Cinema Season
Now that the weather has turned cold I have returned to the cinema.
I have seen 4 really different films over the past 2 weeks. Two of them were French productions, one was English and the final one Irish. I enjoyed each of them which has been unusual. There is a great local cinema here in Perpignan - the Castillet.
The original cinema in the town centre is one of the longest continuous cinemas in France. They have branched out to create a second cinema at one of the modern commercial centres which shows mostly American blockbusters. I have only been there once. I am a terrible film snob and require my films to have more than just incredible special effects. I make an exception for Bond films and Star Wars.
The program of films at the smaller cinema always includes a great selection of French and international films. The first film I saw was Francois Ozon's FRANZ. Set in 1919 just after the end of the Great War. A French soldier goes to visit the family of the German soldier he killed in the trenches during the war. The film illuminated the loss to families from both sides of the conflict and that even in war the opposing sides have much in common. Sons are lost on both sides. Much of the film was shot in black & white, changing to colour for certain scenes. Beautifully filmed and great cast.
My next film was the latest release from Ken Loach, the indefatigable Englishman who has directed so many films about the inequality of British life. This film was no different. Characters facing dire poverty and trying to make sense of the Kafkaesque bureaucracy that imprisons them and erodes their personal dignity. This film really was dire and at times became a little farcical in it's stereotypes. I can only hope that people in social services are capable of more compassion than those who were presented in this film. It was a strong argument against the privatization of these kinds of services where the aim as with all businesses, is to make a profit.
Another great French film with two brilliant actors in the lead roles. CEZANNE ET MOI charts the often conflictuel friendship between the painter Cezanne, born into a rich family but who only had success as a painter late in his career, and his childhood friend the writer Emile Zola who came from very humble beginnings but who became quite a successful writer early in his career and who continued to be so until his death.
I had no idea that these two personalities were friends so it was an interesting discovery for me. I love Cezanne's paintings and have great respect for Zola's writings. He was I guess the nearest to a French equivalent of DIckens, dealing with the darkeness of poverty during the industrial revolution when the new urban poor became merely a commodity to be exploited.
Cezanne was represented as a very difficult and disagreeable person. Zola believed in eternal friendship and persevered...for as long as he could. Much of the story was filmed in the beautiful Provence region and the village like suburb of Paris, Montmartre. I LOVE Guillaume Canet. He's gorgeous to look at and a great actor and director to boot!
Finally last night I went to see SONG STREET. An Irish musical set in the 80's about a young guy who decides to form a school band to "get his girl". It was as you could imagine, a rather sentimental story but with some great moments of humour and tenderness. The 80s music was my era and this film is full of it.
It hasn't just been cinema though. Yesterday I finally returned to the pool to swim some laps. The sky was dark and foreboding when I arrived at the pool but had become lovely and sunny upon leaving. After the pool I continued to a local lake and walked the 7 Kms track around it. From the lake there are views of The Canigou mountain. It was nice to see that the top of the mountain is once again covered in snow.