he loves me, he loves me not.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, directed by Laetitia Colombani is a psychological thriller that goes over the same narrative from two points of view, the first from a young art student who has fallen in love with a married doctor, the second from the married doctor who is being stalked by a homicidal one night stand. We come to believe the second narrative as true as we are given more information to piece together. We find that the art student is a sociopathic killer who is bent on controlling her "lover" who does not even know she exists.

Ma Vie en Rose

In Ma Vie en Rose directed by Alain Berliner,  Ludovic, played by Georges Du Fresne is convinced he's a girl trapped in a boy's body. Its an interesting portrayal of the transgendered plight as Ludovic faces intolerance and criticism for wearing girl’s clothes at a family barbecue and performing in Snow White. Ludovic is serene in his assertion that there was a mistake made in his chromosomes, and he will be the one to correct it. It is very similar to all about my mother in terms of politics, with a cinematic french twist, allowing for more aesthetic camera angles and editing.

An Affair to Remember

This is an example of classic Hollywood cinema and romance. It was even alluded to in the many-played movie Sleepless in Seattle on Lifetime. Starring Cary Grant and Deborah Karr the story follows two people who fall in love on a cruise from Europe to the United States. Each of the couple is engaged to someone else. They agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building, leading to the most memorable scene as Cary Grant's character Nicky Ferranti waits for Terry McKay, who was busy getting run over by a bus. The film culminates as the two find each other, find out the truth, and continue their relationship:classic Hollywood ending, only interrupted by Terry's accident and a brief stint as a teacher for under-privileged children.

Persepolis

Rebekah Murphy     

KVC 

Women's Literature 

11.20.2008 

The Shifting Corporeality in Film and Textual Versions of Persepolis 

    Alothough Marjane Satrapi wrote both the comic book and screenplay of 

Persepolis there exist some discrepancies between the two scripts, most of which are present due to time limitations that accompany the medium of film. Yet the discrepancies whose significances are not so easily qualified must be examined further, and one of these scenes involves Marji's depression and loss of identity which led to her attempted suicide. Satrapi depicts the loss of Marji's identity in differing manners within the textual and film versions of Persepolis. In the comic Satrapi can physically erase Marji, leaving only her outline within the panel to depict her loss of identity, yet within the film she uses a far more subtle visual queue. Marji's beauty mark which is linked to her identity as an adult becomes less and less prominent throughout this sequence of her narrative, mirroring her less and less prominent sense of self. Satrapi also uses this disappearing beauty mark within the comic, but it is the complete lack of form which completely illustrates Marji's disappearance. 

     Satrapi's first portrayal of this scene within her textual comic pictures Marji's face in her left profile, omitting her beauty mark that appeared as she went through a violent puberty, one that resembles her grandmother's and links the two characters within the comic. Her grandmother is coupled with her identity within the comic, She provides the voice of her conscious when she lies about her nationality to Marc while at a party at school (Satrapi 41). Her grandmother also reprimands her for falsely accusing a man on the street of harassing her in order to get out of being arrested herself (Satrapi 137). Her grandmother is her voice of reason, of family, and of identity, and her beauty mark, resembling her grandmother's corporeally, is representative of these virtues.  

    And these virtues are what Marji is lacking as she goes through her depression, as she takes anti-depressants and loses herself in the process. This    loss is illustrated in the comic by a physical absence of her form within the panel accompanied by the text: "But as soon as the affect of the pills wore off, I once again became conscious. My calamity could be summarized in one sentence: I was nothing. I was a Westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identitiy..."(Satrapi 118). 

    This scene does not occur in the film version of  Persepolis so this loss of identity must be conveyed through a subtler more fluid visual queue. From the time that Marji speaks to the psychiatrist, who diagnoses her condition as "Clinical Depression" and prescibes a "treatment" for her (Persepolis), her left profile is shown more prominently, omitting our view of the beauty mark on the right side of her face. We then see a cascade of pills and her disinterest in her surroundings. Our senses, too are muffled, as the sound becomes hazy and far away and our focus is brought to the bottle of pills upon her table. Instead of seeing Marji lost, we lose ourselves with her, And at the moment she awakens her beauty mark is completely prominent once more as we see a full shot of her face, and not a profile (Persepolis). Marji has regained her sense of identity,  and has a new mandate from God and Karl Marx to live out the remainder of her life, for "The struggle must continue..."(Persepolis). 

