire is quietly unsettling as Sophie. The Lelievres are perfectly respectable- their children well behaved and understands the follies of social hierarchy. They just don't know how fragile that hierarchy is, that it can be shaken at any time when you least expect. It's really fun film. La Cérémonie is quite a different animal in terms of bourgeois satire than, say, Haneke's Funny Games. Chabrol is not interested in spoon-feeding everything for us in terms of character's back story. But the characters, however slightly drawn, thanks to Bonnaire and Huppert have real depth and humanity behind it. Fun times!

I Love Candy

Farewell My Queen/Les adieux à la reine (2012) - Jacquot

It's not the first time Benoit Jacquot took liberties with depicting the life of a controversial historical figure. In Sade, the infamous Marquis is neither a cross-dressing sexual fiend nor over-the-top lunatic he is normally portrayed as. His strength is in portraying these larger-than-life figures in more of a relatable human level. Indeed, in Farewell My Queen, Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), never utter the infamous line, "Let them eat cake." She is not an airhead teenager, but a reticent, lonely queen in her last days.

Seen from the queen's high strung personal reader Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux)'s point of view, the film tells queen's infatuation with a beautiful and enigmatic Mme. Gabrielle de Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen) and her increasing isolation as the revolution approaches. As a servant, then confidant, Sidonie lends her sympathetic ears to the queen. Her feelings toward the queen is a mixture of pity, envy and adoration. She is ready to do anything Her Majesty asks of her. But would she sacrifice herself for her queen's love for another?

Farewell My Queen sizzles with sexual tension among the three principle actresses. I like Jacquot's straightforward approach to lesbianism. Virginie Ledoyen owns whenever she appears on the screen with her flirtatious gaze and her diamond sharp feature. In one scene, Gabrielle's naked sleeping body even stops jealous Sidonie on her track with admiration. Diane Kruger proves that she is not only a pretty face with her portrayal of complex and charismatic Marie Antoinette. At once naive and untouchable, she wears the role of tragic beauty with ease. But the film belongs to Léa Seydoux. Sidonie's journey from an observer looking in, to an unwitting pawn of the game with her heart on a string, she is the most tragic figure in the story. It's Seydoux's forlorn forever baby face and brooding intensity that convey Sidonie's desire and yearning perfectly.

Let me state that I am not the biggest fan of period pieces. But with lavish set design, costumes and radiant actresses, I have to admit, Farewell My Queen is a total eyecandy and delicious intrigue that is great fun to watch.

Farewell My Queen was shown in this year's Berlinale, made an appearance in Rendez-vous with French Cinema and has a limited release in the US on 7/13.