David O'Connell35 SHOTS OF RUM @ The Melbourne International Film Festival
August 7th 2009 03:47
The latest film from French director Claire Denis, 35 Rhums, is a slowly evolving, intimate rendering of the simple lives of a loving father and daughter. Though gently persuasive and accessible, it’s nonetheless hurt by a lack of motion. There’s little in the way of dramatic spark to fuel this meandering narrative portrait and it ends up slightly diluted by its own minimalist intentions.
Apparently a very personal film for Denis (who was supposed to attend the Festival but had to remain home to edit her new film for Venice), 35 Rhums addresses its central characters Lionel (Alex Descas), a train driver, and his daughter Josephine (Mati Diop), a university student, through an examination of the minutiae of everyday living in their Parisian apartment building.
Other figures hover on the periphery of their lives: Lionel’s depressed retiring colleague Ruben (Jean-Christophe Folly) whose impending departure from a circumscribed life causes only confusion; taxi driver and neighbour Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue) who’s like a surrogate mother to Josephine and obviously still holds a flame for Lionel; then there’s another neighbour, Noe (Gregoire Colin) who has his eye on Josephine but is struggling to fight the inertia that’s settled over him like a fog since the death of his parents.
There’s a disarming power to Denis’s verite style, of allowing voyeuristic access to these unremarkable but familiar lives. All the actors are excellent, giving understated, nuanced performances. A grinding sense of believability lends their struggles and inner conflicts a recognisable weight from our own lives that allows for easy empathetic responses. Also important to Denis are these people's fears of the world’s larger framework impinging upon their secure, meticulously soldered-together lives. This becomes most apparent in Lionel’s protective instincts where Josephine is concerned, her interaction with Noe opening his eyes to the possibility of losing her.
Viewed in isolation, there’s much to admire about this modest film; certainly there are some fine ‘small’ moments, even moving ones, scattered throughout, imbuing the film with a deftly-realised humanistic perspective. I just wish they added up to a slightly more compelling, definable whole.
Denis has been described as a brave filmmaker whose subject matter veers wildly from project to project. The intimate small-scale intentions of 35 Rhums, though sure to be regarded as underwhelming by some, will more than likely endear her to a wider audience than she’s used to. Though hard to dislike I get the impression it’s a film that'll resonate with deeper meaning after a second viewing, which I look forward to in the future.
The trailer can be found here.
Apparently a very personal film for Denis (who was supposed to attend the Festival but had to remain home to edit her new film for Venice), 35 Rhums addresses its central characters Lionel (Alex Descas), a train driver, and his daughter Josephine (Mati Diop), a university student, through an examination of the minutiae of everyday living in their Parisian apartment building.
Other figures hover on the periphery of their lives: Lionel’s depressed retiring colleague Ruben (Jean-Christophe Folly) whose impending departure from a circumscribed life causes only confusion; taxi driver and neighbour Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue) who’s like a surrogate mother to Josephine and obviously still holds a flame for Lionel; then there’s another neighbour, Noe (Gregoire Colin) who has his eye on Josephine but is struggling to fight the inertia that’s settled over him like a fog since the death of his parents.
There’s a disarming power to Denis’s verite style, of allowing voyeuristic access to these unremarkable but familiar lives. All the actors are excellent, giving understated, nuanced performances. A grinding sense of believability lends their struggles and inner conflicts a recognisable weight from our own lives that allows for easy empathetic responses. Also important to Denis are these people's fears of the world’s larger framework impinging upon their secure, meticulously soldered-together lives. This becomes most apparent in Lionel’s protective instincts where Josephine is concerned, her interaction with Noe opening his eyes to the possibility of losing her.
Josephine (Mati Diop) with father Lionel (Alex Descas)
Viewed in isolation, there’s much to admire about this modest film; certainly there are some fine ‘small’ moments, even moving ones, scattered throughout, imbuing the film with a deftly-realised humanistic perspective. I just wish they added up to a slightly more compelling, definable whole.
Denis has been described as a brave filmmaker whose subject matter veers wildly from project to project. The intimate small-scale intentions of 35 Rhums, though sure to be regarded as underwhelming by some, will more than likely endear her to a wider audience than she’s used to. Though hard to dislike I get the impression it’s a film that'll resonate with deeper meaning after a second viewing, which I look forward to in the future.
The trailer can be found here.
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