Films/DVD Asylum

Ozon hole... one that's instantly and truly forgettable

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Victor Khomenko

(M)

I didn't want to see another Ozon film, but unknowingly I went. I would not, if not for Charlotte Rampling.
Some here had that fixation with the female beauty in Swimming Pool, and I can see why, but as they say - it is just skin deep. The whole film is.
No, I didn't regret my $6, or my parking toll, but man, how quckly all that kaka left my brain!
What was the point of making that film? I have no idea. At least it is not irritating, let's give it that. But completely empty it IS. To the point of being plain boring.
And Ozon? I wish I stopped at his Water Drops at Burning Rocks - I still love that film, but man, he has been making it harder and harder to remember his name. Living in Oblivion seems his appropriate next step.
Fran�ois Ozon... from the pinnacle of his career to the pits, in three short years.

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Nope. For starters, how about the interesting - tinear 06:51:11 09/02/03 (5)
issue of the middle-aged woman, a bit reckless in HER youth, but now withdrawn (for what reason???) into a cerebral world of writing, and with overemphasis on drinking and eating---and quiet!
She is confronted by a young, beautiful, wanton girl whose amorality perhaps makes her remember her vanished youth---hence her anger?
And what of the "crime?" Why does Charlotte's character not care? Remember her dry appreciation of the waiter?
Ok, it's not Bunuel. But not altogether forgettable, either.
- You impersonating AuPh? - Victor Khomenko 07:25:51 09/02/03 (4)
  You are talking about the subject... and I don't care beans about the subject, the movies as art form is about the means, not subject.
  The film is done professionally, but all along the way you see triviality where subtlety would suffice. Just one example: she brings home the fatso... the fatso in the morning comes out with the line like "Where's the girl? Forgot her name..." The obvious idea of telling us she brought home someone she just met is done way too crudely to qualify for fine art. There are numerous spots like that in the film - it is like the director made it for the American adolescents unable to feel and read subtle cues.
  All those character and behavioural traits would be of some interest if they were studied with some depth by a master with vision - and they weren't. Without that the movie has only one leg to stand on - the artistic merit, and that leg is way too weak in my view.
  - Means....not subject? Think about it. You could - tinear 17:56:46 09/02/03 (1)
    make the same claim, and be just as wrong, about theatre, novels. It takes a Flaubert to make a Madame Bovary, after all.
    To be great art, a film must do both, of course. But I didn't say this was a great effort, merely that it had artistic merit. Interesting ideas, characters, a bit of mystery and a bit of thought thrown in. Charlotte Rampling, I thought, did a very good job with a difficult role.
    Now, the Fassbinder re-make...terrible. Good soft porn, but not much else to recommend. The protagonist was a pig with no redeeming merit, always a death shot.
    - I could and I will - Victor Khomenko 18:30:23 09/02/03 (0)
      I could simply state that one can - and many have - create a masterpiece with no identifiable subject matter, but the most interesting plot done with no imagination produces nothing but garbage.
  - Good, subtle point. - rhizomatic 13:05:10 09/02/03 (1)
    I agree with your assessment. I didn't hate it, I just found it empty.
    Water Drops on Burning Rocks...was that the Fassbinder play that came out as a film a few years ago? Yeah, ditto that. Why make movies like that? There's nothing to them.
    I forget...what was your take on The Man on the Train? I thought that was decent, as a character study...sorta fell apart at the end, though. Speaking of which, I found the 'twist' of Swimming Pool to be utterly straight. Some people 'round these parts expressed confusion, which is confusing, as there's nothing very confusing about the end.
    D'ya think Rampling's character was consciously modelled on Patricia Highsmith?
    And where the hell do you live, anyway? You seem to see every film that come out...
    - Re: Good, subtle point. - Victor Khomenko 13:45:59 09/02/03 (0)
      You know, the Water I liked, of course that was a couple of years back, but I thought there was enough artistic merit in the movie, so I enjoyed it. Yes, it is the Fassbinder writing.
      Agree on the Man on the Train - enough interest and good acting in it to compensate for the weak ending.
      I don't know Patricia enough to answer your question, unfortunately.
      Your last point... I live in the movies capital of the world - Delaware USA... but we are fortunate here to have one REALLY well-stocked store. However, I do not deserve the honor of having seen every film out there - I am way behind TAFKA Steve in that respect - and I suspect by now he has seen every film on Earth twice already!

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