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| Eugene Green |
LA SAPIENZA (Eugène Green, France, 2014, Internaational Panorama)
Director Eugène Green, although he was born in USA (thinking of FORT
BUCHANAN’s Benjamin Crotty was he trying to start
a trend?) his films are intensely French, and often feature French cultural
treasures – architectural, music, literary. (I wonder if the accent in his name is actually on his birth
certificate?)
LA SAPIENZA revolves around two
couples. Aleixandre is an outstandingly
successful architect, his wife Aliénor although also successful in her own work
seems dissatisfied and perhaps a bit alienated (is her name intended as a
signifier of this?) with her lot and a sense perhaps a lot is missing in the
marriage. They do go together, however, to Italy
when Alexandre wants to do some research on Baroque architect Francesco
Borromini.
In a beautiful town on Lake Maggiore in northern n Italy, they meet a
young brother and sister when the girl collapses in the park both couples are
walking through. Developments lead to the architect
taking (perhaps a bit reluctantly) the 18 year old Goffredo with him to Rome
where he will continue his research. Goffredo is hoping to
study architecture himself next year. Aliénor stays behind with Lavinia,
feeling some responsibility to see she is really well after the dramatic turn
she’d had in the park.
The film shifts back and forth between the two pairs. The interactions are gentle. Alexandre, perhaps with an air of
condescension at first, teaches Goffredo about Borromini as they visit some of
his great buildings. But slowly, he himself is challenged by Alexandre’s own
fresh, uncorrupted insights and observations. Meanwhile, Aliénor and Lavinia
are sharing time, going to a performance in French of a classic, Baroque play
by Moliere, talk about their own pasts, share coffees.
Gradually, imperceptibly, yet dramatically and movingly, all four find
new strengths within themselves to move on to the next phases of their
lives. This emerges subtly, convincingly,
quietly.
Green’s style is certainly distinctive. Right from the start, he is confronting his audience with different
visual approaches. An early restaurant meal with Alexandre and Aliénor is shot
dead square on, the couple’s table a small, seemingly isolated object in the
middle – the very middle, symmetrically – in the frame. When one or other speaks, he or she is also
placed dead centre in the frame, looking directly at the camera. And directed
to have a blank, inexpressive, Bressonian face. Nothing more powerfully evokes the emptiness of their relationship
at this point – but I think some viewers found this a bit too confronting for
comfort.
One quick Festival viewing is clearly not enough for this film, with its
insights into relationships, architecture, the role of the arts in our lives,
travel, innocence and experience. And its surface is also to be wallowed in,
with its locations in Baroque Rome, and the lakes in North Italy, with a
glorious soundtrack with wonderful helpings of Monteverdi.
I came across one review by Godfrey Cheshire
on the Roger Ebert.com website which to
me does the film better justice than I can at this stage.
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