SILENT LIGHT
“Promise Me This” by Emir Kusturica
The Bosnian-Serb director is among the few contemporary filmmakers, including Almodovar and Kaurismaki, who have created a unique and personal universe. A world not entirely detached from social and cultural reality, but that often soars into the ether of poetic license. In the form of a picaresque farce, “Promise Me This” takes us fully into the Kustuland: we see a peasant sending his grandson on a mission to the neighboring city to sell a cow and find… a wife! In the Balkans of nowhere (this time, one cannot accuse Kusturica of his alleged Serbian nationalism), we find brass bands, tacky gangsters, cunning peasants, usually tormented animals, beauties not always innocent, forested landscapes. And there are some delightful inventions, such as the boomerang cat, playful castration, or the Trabant limousine…
“Silent Light” (Stellet licht) by Carlos Reygadas
For me, the film by Mexican Reygadas will be the revelation of the festival.
Johan, a married man and father, is part of a Mennonite community in northern Mexico. A highly religious community (I can attest, having visited a Mennonite village in Australia a few years ago… no fun!). In contradiction with God’s law, Johan falls in love with another woman and commits the sin of adultery. This at once ordinary and specific tale quickly reaches the universal: we are all Mexican Mennonites! On remorse, guilt, jealousy, love, and fate, everything is said in this film, whose aesthetic is reminiscent of the American painter Edward Hopper. Some scenes will stay etched in my memory: Johan’s confession to his pastor father, the mortuary toilet, the family bath, the first adulterous kiss…
Without a doubt, to cast such a tender and pitiable glance at his fellows, this Carlos must be a good guy.
“An Old Mistress” by Catherine Breillat
These minor “Dangerous Liaisons” probably dismayed Chairman Frears. Indeed, this adaptation from Chloderlos de Laclos is perplexing. The alleged originality of the film rests entirely on the sulphurous character and the unconventional physique of actress Asia Argento. But the rest of the cast is so insipid and the direction so lazy that one word comes to mind to describe the effort: pointless.
Mungiu does his Emir
Sunday, it’s five o’clock, the end credits of “An Old Mistress” are still rolling, but I quickly leave the Bazin room to find a quiet spot in the bunker to urgently meet with myself and concoct a personal shortlist two hours before the jury. Actually, the deliberation is quick. For me, five films spontaneously stand out from the crowd. All that remains is to find some sort of ranking, and it goes:
1 – Silent Light
2 – Love Songs
3 – My Blueberry Nights
4 – 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
5 – Paranoid Park
Eight o’clock. The jury has just announced their awards. I notice without surprise that my tastes aren’t very far off from those of Stephen Frears’ team, whose composition I quite appreciated. Indeed, three of the five films I had selected are on their list.
Silent Light won the Jury Prize (ex æquo with Persepolis, which I haven’t seen but whose graphic novel I appreciate).
Paranoid Park (actually, mostly Gus Van Sant) received the prestigious 60th anniversary award.
And most importantly, the Palme d’Or was awarded to “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days” by the Romanian Cristian Mungiu. A well-deserved award, reminding me of “When Father Was Away on Business,” an already old Palme d’Or by a certain Emir Kusturica. Now it’s Mungiu’s turn to think that Life is a Miracle.
