David O'ConnellDisgrace
June 22nd 2009 05:40
Aloof and intellectually superior professor David Lurie (John Malkovich) has duel passions maintaining the impetus of his campus life: the poetry of the romantics and an affair with one of his young students. The latter will find an outlet into the outside world once the revengeful reproach of the girl's intervening friend alerts the powers that be of Lurie’s extracurricular assignations, with swift repercussions to follow. There will be a fall from grace, though it’s almost with relief that Lurie offers both mild repentance and a resignation from his Cape Town University.
As he makes tracks for his daughter’s remote rural property, a place constantly under the threat of siege from remorseless attackers, Steve Jacobs’ second film begins its soon-to-be grueling journey through the twisted landscape of a man’s wounded psyche in adapting J.M. Coetzee’s acclaimed novel.
Inevitably attackers do emerge from the infertility of the broken land, and the effect on both Lucy (Jessica Haines) and her father is surprising and difficult to pass swift judgment on; the professor’s vulnerabilities - camouflaged by the insular world of academia until now - may be exposed like untended wounds, but his exterior remains more reflective of a moral tenacity others may interpret as arrogance and apathy.
Without the option of an escape route or selfish retreat, Lucy’s existence becomes marked by psychological scars and a constant reminder of the void enabled by the absence of her dog handler and co-tenant, the dutiful Petrus (Eric Ebouaney), curiously missing from the frame on the fateful day.
Graced by a concise cinematic style, one enhanced by the richness and austerity of Steve Arnold’s cinematography, Jacobs’ second film - seven years after the far less interesting La Spagnola - is an expertly paced affair, a provocative and thought provoking adaptation of a difficult literary work by his wife Anna Maria Monticelli.
He’s elicited startling performances from his cast; firstly from Malkovich who brings the full weight of his domineering screen presence to bear on his interpretation of a complex and remote man whose single display of emotionally wrought despair is a powerful insight into an otherwise unfathomable frailty.
The inexperienced Haines is remarkable as Lucy, a determined, self-sufficient woman whose internal processes are powered by a deep-rooted resolve to endure, even if it means circumventing dignity to regain a little of the ground lost in the attack.
There’s indistinctness beyond every unpredictable turn in this film such as in the interactions between Lurie and the increasingly ambiguous Petrus; here, a raw nerve of racial tension is stirred in the professor as he becomes increasingly suspicious of the black man’s motivations, including possible complicity in the attack; there's the complicated past of this haunted country with racism simmering beneath the surface like a virulent disease lying in wait for a host; then there's the neglect of the police and the inability to deal responsibly with crimes, both social and ethical, negating the delineation of South Africa and its past.
Central is Lurie’s need to make recompense, not with outlandish grand gestures that redefine him in a new light, but through subtle adjustments. It’s not easy for a man so unused to incorporating others into his view of the world, and whether he overcomes his past indiscretions - whilst manfully searching in the depths of his being for a compromise in the disturbing, uncontrollable trajectory of his daughter’s tragic life - is unguessable and, depending on your interpretation, possibly unresolved.
Disgrace is a fascinating film with the characteristics of a sinuous dream; one that resonates with ghostly presences - those unpurged from the conscience of South Africa’s tainted history - but with suggestive overtones of a new era just as likely to be forged with blood. Evoking the contrast, the neglected divide between black and white, Coetzee’s more meaningful political and social metaphors have survived the transition to screen well and this compelling Australian film, co-produced with South African interests, is another strong entry into the list of this year's local output.
As he makes tracks for his daughter’s remote rural property, a place constantly under the threat of siege from remorseless attackers, Steve Jacobs’ second film begins its soon-to-be grueling journey through the twisted landscape of a man’s wounded psyche in adapting J.M. Coetzee’s acclaimed novel.
Inevitably attackers do emerge from the infertility of the broken land, and the effect on both Lucy (Jessica Haines) and her father is surprising and difficult to pass swift judgment on; the professor’s vulnerabilities - camouflaged by the insular world of academia until now - may be exposed like untended wounds, but his exterior remains more reflective of a moral tenacity others may interpret as arrogance and apathy.
Without the option of an escape route or selfish retreat, Lucy’s existence becomes marked by psychological scars and a constant reminder of the void enabled by the absence of her dog handler and co-tenant, the dutiful Petrus (Eric Ebouaney), curiously missing from the frame on the fateful day.
Graced by a concise cinematic style, one enhanced by the richness and austerity of Steve Arnold’s cinematography, Jacobs’ second film - seven years after the far less interesting La Spagnola - is an expertly paced affair, a provocative and thought provoking adaptation of a difficult literary work by his wife Anna Maria Monticelli.
He’s elicited startling performances from his cast; firstly from Malkovich who brings the full weight of his domineering screen presence to bear on his interpretation of a complex and remote man whose single display of emotionally wrought despair is a powerful insight into an otherwise unfathomable frailty.
The inexperienced Haines is remarkable as Lucy, a determined, self-sufficient woman whose internal processes are powered by a deep-rooted resolve to endure, even if it means circumventing dignity to regain a little of the ground lost in the attack.
David Lurie (John Malkovich) with daughter Lucy (Jessica Haines)
There’s indistinctness beyond every unpredictable turn in this film such as in the interactions between Lurie and the increasingly ambiguous Petrus; here, a raw nerve of racial tension is stirred in the professor as he becomes increasingly suspicious of the black man’s motivations, including possible complicity in the attack; there's the complicated past of this haunted country with racism simmering beneath the surface like a virulent disease lying in wait for a host; then there's the neglect of the police and the inability to deal responsibly with crimes, both social and ethical, negating the delineation of South Africa and its past.
Central is Lurie’s need to make recompense, not with outlandish grand gestures that redefine him in a new light, but through subtle adjustments. It’s not easy for a man so unused to incorporating others into his view of the world, and whether he overcomes his past indiscretions - whilst manfully searching in the depths of his being for a compromise in the disturbing, uncontrollable trajectory of his daughter’s tragic life - is unguessable and, depending on your interpretation, possibly unresolved.
Disgrace is a fascinating film with the characteristics of a sinuous dream; one that resonates with ghostly presences - those unpurged from the conscience of South Africa’s tainted history - but with suggestive overtones of a new era just as likely to be forged with blood. Evoking the contrast, the neglected divide between black and white, Coetzee’s more meaningful political and social metaphors have survived the transition to screen well and this compelling Australian film, co-produced with South African interests, is another strong entry into the list of this year's local output.
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Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Wilson Pon
Health 2 Know
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boxing sound
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Fun Places 2 Travel
Movie rating: 8.5 out of 10.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Many thanks Wilson, I think I'd give it a fairly similar score too, it's worth it just to see the performances of Malkovich and Haines who has a bright future ahead I'd say.
Comment by Michelle Sweeney
Competition Queen
Always Learning
Cinema Voyage
Comment by Kynaston
Aliterati
Kynaston Tales
Comment by Anonymous
To others it may be just a story.
Comment by Anonymous