Wednesday 30 May 2012

Questions Of Identity And Nationality

The recent win of the Palme d'Or for Michael Haneke's Amour threw the question up again: is it a French film by an Austrian director or a French film by a German director or an Austrian film shot in French by an Austrian director ... or simply a European film by a ... European (?), Austrian (?), German (?) director?

To be sure, Amour was co-produced by France, Germany, and Austria while Haneke is German born, yet has lived in Austria for most of his life. The question of identity is one that as far as Haneke himself is concerned, only he can answer - is he German, because that's not only where he's been born, but that's also where he shot many of his films, or is he Austrian, because that's where he grew up and that's - perhaps - how he feels? Does it matter with two countries so similar in culture? Does it matter to Haneke? Does it matter at all? Especially in a global age such as ours where for many people, the question of identity is increasingly difficult to answer, not to mention the fact that with regard to Europe, borders disappear and with it, border controls.

But do they?

Michael Haneke 


Sometimes, I get the impression that if anything, the disappearance of these borders seems to have resulted in an increase for a need of a national identity - at least in Europe - so as if to seek shelter and reassurance behind a country's flag in exceedingly precarious and unsettled times. I wonder, if this need for identity, to belong to a particular nation, is a European phenomenon. In other words, is it the same for American (directors, actors, etc.), or are identities in the US easier to define: if you're not born American, moving to America makes you so?

Romy Schneider 

The question is by no means a new one. The most prominent example (in European cinema at least) may well be Romy Schneider. She was born in Vienna, but grew up in Germany, where she's lived for the better part of her life. Yet she's perhaps most identified today as a French actress, France having been her, shall we say, spiritual home, and I daresay, the country she was most happy in (if 'happy' is indeed an apt term to use in connection with Romy Schneider whose much troubled life ended way too soon). Today, Romy Schneider is claimed by all three countries - Austria in particular, although she never actually lived there and only one of her parents was Austrian. Her breakthrough as an actress and her biggest success, commercially, took place in Germany.

That said, Romy detested her German films more and more and wanted nothing more than shedding that 'Sissi' image which, so she said herself, "stuck to her like oatmeal". Moreover, the fact that her mother had a house close to Hitler's in Berchtesgaden which is where Romy grew up, tormented her more the older she got. Especially, after she'd moved to France which, after all, suffered heavily under Nazi occupation, never mind that there were a substantial number of collaborators on the French side, too. On the same token, though she made a number of commercially successful films in France, too, and was voted the most popular French actress in 1980 - the directors of the Nouvelle Vague had as little use for her as did their German counterparts.
Alexandra Maria Lara 

More recent examples regarding the question of identity include, for instance, Alexandra Maria Lara, who's Romanian-born, but immigrated with her parents to Germany at the age of four. I'm fairly certain that if someone were to ask her how she felt, she'd most probably say German, after all, that's where she's lived for most of her life. And yet, the international media usually calls her a German-Romanian or even a Romanian actress.

Again: It's probably her only that knows how she feels about her national identity or indeed if she has any at all. Is it one's language(s), the passport, the place of birth or the place one grows up in that determines one's national identity? And again - what does it really matter? It seems to, somehow, because be that BBC or most other media, there appears to be an eradicable need to put a country before a person's name, 'the French actress so-and-so', 'the Brazilian director ...' and so on.

Marlene Dietrich 

Oddly enough, in the case of Marlene Dietrich it has never been contested that she was German. That's how the German people and the German as well as the international media saw her. However, how did Dietrich see it? How did she define herself? Did she at all? Though I suppose she must have done, for it was upon her own request that her body was buried in Berlin, though one could also rightly argue that the place of burial says equally little about one's national identity (though that would make Romy Scheider French, for she's buried in Boissy-Sans-Avoir, the village she'd bought a house in just a few weeks prior to her death).

And yet, Dietrich became an American citizen in 1939 - and never gave up her American citizenship, not even after her move to France in the mid-1970s - and following her departure for the US in 1930, she only returned to Germany on a couple of occasions: twice before the war, and twice after the war. So surely, one's passport or citizenship say as little about a person's national identity as everything else.

Anyhow, both would make, say, Fatih Akin a great deal more German than Dietrich could ever wish to be for Akin was born in Hamburg - where he's lived all his life - and has a German passport, though Fatih Akin, too, is frequently - and I believe incorrectly - introduced by the (international) media as German-Turkish. Whether he sees himself as German or German-Turkish I don't know. To me, he's German.

