FILMS. 4th EDItION DELIVERANCE and events, but a dense substance in which everything is connected" Cowboy "Coward (Toothless Man)James Dickey(Sheriff Bullard) ith everything. The focus is shifted from things to what lies between Ed Ramey(Old Man): Billy Redden (Lonny); Seamon Glass(Ist them. This philosophy puts Kieslowski into a glorious chain of Griner"): Randall Deal(2nd"Griner); Lewis Crone(lst Dep- artists-Dreyer, Bresson, iosseliani(the line continues with Atom uty): Ken Keener(2nd Deputy); Johnny Popwell (Ambulance Driver); Egoyan and Wong Kar-wai)-and explains why his preoccupation John Fowler (Doctor); Kathy Rickman(Nurse); Louise Coldren with cycles may not be so odd after all. As people are linked in his (Mrs. Biddiford); Pete Ware (Taxi Driver): Hoyt T. Pollard (Boy at films, so are the films themselves. The heroine of Blue shows up in the Gas Station): Belinda Beatty (Martha Gentry) Charlie Boorma ourtroom of White and then, along with the principals of White, in the (Eds Boy). coda of Red. A fictitious Dutch Renaissance composer Van den Budelmayer from Red originates in Decalogue 9, as does Whites tragi-comic theme of male impotence. The brothers from Decalogue Publications 10 don' t want to stay home; they spill into the story of White. A model auteur,Kieslowski in all his later years shot one film; perhaps his Script decision to stop, which he made in 1994 after completing the Three Colors trilogy, grew out of a realization that his film had come to an Dickey, James, Deliverance, Carbondale, Illinois, 1982 end. (It has been reported that Kieslowski was planning another project at the time of his death.) Books. Like Fassbinder's 14-part Berlin, Alexanderplatz, Decalogue bril liantly utilizes its format: from television it takes not the lack of light Piccardi. Adriano. John Boorman. Florence. 1982 and cinematic quality, but the extreme intimacy between the charac- Streetbeck, Nancy, The Films of Burt Reynolds, Secaucus, New ters and the audience. Most meaningfully, it tells chamber sto- Jersey, 1982. ries in close angles. A cast of the best Polish actors, headed by Ciment. Michel. John Boorman. Paris 1985: London 1986 Maja Komorowska, Krystyna Janda, Grazyna Szapolowska, Daniel Olbrychski, Janusz Gajos, Jerzy Stuhr, and Zbigniew Zamachowski, the work of nine terrific cinematographers, and a touching, minimalist Articles. core by Zbigniew Preisner all make Kieslowski's vast ambition ossible. From the first, heartbreaking film that puts a computer in Gow, Gordon, in Films and Filming(London), February 1972 place of the" other God, that"thou shalt not have, through the two Variety(New York), 19 July 1972 highlight novellas, later expanded by the director into A Short Film Strick, Philip, in Sight and Sound ( London), Autumn 1972. About Killing(Decalogue 5) and A Short Film About Love(Deca Milne, Tom, in Monthly Film Bulletin(London), September 1972 Ciment, Michel, in Positif(Paris), October 1972 logue 6), this is a cinema that mesmerizes you while it's showing and Allombert, G, in Image et son(Paris),November 1972. aunts you long after it's all over. Grisolia, M., ""L' Amerique s'est dissociee de la nature, par un sort de levrose commune interview with John Boorman in Cinema -Michael Brashinsky Paris), November 1972. Dempsey, M, Deliverance/Boorman: Dickey in the Woods, Cinema(Beverly Hills), Spring 1973. DELIVERANCE Armour. Robert. *Deliverance: Four Variations of the American Adam, in Literature/Film Quarterly(Salisbury, Maryland), Sum- er1973 USA, 1972 Willson, Robert F Jr, "Deliverance from Novel to Film: Where Is Our Hero? in Literature/Film Quarterly(Salisbury, Maryland Director: John Boorman Winter 1974 Boorman Issue of Positif(Paris), March 1974 Dunne, Aidan, "" Labyrinth of Allusion, in Film Directions( Belfast), Production: Warner Brothers, Elmer Enterprises; Technicolor vol. 1 no. 4. 1978 Panavision; running time: 109 minutes. Released July 1972. Combs, Richard, " Male Myths, in The Listener (london), 4 July 1985 Griffith, Damned If You Do, and Damned If You Dont: James roducer: John Boorman; production manager: Wallace Worsley Dickeys Deliverance, in Post Script (Jacksonville, Florida), screenplay: James Dickey, from his own novel; assistant directors: Spring-Summer 1986. Al Jennings, Miles Middough; photography: Vilmos Zsigmond williams, Linda Ruth, "Blood Brothers, in Sight Sound (Lon- 2nd unit photography: Bill Butler; editor: Tom Priestley: sound don), September 1994 ditor: Jim Atkinson; sound recordist: Walter Goss; sound re- Suarez, E, "Deliverance: Dickey's Original Screen Play, "in South recordist: Doug Turner; art director: Fred Harpman; music:"Du ern Quarterly, no. 2/3, 1995 elling Banjos"arranged and played by Eric Weissberg, with Steve Atkinson, M, Jon Voight in Deliverance, "in Movieline(Escondido). Mandel; creative associate: Rospo Pallenberg; special effects: Mar- May 1996 cel Vercoutere; technical advisers: Charles Wiggin, E. Lewis King Worsley's Year of Deliverance, in DGA Magazine Cast: Jon Voight(Ed); Burt Reynolds(Lewis): Ned Beatty(Bobby Ronny Cox(Drew): Billy McKinney(Mountain Man): Herbert