    The comic book version of Persepolis is able to completely illustrate Marji's sense of nothingness and lack of identity with the absence of her presence, but at this stage of the film, this same scene would have provided an interruption in the progression of the images of the movies, and the background narration it would have taken to completely explain her feelings would have detracted from the connection the audience was compelled to feel as we drifted away from the world and ourselves with Marji.

Slumdog Millionaire

I went to see this film at the Robinson, and it was hands down one of the best movies I've ever seen. Going far beyond normal Bollywood romances, Slumdog tells the poignant story of a young man who grew up amongst mounds of trash in the slums win who wants to be a millionaire, because it is written.

The foreshadowing and flashbacks throughout the film allow this story to unfold somewhat chronologically, and tears at your heart with the heinous crimes that are considered everyday to the characters of this film. The film builds upon tragedy, but the juxtaposition with the great triumph of the human will, knowledge and unadulterated love between two people who believe in destiny becomes that much richer, and denies any cliche to enter into the emotion. The wide set landscape shots, and arial shots of the cities involved gave much to the film showing the cramped spaces and extreme poverty of the surroundings in a way that perspective shots cannot. But in keeping with Bollywood tradition, and shakespearean tradition, the movie ends with a dance, that incorporates the culture even further and allows the audience to access it no matter what their ethnicity is.

To Live

 To Live is a Chinese film that follows a single family through the change from capitalism to communist Government after the civil war. The Head of the family began the movie as a gambler who lost his father's house and possessions. His wife leaves him as she is pregnant with their second child. He is reformed, comes back to her determined to be the best father he can be, which means going to war. His family loses everything while he is away, and works as mild deliverers. The family goes along with the communist government, and at first it seems to signal happy times for them, until the youngest child is sacrificed, not only due to the Father's lack of compassion but to the communist government as an officer is responsible for his death. This film walks a line between cultural comment upon the drawbacks of communism, as loss of culture is symbolized in the loss of the shadow puppets the father used to keep his family afloat during the hard years. Once the shadow puppets were sacrificed, there was a darker picture of the government who by the closing of the film were locking up doctors and having students with little to no training bringing about new life into the world.

Unveiled

Unveiled is a German Film which I also saw on my own that follows the plight of a young Iranian woman's illegal immigration into Germany due to her relationship with another woman. In Germany she dresses and passes for a man and befriends another woman in her factory. The two form a relationship under the premises that Faribi is a man, yet the eventual revelation only garners compassion from Anne, and the two stay together as they fight to keep Faribi in Germany as a political refugee, which was not allowed due to sexual preference. This film is mostly of political importance, yet is beautifully shot as the camera becomes just as secretive as Faribi needs to be when she is in hiding, as if it too were defensive and hiding its true identity, with short frames, quick spans and dark lighting situations. It gave an interesting contrast to many of the other German films that I have viewed in this class so far. It is indeed from an "other" perspective, but maintains many of the trademarks of German film such as interest in perspective, and focus on the "other" characters within films. 

Irreversible

Irréversible, a film by director Gaspar Noe is a film that is shot out of chronological order and is one of the most disturbing psychological thrillers I have ever seen. It includes a long and horrific rape scene, and other tarantino-on-steroids type violence. The main posit of the film comes in the final scene, the beginning, chronologically as Alex is sitting in a park watching as children play in a very peaceful manner, not knowing what the audience does of her horrific fate. In the background there is a sign which states "time destroys all things." This film is very audience-raction driven. The first 30 minutes of the film has a background noise with a frequency of 28Hz (, similar to the noise produced by an earthquake. In humans, it causes nausea, sickness and vertigo. It was the main cause of people walking out of the theaters during the first part of the film in places like Cannes and San Sebastian. In fact, it was added with the purpose of getting this reaction. The experimental nature of audience reaction in this film is its driving force.

The diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Le scaphandre et le papillon is a flm by Julien Schnabel is a film that looks at the true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who was completely paralyzed except for the use of his left eye. The film demonstrates a surprisingly uplifting tone of triumph as Bauby is able to escape his imprisonment within his body by taking trips in his mind to fantastic places, and he is able to blink out his memoir despite of his handicap. Like most french cinema this film is not based in plot and is centered around the aesthetics of the shots instead of clarity of storyline.

Dead Again

I watched this movie on my own which stars Kenneth Brannaugh and emma Thompson in a mystery-film that spans generations, and includes an amnesiac and Robin Williams. The script is surprisingly intelligent and the actors play amazingly into their roles. There is a repeated motif of large scissors that comes together as Emma saves herself from her tormentor. It also serves as an interesting critique of the natural damsel in distress theme of most film noir- inspired films. 

The Graduate

This film is Dustin Hoffman's first appearance on screen as a recent graduate of college at the top of his class, heavily involved, and completely aimless, until Mrs. Robinson, a friend of his father's seduces him at his graduation party. She offers herself to him, and a distinction is marked between his innocence and her experience, yet Ben, Hoffman's character, only feels alive when he is with her. The rest of the time he feels trapped as an attraction, like in a fish tank, which there are several cinematic references to throughout the film. If Ben is a fish then Mrs. Robinson is a Jungle cat as she is costumed around large tropical plants, and in animal print through the part of the film where she characterizes and plays out the role of the original "cougar." A cougar is a middle-aged woman who seeks out younger men. 

The tone of the film shifts when Ben takes out Mrs. Robinson's daughter and falls in love with her. Their romance is cut short when Mrs. Robinson tells her daughter that Ben had raped her. Eventually Ben convinces Elaine otherwise and there is talk of their marriage. Elaine decides to be practical and marry another man, but ben rushes to the wedding and steals Elaine away, after saying her vows. 

her mother pulls her back saying its too late, and she says "not for me." They run away together and board a bus, as Simon and Garfunkle's sound of silence plays and the film is left ambiguously. 

Youth culture plays tremendously into this film as a measurable generation gap is explored and exposed in the opinions of the adults and younger characters, mainly Ben, in this film.

The soundtrack of SImon and Garfunkle also lend to the youth culture of this film. it brings contemporary music and film together in an intersting way that has been replicated over and over.

wings of desire

This film follows an angel as he becomes mortal  in order to experience that which is human. He wants to connect, especially with a certain circus performer who when we meet her contemplates suicide, but recognizes her soul's match in the angel. This film questions what exactly it is to be human. Is it to interact with others, to enjoy a cup of coffee, to fly around in airplanes, or to read at a library? And what was it to be beyond that, angelic, unable to affect humans except to comfort them in times of need. The cinematography in this film was interesting in that it almost became its own perspective, as if the eye was another angel experiencing all of the things that the main angel did as well. the perspective shots even followed the characters outside windows and through walls. The divide between color and black and white was an interesting comment between the difference between what is human and immortal. Surprisingly there is not much talk of religion or God in the film, only utilizing humanity as the utmost utopia. the film is set in Berlin, before the wall came down. apparently rabitts live in the no man's land between East and West Berlin. The angel's freedom to move between the two sections of the city is contrasted with many character's memories of what used to be in the rubble that makes up berlin.

Also interesting is that Peter Falk plays himself as another fallen angel who has pawned his armor for his starting money. He spends much of the film finding a hat and aiding the fallen angel to find his match and his desire.

Rashoman

This Kurosawa film interweaves conflicting perspectives of one central crime, the rape of a woman, and the death of her husband recounted through contradictory flashbacks of the main characters involved, including that of the dead man.

The accounts thereof show what exactly each character feels they have to lose, by which detail are accounted for in their story, and the audience decides what to believe. 

Before the Rain

Macedonia, early Yugoslavia becomes the setting for this film. The civil war is on the brink and in 1995 the country is in the midst of an ethnic struggle. London provides the other backdrop for the film. The film follows several interwoven character's lives throughout different perspectives of this film, beginning with a peaceful monastic garden and ending with a young muslim girl running for her life. The monks at the monastery seem to represent Religion that is shown as both problematic between muslims and christians, as they fight for no reason other than religious difference, but sheltering as these monks shelter a young girl. there is both compassion and irrationality within their life, demonstrated very well in the scene that the monk  who took the vow of silence is being turned out of the monastery, with a slap and a hug. 