Fatih Akin 

The question of one's national identity, brought to the fore with the emergence of the nation state, seems to become increasingly difficult to define in the globalised world of the 21st century. As the world has become smaller, it has made people across the globe more mobile. The UK of today regards itself as an 'immigrant country', so do many in Germany view their own country where close to 25% of the population have an immigrant background (e.g.one or both parents are of foreign descent). Whether this fact makes the issue of national identity redundant is open for discussion. It certainly contributed to rekindle nationalist movements across Europe that strive to emphasise particular values they believe to be indigenous to a certain people by excluding others.

While it cannot be denied that there are things, traits, and customs that may be labelled typically French or typically German or whatever, perhaps with immigrants accounting for a substantial part of a population in  countries across the globe, national identities have become more supple, less rigid, and therefore they need, I believe, to be redefined.

That, of course, still doesn't answer the question whether Michael Haneke (or Romy Schneider) are German or Austrian or even French. But, as I suggested earlier, perhaps in this day and age, it simply no longer matters. Or, if anything, it's a question everyone has to answer for themselves.

Sunday 27 May 2012

Cannes Film Festival 2012 - The Winners

FEATURE FILMS Palme d'Or

AMOUR (LOVE) directed by Michael HANEKE

Grand Prix

REALITY directed by Matteo GARRONE

Award for Best Director

Carlos REYGADAS for POST TENEBRAS LUX
 
Award for Best Screenplay

Cristian MUNGIU for DUPÃ DEALURI (BEYOND THE HILLS)

Award for Best Actress

Cristina FLUTUR in DUPÃ DEALURI (BEYOND THE HILLS) directed by Cristian MUNGIU, Cosmina STRATAN in DUPÃ DEALURI (BEYOND THE HILLS) directed by Cristian MUNGIU
 
Award for Best Actor

Mads MIKKELSEN in JAGTEN (THE HUNT) directed by Thomas VINTERBERG
 
Jury Prize

THE ANGELS' SHARE directed by Ken LOACH

SHORT FILMS
 
Palme d'Or - Short Film

SESSIZ-BE DENG (SILENT) directed by L.Rezan YESILBAS

Monday 21 May 2012

Marilyn Monroe - The Biography, By Donald Spoto


This August (4 August, to be precise) exactly 50 years ago, Marilyn Monroe died in circumstances which to this day don't cease to invite and inspire the wildest and most unlikely conspiracy theories. 20 years ago, the acclaimed film historian Donald Spoto intended to put an end to them once and for all by writing the definitive book on Monroe by shedding new light on the mystery surrounding her demise.

The title Donald Spoto chose for his study on the greatest and arguably most famous movie star in history, is very apt indeed - The Biography - for it suggests that it is the only one around which, of course, it isn't. In fact, there are scads of books on Monroe available, more, probably, than on any other Hollywood star, though the emphasis is on book. For what's commonly available on Monroe has little to do with any biography - let alone one that is well researched and based on empirical data - notwithstanding the fact that their authors take great pains to pass them off as such. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these books are little more than thinly veiled attempts to cash in on the Monroe legend or to be precise, on the mystery surrounding her death. Thus they abound in conspiracy theories by adding fuel to the rumours, claims, and accounts regarding an alleged affair between Monroe and Robert Kennedy, an affair, which Spoto exhaustively proves actually never happened.

Spoto covers Monroe's life over nearly 700 pages. Having read other books by him before (on Hitchcock and Crawford) I hoped that this one, too, would be equally thoroughly researched and critical by also betraying his respect and admiration for the book's subject. My hopes weren't disappointed. If anything, the quality of Spoto's study - a word I deliberately employ here as the much overused term biography doesn't do it justice given the impressive research that evidently went into his book - on Monroe even exceeds his other works. That might have to do, first of all, with the fact that Spoto is a great admirer of Monroe, something which is clearly obvious by reading the book and which is something I consider to be a prerequisite for such an undertaking. For why bother, otherwise? Secondly, as a pre eminent film historian, Spoto must have been well aware of all the countless inaccuracies and the often calculated, exploitative fiction, that have been published on Monroe and her tragic life over the years, and decided she deserved the truth to finally be brought to light.

