“Back to classics, back to cinema” is a personal journey through the movies. For every older movie I am going to talk about, I will go to the cinema and watch a new one. Because if the classic movies and their directors teach you one thing, it is:
Go to the movies.
Cléo de 5 à 7-Agnès Varda-1962
Cléo is one of these precious films which involve only a small time lapse but are so full of ideas, thoughts and characters that it feels like reading a big novel. It is about a famous young singer who is waiting for the results of a cancer test from her doctor. Due to some card reader she is certain that the result will be a negative one for her. The film reflects on topics like fame, beauty, superstition and identity. Varda is considered the mother of the Nouvelle Vague and here she shows her outstanding skill in direction. She allows her characters and even the cinematography to make leeway, (prominently featured in the switch from color to black and white in the beginning) just to catch up with them almost playfully moments later.
The film is about the perception of women in 1962. Sometimes it deals almost cynical with the topic: Everywhere are mirrors and reflections, craving men and the elusiveness of being (beautiful). But moreover it is about the poetical and surrealistic existence as such. Varda finds a perfect form for it. Corinne Marchand (the main actress) walks through Paris filmed by hidden cameras, real life people watching her and watching the camera which sometimes serves as a point-of-view of the character; she almost hovers through the crowds. It is poetry disguised as reality. She is something special, a famous singer, a beautiful woman and although she moves within us, she is never quite one of us. Just like the movie(s) itself. It manages to combine an almost cold observation of a neurotic artist with supernatural elements. Sometimes it is hard to bare Marchand and her starlet attitudes but in the next moment one falls deeply in love with her, for example when she out of a sudden performs a new chanson someone has written for her with true feeling, crying and addressing the audience directly. Or did she just delude us? Beauty suppresses fear; even the fear of death. As the film progresses the main character alters in a very subtle but always plausible way. There are no EVENTS that change her: Just her rational observations and her thoughts about it. When she reveals her true name she allows herself for the first time to be hurt. And she is happy.
The unique way the chapters structure the film in an almost youtube-suitable fashion, the tribute to classic cinema, (The characters are watching a silent-short in the middle of the film) the timeless subjects but mainly the perfection in style and direction make Cléo a masterpiece of French cinema. Like (to give a more modern example) Before Sunrise it is able to tell the viewer something about himself by just presenting a short insight in the life of someone else. Before Sunrise makes you fall in love with the characters by listening, whereas Cléo makes you fall in love with the picture by thinking and feeling. It is reality disguised as poetry.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-David Fincher-2011
How can one waste technical perfection, a magnificent direction, an outstanding score and a spectacular performance by a young actress so easily? Well, just put it all in one of the most unnecessary remakes ever. Not quite three years after a Swedish adaption of the bestseller by Stieg Larsson was released, Hollywood thought the audience might be ready for the same story. And it is indeed: The same story. To be fair one can argue that in contrast to European audiences many American moviegoers haven’t had the opportunity to watch the Swedish version because the average American cinema does not play European films frequently. But nevertheless the two versions are way too similar to justify a remake.
Of course Fincher is a great director. He remains the master of style. Again the creator of such films as Fight Club, Seven or The Social Network succeeds in establishing a dark and thrilling atmosphere. The look of the flashback sequences is a milestone. (It avoids black and white as well as too heavy lightning) The picture moves quickly from one scene to the next; Fincher keeps the speed of his previous dialogue driven film about the founding of facebook. Sometimes one would wish for a break especially since the art direction and cinematography are-top notch. Another resemblance with The Scocial Network is the soundtrack. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross accentuate the scenes continuously. Their experimental use of music is maybe the only real advantage of the remake towards the Swedish version. This leads us to the main actress, Rooney Mara. (One could previously have a look at her in, guess what, The Social Network) She gives a great performance portraying Lisbeth Salander, an iconic character of our generation with a huge range of emotions. Her eyes obtain her unpredictability in every second. She is tough, attractive and vulnerable. It is Mara alone carrying the film because despite Fincher’s usual casting abilities Daniel Craig is a true miscast here. He never manages to be authentic as the fallen journalist Mikael Blomkvist. Even the rest of the cast is way below Fincher’s usual standard. The biggest failure of the movie is its loyalty to the book. The screenwriters seemed so busy trying to capture everything the books says that they at least partly forgot how to write for the screen. The strongest parts of the film therefore are the non-dialogue sequences of Blomkvist and Salander finding out who they are searching for.
Recently Fincher mentioned that he wants to establish a new series for an adult audience beyond Twilight, Harry Potter or Transformers. Let’s hope he does not succeed. Not because he delivered a bad film but because a great director should do better than average remakes of European thrillers. If Fincher will ever be able again to make a film like Fight Club or Seven remains uncertain but he is definitely capable of delivering something bigger than this. But as he is not a writer-director it is all about his competence in choosing scripts. Maybe he would do well to take a step back and be more independent again. But on that account Fincher is too much of a visual perfectionist who needs every dollar he can get as he proofed again in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Finally it is important to know that almost every film of David Fincher improves in second viewing. If that is the case with Dragon Tattoo…well, it still is an unnecessary piece of cinema.
