Tranquility and agony on the islandsby Albert Serra, Polynesia Dream Trip.
Long-haul flight: The movie doesn’t last much longer than three hours. They pass without incident in the strange indifference of imaginary Polynesia, where the titular Albert Serra bewilder us under golden light and in the evening dampness of Tahiti – Tahiti is France! We remember The death of Louis XIV, in 2013, with Jean-Pierre Leo, invaluable as the crooked king, dying bedridden in purges and sanity; or freedom, In 2019, a much less convincing film than that one, which transports us to the Age of Enlightenment, in a clearing where an attic of fat aristocrats fornicates …
Far from realism, in a suspended time of improbable war threats, the Catalan filmmaker, to embody the deliberate fading of his story, invokes some of the most legendary or unexpected characters from 7The tenth Art: Camped by the quiet and rugged Benoit Magimel, the genial de Roller, the good-natured High Commissioner of the Republic (equivalent to a governor in mainland France) and the swindler, who wears a steady white tunic, open collar on the same shirt with flowers decidedly rebellious on the dry cleaners, wears Blue glasses day and night, dripping the good word while dodging answers. Through binoculars, the high-ranking official thought he saw a submarine hunched over the surface of the water … and the rumor is spreading that nuclear testing has resumed … “locals” on coal. So much for the plot. It’ll still allow for a few helicopter rides to fly over postcard landscapes, or drop-offs on surf spots with giant waves…
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from time to time, Calm down Not without reminders, for some cacochyme-goers if there was anything left, something of a climateIndia song, this film by Marguerite Duras from 1975 – but Duras who, by some miracle, would have been endowed with good humor and imagination. Other individual manifestations are at the heart of this caustic substance Torment in the islands (that’s the subtitle), comedian Sergey Lopez, here as a shady club owner, a totally mute, almost ghostly role. Even more surprising, the excellent writer Cecil Gilbert, in her role as official guest, would swear off three impromptu responses – don’t eat bread. There’s also a perky, useless, and boisterous Admiral, played by Marc Socini, who seems to be very appreciative of his collection of entries. Not to mention the sidekick, in the guise of actors and actresses completely unknown in our latitudes, like Matahi Pambron, the original chief of the clan, who, under the guise of courtesy, collides with veiled phrases with Magimel de Roller, king of cunning dodging. . Or this strange Portuguese whose passport has been stolen (Alexandre Milo). And above all, the androgynous and sumptuous Fahwa Mahagavanau, in the role of Shannah, an transvestite with a squeaky smile, whose lively, chaste but erotic soul is blighted by our patriotic Magimel from beginning to end, like a temptation made to flesh. The temptation that, for once, he sensually submits to Marine CorpsBy the way, in a night ballet from a swinging finale, in short, … very calming. You will never be bored in the Pacific…
Tranquility and agony on the islands. Albert Serra movie. With Benoît Magimel. France, Spain; Germany, Portugal, 2022, colour. Duration: 2 hours 43 minutes. in theatres.
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