Coming from any writer other than Spoto, a title as this - The Biography - might easily come across as sophomoric or braggy. But this being Spoto, the book more than lives up to the title's promise. It is a biography worthy of the name. And it is indeed the biography. To say it bluntly, having read several others on Monroe myself, this is the only one worth reading. The definitive study on her. Comprehensibly, Spoto does away with murky murder and conspiracy theories which might make could copy, but which have little to do with the truth which, it should be added, is actually far sadder and far more tragic than the many myths, lies and half-truths that have been circulating for half a century. These might have filled the pockets of some of their creators, but they were of no service to Monroe, who deserved better than this. In fact, what these ruthless peddlers of rumours have been doing precisely mirrors what many of the people Monroe was surrounded by during her lifetime did: using her for their own self-serving purposes, this is especially true for her shrink, the infamous Dr. Greenson, and Monroe's housekeeper, Eunice Murray who, as Spoto suggests, was little more than Greenson's stooge.

Rather than relying on previous accounts and books published on the subject, Spoto based his study solely on empirical data, letters, documents, and oral histories to recapitulate Monroe's life and demise. Starting as far back as her great grandfather, he also refutes those who claim that Monroe's biological family had a history of mental illness. Therefore, Spoto's book was a revelation in more than just one way. For instance, Spoto also amply demonstrates that far from being depressed during her last weeks, as generally believed, Monroe was in fact in great spirits, looking forward to a future, 'she couldn't wait to begin' as she told a close friend verbatim. Having bought into the 'constantly late', 'hopelessly depressed', and the 'perennially drugged' latter-day Monroe myself, I also often wondered how the footage of her last - uncompleted - film, Something's Got to Give, could be so wonderful, virtually flawless and promising. Spoto has the answer: it was a fabrication by 20th Century Fox which sought to abandon a much troubled film project whose script, for instance, had never been completed. So why not make use of the film's star and put the blame on her, especially since her travails had already been well covered by the press and thus easily believable.

A clip from Something's Got to Give (George Cukor, 20th Century Fox, 1962, uncompleted)

Spoto uncovers all the lies and myths bit by bit and credibly exposes them for what they are. However, what's as astonishing as it is annoying is that his effort notwithstanding, these lies and myths are very persistent. They have a way of sticking like oatmeal, refusing to go away. The answer as to why they do is the same as to why they emerged in the first place: because it makes for better copy. Why destroy the myth and legend, since it's so much more exciting and exotic than the truth, which, if anything, is nothing but sordid. And terribly and utterly sad.

For anyone truly interested in the life of Marilyn Monroe and the circumstances that led to her demise almost exactly 50 years ago, this is the book to read - if you haven't done so already.

For anyone who's after melodramatic, hair-raising murder mysteries, I'd recommend, say, Robert Ludlum.

Thursday 10 May 2012

Downton Abbey, Season 1 + 2, UK 2010 - 2012


It seems that there isn't really much point talking about Downton Abbey as its success - primarily, though far from exclusively, in the UK and in the US - has triggered a plethora of responses and reactions in the form of blogs, websites, and so on, its reception having been overwhelmingly positive resulting in a string of Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy wins. As someone who watches as little television as possible it probably took me longer than most people to fall under Downton Abbey's spell. And being one of the world's greatest Maggie Smith aficionados, my main reason for watching it in the first place - on DVD - was naturally to see her camp it up in the role of the Dowager Countess Violet Grantham who, basically, is a reprise of Maggie's equally iconic Constance Trentham in Gosford Park (UK/ US 2002).

That expression - to camp it up - probably makes a lot of people cringe, and rightly so, in a way, for it seems to belittle - however unintentionally - Smith's considerable acting skills as campness may be the (part-)result of her performance, but I'm well aware that this performance is far too nuanced to be merely dismissed as camp. Nevertheless, the programme's other qualities notwithstanding, Smith is indeed the highlight of it - to me, anyway - and I look forward to every moment she comes on (which, sadly, isn't often enough, as far as I'm concerned as hers is a supporting role). However, with Downton Abbey being full of drama, betrayal, and intrigue - Smith adds the necessary comic relief, the spice, or put differently, she's the cream in the coffee.


Luckily, some fellow Maggie Smith aficionado (from GPB, it seems) has put together these two wonderful collections of the Dowager Countess' most outrageous - and camp! - remarks:

 


In case you hadn't been familiar with the Dowager Countess' wit, you now are, and will agree, I presume,  that Smith alone is worth the watch.

