Wednesday 31 August 2011

Maelstrom

2000 by Denis Villeneuve - French movie from Quebec, Canada

I was searching for Villeneuve movies, after watching Incendies and found two. I am convinced this director is a maestro, a real genius in movie making. May be after a couple of decades, movie lovers will talk about him like we do about Kurusova, Fellini et all.

A woman cannot get over her guilt, after an abortion. To make it worse, her car runs over a man. All is not over and she meets the victim's son. 

This movie begins in a bizarre way. A big fish, on the butchers table, is telling a story. It is extremely brilliant how water and fish is incorporated into this movie. Through the fish and the various images of water, this really takes us through the turbulant mind of the woman, Bibiane. This gives a surrealistic feeling at least in the beginning. But then towards the latter half, the movie turns into blunt reality and it is brilliant and beautiful. There are some cliches here, but we would not even notice them actually.

It is bit difficult watch in the beginning, as it looked more like a low paced art house movie. But soon we are into the mind of Bibiane and the movie is quite different experience from there on. The gradual relation ship between Bibiane and the dead man's son is kind of expected, once they accidentally meet, but it is told in a very nice way.

This is one movie where we can question the story, the lady is never caught or questioned for her crime, in many ways, but nobody, I think, will question the way it is told. Excellent script and director, supported by a brilliant camera. Add to it the brilliant performance by Marie Josee Croze as Bibiane. It is a wonder that, a French actors, irrespective of which side of Atlantic they are from, is always brilliant.

I cant wait to watch Polytechinique, the other movie I have from Villeneuve.