TD 1
Little Joe Director: Jessica Hausner Talent: Emil
y Beecham, Ben Whishaw, Kit Connor Released: 21 February Portrait of a Lady on Fire Director: Céline Sciamma Talent: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Valeria Golino, Luàna Bajrami Released: 28 February Austrian director Jessica Hausner returns after a five year absence with sci-fi feature Little Joe, a detour from her usually quite dour subject matter. Plant breeder Alice, played by Beecham in dowdy red mop top, is at a pivotal stage in the development of her newest species, nicknamed Little Joe after her son. When cared for properly, the plant has been genetically engineered to omit pollen that creates a level of happiness for those who inhale it. While still unsure of the true qualities of these dispersed spores, Alice brings one home with her to nurture, with unexpected results. Beecham is great as always, coming across all motherly and worldweary. Ben Whishaw features as love-starved lab assistant Chris in a largely unfulfilling subplot role. The central theme, however, focuses on the relationship between mother and son (Connor). The plant’s effect on Joe is a nice metaphorical stand-in for the hormonal changes that all teenagers go through, how parents grapple to let go and understand who their children are becoming, but this metaphor isn’t a shy one and is remarked upon in a number of scenes. Regardless, having the grownups scrambling to understand the plant’s true potential alongside the shapeshifting attributes of adolescence is nonetheless still interesting. But therein lies the film’s central quandary. It’s interesting. It’s brightly lit and beautifully framed with an interesting, if not wholly original, premise, but the story unfurls in such a flat fashion, limping along without ever really feeling like a sci-fi film and or even a psychological horror. It’s merely a bit creepy. Things have certainly digressed since the good old days of Frank Oz and Rick Moranis. In the words of Mr. Mushnik: ‘Just because you put a strange and interesting plant in the window doesn’t mean that it’ll bring customers!’ Disappointing. SOR Restraint is the word which springs to mind in Céline Sciamma gorgeously evocative French historical drama. Coiled around the relationship between a painter and her subject, it teases and lingers whilst never losing sight of the unerring gaze cast upon beauty. The accomplished director (Tomboy, Girlhood) slowly layers and reveals her creation with delicate brushstrokes. At the outset, we witness an artist named Marianne (Noémie Merlant) undertaking a difficult sea voyage to reach an aristocratic family’s remote Brittany estate. There she encounters Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) who is on the cusp of being married off to a Milanese nobleman. Before the deed is done, her would-be-suitor requests a portrait. This is a task which has eluded previous artists tasked by her mother (Valeria Golino). Reference is drawn to the cliff-fall death of Héloïse’s sister who was about to be married. The family’s young maid, Sophie (Luàna Bajrami), believes this was to avoid that sentence. The relationship between Marianne and Héloïse must, at first, be couched in terms of walking companion but once trust is slowly earned, it evolves into something more carnal and forbidden. What Sciamma does so fantastically is build a tale of attraction and desire which is corsetted by its times. The story is set as a flashback when Marianne is asked about the painting in a class by one of her students. It’s a brief, but all-engrossing, dalliance from her past. Always elegant and with rivulets of sub-plots exploring women’s place in art and society, Portrait marks a career high watermark for Sciamma. It picked up Best Screenplay in Cannes but lost out to Ladj Ly’s Parisienne banlieue movie Les Misérables for Oscar representation which means it is packing less heat than it deserves prior to release. However, all cinephiles worthy of this title will see this spectacular portrait in time. The female gaze has never been so alluring. MMD 77