And having just finished watching both seasons virtually in a single week myself, I must admit that it does make for addictive viewing. That is, if you're into English heritage films in the mould of The Remains of the Day, Room With A View and especially Gosford Park and Upstairs, Downstairs. Like Gosford Park, Downton Abbey was also the brainchild of Julian Fellowes and it is quite a wonderful and accomplished continuation thereof. Never mind that Downton Abbey, being a television show, has to comply with saleable television rules including, for instance, revealing titbits of an emerging scandal right at the end of one episode to keep the viewers on tenterhooks, and similar such television gimmicks. Nevertheless, Fellowes does manage to keep it in check, though he does so better in the first season than in the second which occasionally does bear traces - if ever so faint - of Dynasty and Dallas, when, for instance, a character  believed to have perished in the Titanic disaster miraculously re-emerges. It is owed to the outstanding acting talent of literally the entire cast that highly improbable plot-lines as these still come across as - vaguely - plausible.

In fact, one of the fascinating things about Downton Abbey is exactly that: that seemingly out of nowhere a great many actors and actresses of outstanding talent have emerged who substantially add to the show's quality and merit. Naturally, they didn't just emerge - looking at their screen credits actually shows that they've been around for some time. It took meaty roles in a high-profile show such as Downton Abbey, however,  to adequately showcase their talent. I do hope that in the future we'll be seeing a great deal more of the likes of Joanne Froggat, Lesley Nicol, and Michelle Dockery, to name but a few - and please, this time on the big screen!  

Downton Abbey has 16 major characters, and that Fellowes successfully manages to breathe life into all of them, as it were, is an achievement in itself. Of course, he's already more than proved his mettle in that regard with Gosford Park. However, Gosford Park was a feature film and though at nearly 140 minutes a rather long one, to keep the lives of 16 and more characters going for over two seasons, is no mean feat, to say the least.

Apparently, due to the programme's enormous success, a third season is currently in the making, to be aired in 2013. Probably to cater to Downton Abbey's growing popularity in the US, Shirley Maclaine has been brought on board to play Cora's - Elizabth McGovern's Lady Grantham - mother.

Talk about shrewd casting!

My imagination is already running riot when I think of MacLaine's wealthy American heiress having tea with the Dowager Countess. I predict, we'll be in for a treat!

Thursday 3 May 2012

Cannes Film Festival 2012 - Official Programme



The Cannes Film Festival, which opens on May 16 and runs until May 27 has announced its official programme, including all sections.

2012 marking the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's tragic death, the festival opted for an image of her, blowing out candles on a birthday cake to celebrate the festival's own 65th anniversary.

The programme reads like a mildly interesting and inspired selection with surprisingly few US but a predictably high number of French entries, and an unsurprising sheer total absence of German entries, German films having become an increasingly rare sight at the Cannes Film Festival. This year, there is but one (German film) to be found in the entire programme, Fatih Akin's Garbage in the Garden of Eden. A debacle which few, if any, in Germany's film industry are willing to face up to. Bestowing an award at last week's German Film Awards ceremony in Berlin that country's Cultural Minister of State, Bernd Neumann,  blithely proclaimed  that "German films are now part and parcel of all film festivals around the globe". It's either that Neumann doesn't know what he's talking about (in which case he'd be in the wrong job), or he's trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Germany's tax payers who, after all, make that country's (less than profitable) film industry possible in the first place as it is primarily based on state subsidies. Or else, he's suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's (and in this case, too, stepping down from his job would be highly recommended!).



IN COMPETITION



Opening Film
Wes ANDERSONMOONRISE KINGDOM1h34
***
Jacques AUDIARD
DE ROUILLE ET D'OS
(RUST AND BONE)
1h55
Leos CARAXHOLY MOTORS1h50
David CRONENBERGCOSMOPOLIS1h45
Lee DANIELSTHE PAPERBOY1h41
Andrew DOMINIKKILLING THEM SOFTLY1h40
Matteo GARRONEREALITY 1h50
Michael HANEKEAMOUR
(LOVE)
2h06
John HILLCOATLAWLESS1h55
HONG SangsooDA-REUN NA-RA-E-SUH
(IN ANOTHER COUNTRY)
1h28
IM Sang-soo
DO-NUI MAT
(THE TASTE OF MONEY)
1h53
Abbas KIAROSTAMI LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
1h49
Ken LOACHTHE ANGELS' SHARE1h46
Sergei LOZNITSA
V TUMANE
(IN THE FOG)
2h07
Cristian MUNGIUDUPÃ DEALURI
(BEYOND THE HILLS)
2h35
Yousry NASRALLAH
BAAD EL MAWKEAA
(AFTER THE BATTLE)
1h56
Jeff NICHOLSMUD2h15
Alain RESNAIS
VOUS N'AVEZ ENCORE RIEN VU
(YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET!)
1h55
Carlos REYGADASPOST TENEBRAS LUX1h40

