L'ATTESA (THE WAIT) (B+) - A middle-aged man can be so easily manipulated. An instant corrective by a friend immediately after watching this luscious drama snapped me back from the clutches of this male fantasy.
One of the more gorgeous and beautifully acted movies you'll see, "L'Attesa" is the story of a wealthy woman whose young son has died and who can't bring herself to tell his visiting fiancee the truth. And so the girl waits and the mother spins an elaborate deception, and the two circle around a central truth, using the dead man as a prized possession like a bowling pin in the middle of a gym during a game of Steal the Bacon.
Juliette Binoche is impeccable as the simmering, grieving Anna, a French ex-pat adrift in her mansion, under the eye of gruff Pietro (Giorgio Colangeli), who reprimands her for toying with Jeanne (Lou de Laage from "Breathe"), who keeps leaving voicemails on the dead man's phone, expecting him to arrive at any time, and struggles to get along with her would-be mother-in-law. The pas de deux between the older predator and her innocent prey is gripping and surprisingly compelling to watch.
The scenery is stunning. The music -- a mix of pop and classical -- is rapturous. An opening visual of travelers silhouetted as they lazily glide along an airport's moving walkway is seared into my brain. The dialogue is spare, the mood leaden. Much is communicated through longing glances. This artful presentation comes to us from the fussy producers of "The Great Beauty" and "Youth."
Binoche is aging into a lovely, inscrutable mask like Isabelle Huppert's, a face that can elevate any scene from standard drama into a swirl of foreboding and longing and heartbreak. Her raw beauty and de Laage's raw sexuality create a jangling inter-generational frisson. Is Anna jealous of the young woman's youth and fertility? Does she harbor an Oedipal resentment toward Jeanne or blame Jeanne somehow for her son's death?
I know. This debut from Pierro Messina is the ultimate kaleidoscope of the male gaze and ego stroke -- a young virile man, even in death, has women fighting over him, and not just any women but his mother and his boy-hipped, full-lipped lover. Jeanne must be espied taking her top off in front of a mirror early in the movie to establish her as a sex object. She has virtually no inner life. She frolics in a lake and befriends two strange young men, one of them gay, and invites them back to the house to dance provocatively with them, drawing one of those icy glares from Anna and later begging forgiveness by claiming it was all just innocent fun.
In addition, if you think too much about the plot, you'll roll your eyes halfway through, wondering just how stupid and gullible Jeanne must be to not figure this out. But it's not implausible. And it's a surprisingly sturdy narrative for such a flimsy plot. Like no other film I've seen this year, I savored every inch of the screen, and I was literally on the edge of my seat at times. When a big reveal comes it's with a clever twist, and my jaw dropped.
Despite the film's shortcomings -- and, maybe more important, mine -- I was profoundly moved. As a piece of art, I just couldn't avert my male gaze.
AFERIM (B) - This meandering western -- set in Romania in the early 19th century -- is probably best appreciated on the big screen.
We follow a constable and his son who have been hired by a nobleman to track down a runaway gypsy slave who had an affair with the lord's wife. Gruff old Costandin (Teodor Corban) and young Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu) set out on horseback, bantering endlessly as they follow the trail of the missing man.
Radu Jude, with just a few features under his belt, is assured behind the camera, shooting in brightly lit black-and-white, reveling in the beauty of the Romanian countryside (with the help of cinematographer Marius Panduru, "12:08 East of Bucharest"). Blinding sheets of sunlight rain through tall trees. Frequent long shots convey the breadth and slow pace of the pair's journey.
The film alternates from crude comic moments to harsh reminders of the clash of interests between the rich landed gentry and the dark-skinned immigrants (repeatedly called "crows" derogatorily). The dialogue is unrelentingly dark and disparaging toward the less fortunate of society. Slaves are hawked in the marketplace, and prostitutes are passed around casually. The men rescue a priest whose wagon has broken down, and after getting him back on the road they accompany him as he spews venom toward just about every race or ethnicity you can think of.
Jude and his co-writer, newcomer Florin Lazarescu, reportedly culled through historical texts from the time borrowing snippets of sayings and stitching them together for dialogue, not unlike a Nirvana song. The result seems choppy at first but then settles into a rhythm, recalling Jim Jarmusch's western epic "Dead Man," or a classic samurai film. Some examples:
"May he live only three more days, including yesterday!"The narrative winds toward a showdown that is both low-key and violent. Life then was eminently disposable, and this film, with a jaundiced eye and a shrug, knows it doesn't have the words to explain the randomness of it all.
"A starving dog dreams of nothing but bones."
"The rich look in the mirror, the poor -- in their plate."
"In the ass of the humble, the devil sits cross-legged."
BONUS TRACKS
The XX takes care of "L'Attesa's" final credits with "Missing":
A clip featuring Leonard Cohen's "Waiting for the Miracle":
Our title track, from Paul Simon:
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