The images of the film are beautifully shot, especially the scene in which the photographer and his lover make out in the car, as we see the reflections in the windows,  shielding the couple from the real world.  

A storm is coming, but never comes, and yet it does.

Time never dies, the circle is not round.... This is the chronological theory of the film, as there and time discrepancies, and some plot holes, but everything comes together in the end, as all is connected, but lives on. The script is powerful, and the actors are both convincing and effective. They allow a human perspective to the events of the mid 90s that we heard about on the news, but never saw.

Shoot the piano player

This film follows a piano player at a saloon be followed for reasons we know not. He went from being a highly respected and greatly applauded classical musician to finding work in saloon's and shirking off what we can only assume to be the French mob. This film was loosely based on a novel by David Goodis called Down There. It too focuses on a man that needs to escape the tragedy of his past, but fails, feeling it creep up on him all the time. He employs his talent as the only thing he knows how to do in order to get by and befriends a waitress in the process. He eventually returns to his brothers and his family to aid them in their struggles with the French mob, and is shot on a snow bank. This movie struggles with the idea of performance, as if all of life is a performance, and one chooses which part he or she must play at that time. There is also a conflict between commercialism and art in what sells and what is true within Charlie and his talent.

The Seventh Seal

This Film is considered Ingar Bergman's masterpiece. It is concerned with the metaphysics of life and death, the existence of God, and whether or not you can cheat death. The Film is seeped in Archetypal characters, the brave knight, Death as a rational being, neither good nor evil, but inevitable, priests and followers, even an idealized family, named after the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph traveling actors. They befriend the knight and his squire, who plays the part of the fool, in the group's journey back to the Knight's castle. 

Members of the group range from fearing death, facing death, ignoring death, challenging death and accepting death.  The way different character deal with the character of death I think is the focus of the film, as a study of humanity, as knowledge of coming death is humanity's unique and defining feature. 

At the close of the film all of the characters perish from the black plague, except for the young family, that represents reproduction, life, and the pastoral joy that can be attained through humanity. Yet the family understands and accepts that Death will one day, too come for them.

The Searchers

The Searcher, starring John Wayne  and directed by John Ford, is a classic western film that features Ethan Edwards, Wayne's character, as the epitome of rugged masculinity. He is symbolic of both old world nostalgia and the frontier.

He returns home, to his brother's homestead, representative of the domestic space, the closest Ethan ever gets to this realm, only to have his entire family killed by an Indian raid, except for his niece, and nephew, who is questionably his son. 

The remainder of the movie features Ethan and his nephew searching for his niece among Indian reservations. 

An antagonist emerges as the Indian Chief, Scar, who has made Debbie, the niece, his squaw. 

After a final battle, with questions about what Ethan would do, whether kill Debbie out of prejudice against captured women. But he surprises us all by embracing her.

The closing scene pictures the rest of the characters returning to the Jorgenson's home, and Ethan being shut out, the door closing on him.

This scene effectively confirms Ethan's symbolism as wild masculinity, unable to enter the world of the domestic space.

Martin is his nephew, a "half breed" which means his mother was a native American, and father was a white man. He is the "other" character of the script as Ethan degrades him throughout the film because of his mixed background. Huge issue of Race. Standing in for cultural anxieties of the time with the civil rights movement as this movie was made in 1957. Ethan is attracted to the domestic space, but is continually banished from it. Ethan becomes the American Adam. 

La Strada

This film follows the story of a young girl sold to a traveling entertainer as his wife. She learns to perform along with him, and even learns to love the abusive drunkard who takes other women and disappears for days at a time, one time even abandoning her outside of a restaurant in a small town. This film is psychologically interesting as it displays the inner emotional workings of an emotionally abused young woman, from complete breakdown to trying to find a reason to love him. A kindly trapeze artist helps her find her place in the world by asking her who would love the circus performer if she didn't.
It is considered by many to be one of Fellini's most beautifully shot films, and most powerful and effective scripts.
The closing scene of the film recalls mythic archetypes as Zampano, the drunken circus performer realizes that Gelsomina, the young girl is gona away from him forever. He lies down at the seashore, in the feminine realm, and surrenders himself to the sea and sky.