Walter SALLES
ON THE ROAD
2h20
                                                                                                       
Ulrich SEIDLPARADIES : Liebe
(PARADISE : Love)
2h00
Thomas VINTERBERG
JAGTEN
(THE HUNT)
1h46
***
Film to be screened at
the Closing Ceremony
Claude MILLERTHÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX     (Out of Comp.)       1h50

 

 


UN CERTAIN REGARD
 

Opening Film
LOU YeMYSTERY1h30
***
Ashim AHLUWALIA                   MISS LOVELY                             First film1h50
                                                        
Juan Andrés ARANGOLA PLAYA DC                                  First film1h30
Aida BEGIC
DJECA
(CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO)
1h30
Nabil AYOUCH
LES CHEVAUX DE DIEU
(GOD'S HORSES)
1h55
Catherine CORSINITROIS MONDE1h40
Brandon CRONENBERG    ANTIVIRAL                                  First film1h50
Benicio DEL TORO,
Pablo TRAPERO,
Julio MEDEM,
Elia SULEIMAN,
Juan Carlos TABIO,
Gaspard NOÉ et
Laurent CANTET
7 DIAS EN LA HABANA2h09
Benoit DELÉPINE,
Gustave KERVERN
LE GRAND SOIR1h32
Xavier DOLANLAURENCE ANYWAYS2h41
Michel FRANCODESPUÉS DE LUCIA1h33
Joachim LAFOSSEÀ PERDRE LA RAISON1h54
Adam LEONGIMME THE LOOT                         1st film1h24
Darezhan OMIRBAYEVSTUDENT1h30
Moussa TOURELA PIROGUE
(THE PIROGUE)
1h27
Pablo TRAPEROELEFANTE BLANCO
(WHITE ELEPHANT)
2h00
Sylvie VERHEYDECONFESSION OF A CHILD OF THE CENTURY2h05
Koji WAKAMATSU
11.25 JIKETSU NO HI, MISHIMA YUKIO TO WAKAMONOTACHI
(11/25 THE DAY MISHIMA CHOSE HIS OWN FATE)
2h00
Benh ZEITLINBEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD    First film1h32
***
Film to be screened at
the Closing Ceremony
 Gilles BOURDOS RENOIR 1H53



OUT OF COMPETITION



Bernardo BERTOLUCCIIO E TE
(ME AND YOU)
1h37
                                                        
Eric DARNELL, Tom MCGRATH, Conrad VERNON
MADAGASCAR 3, EUROPE'S MOST WANTED
1h30
Philip KAUFMANHEMINGWAY & GELLHORN2h34

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS

Dario ARGENTODARIO ARGENTO'S DRACULA1h46
Wayne BLAIRTHE SAPPHIRES                        1st film1h38
Franck KHALFOUNMANIAC1h40
Takashi MIIKE AI TO MAKOTO2h14

65TH ANNIVERSARY

                                                                                 
UNE JOURNÉE PARTICULIÈRE by Gilles Jacob and Samuel Faure53'

 



SPECIAL SCREENINGS
 

Fatih AKINDER MÜLL IM GARTEN EDEN
(POLLUTING PARADISE)
1h25
Candida BRADYTRASHED                                       1st film1h40
                                                        
Laurent BOUZEREAUROMAN POLANSKI : A FILM MEMOIR1h34
Ken BURNS,
Sarah BURNS,
David MCMAHON
THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE2h00
Sébastien LIFSHITZLES INVISIBLES1h55
Claudine NOUGARET,
Raymond DEPARDON
JOURNAL DE FRANCE1h40
Nelson
PEREIRA DOS SANTOS
A MUSICA SEGUNDO TOM JOBIM1h30
Gonzalo TOBALVILLEGAS                                   First film1h36
Apichatpong
WEERASETHAKUL
MEKONG HOTEL1h01