FILMS, 4 DELIVERANCE th EDITION 305 and events, but a dense substance in which everything is connected with everything. The focus is shifted from things to what lies between them. This philosophy puts Kieślowski into a glorious chain of artists—Dreyer, Bresson, Iosseliani (the line continues with Atom Egoyan and Wong Kar-wai)—and explains why his preoccupation with cycles may not be so odd after all. As people are linked in his films, so are the films themselves. The heroine of Blue shows up in the courtroom of White and then, along with the principals of White, in the coda of Red. A fictitious Dutch Renaissance composer Van den Budelmayer from Red originates in Decalogue 9, as does White’s tragi-comic theme of male impotence. The brothers from Decalogue 10 don’t want to stay home; they spill into the story of White. A model auteur, Kieślowski in all his later years shot one film; perhaps his decision to stop, which he made in 1994 after completing the Three Colors trilogy, grew out of a realization that his film had come to an end. (It has been reported that Kieślowski was planning another project at the time of his death.) Like Fassbinder’s 14-part Berlin, Alexanderplatz, Decalogue brilliantly utilizes its format: from television it takes not the lack of light and cinematic quality, but the extreme intimacy between the characters and the audience. Most meaningfully, it tells chamber stories in close angles. A cast of the best Polish actors, headed by Maja Komorowska, Krystyna Janda, Grazyna Szapolowska, Daniel Olbrychski, Janusz Gajos, Jerzy Stuhr, and Zbigniew Zamachowski, the work of nine terrific cinematographers, and a touching, minimalist score by Zbigniew Preisner all make Kieślowski’s vast ambition possible. From the first, heartbreaking film that puts a computer in place of the ‘‘other God,’’ that ‘‘thou shalt not have,’’ through the two highlight novellas, later expanded by the director into A Short Film About Killing (Decalogue 5) and A Short Film About Love (Decalogue 6), this is a cinema that mesmerizes you while it’s showing and haunts you long after it’s all over. —Michael Brashinsky DELIVERANCE USA, 1972 Director: John Boorman Production: Warner Brothers, Elmer Enterprises; Technicolor; Panavision; running time: 109 minutes. Released July 1972. Producer: John Boorman; production manager: Wallace Worsley; screenplay: James Dickey, from his own novel; assistant directors: Al Jennings, Miles Middough; photography: Vilmos Zsigmond; 2nd unit photography: Bill Butler; editor: Tom Priestley; sound editor: Jim Atkinson; sound recordist: Walter Goss; sound rerecordist: Doug Turner; art director: Fred Harpman; music: ‘‘Duelling Banjos’’ arranged and played by Eric Weissberg, with Steve Mandel; creative associate: Rospo Pallenberg; special effects: Marcel Vercoutere; technical advisers: Charles Wiggin, E. Lewis King. Cast: Jon Voight (Ed); Burt Reynolds (Lewis); Ned Beatty (Bobby); Ronny Cox (Drew); Billy McKinney (Mountain Man); Herbert ‘‘Cowboy’’ Coward (Toothless Man) James Dickey (Sheriff Bullard); Ed Ramey (Old Man); Billy Redden (Lonny); Seamon Glass (1st ‘‘Griner’’); Randall Deal (2nd ‘‘Griner’’); Lewis Crone (1st Deputy); Ken Keener (2nd Deputy); Johnny Popwell (Ambulance Driver); John Fowler (Doctor); Kathy Rickman (Nurse); Louise Coldren (Mrs. Biddiford); Pete Ware (Taxi Driver); Hoyt T. Pollard (Boy at Gas Station); Belinda Beatty (Martha Gentry); Charlie Boorman (Ed’s Boy). Publications Script: Dickey, James, Deliverance, Carbondale, Illinois, 1982. Books: Piccardi, Adriano, John Boorman, Florence, 1982. Streetbeck, Nancy, The Films of Burt Reynolds, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1982. Ciment, Michel, John Boorman, Paris 1985; London 1986. Articles: Gow, Gordon, in Films and Filming (London), February 1972. Variety (New York), 19 July 1972. Strick, Philip, in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1972. Milne, Tom, in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), September 1972. Ciment, Michel, in Positif (Paris), October 1972. Allombert, G., in Image et son (Paris), November 1972. Grisolia, M., ‘‘L’Amerique s’est dissociée de la nature, par un sort de névrose commune,’’ interview with John Boorman in Cinéma (Paris), November 1972. Dempsey, M., ‘‘Deliverance/Boorman: Dickey in the Woods,’’ in Cinema (Beverly Hills), Spring 1973. Armour, Robert, ‘‘Deliverance: Four Variations of the American Adam,’’ in Literature/Film Quarterly (Salisbury, Maryland), Summer 1973. Willson, Robert F. Jr., ‘‘Deliverance from Novel to Film: Where Is Our Hero?’’ in Literature/Film Quarterly (Salisbury, Maryland), Winter 1974. ‘‘Boorman Issue’’ of Positif (Paris), March 1974. Dunne, Aidan, ‘‘Labyrinth of Allusion,’’ in Film Directions (Belfast), vol. 1 no. 4, 1978. Combs, Richard, ‘‘Male Myths,’’ in The Listener (London), 4 July 1985. Griffith, J. J., ‘‘Damned If You Do, and Damned If You Don’t: James Dickey’s Deliverance,’’ in Post Script (Jacksonville, Florida), Spring-Summer 1986. Williams, Linda Ruth, ‘‘Blood Brothers,’’ in Sight & Sound (London), September 1994. Suarez, E., ‘‘Deliverance: Dickey’s Original Screen Play,’’ in Southern Quarterly, no. 2/3, 1995. Atkinson, M., ‘‘Jon Voight in Deliverance,’’ in Movieline (Escondido), May 1996. Worsley, W., ‘‘Worsley’s Year of Deliverance,’’ in DGA Magazine (Los Angeles), no. 2, 1997. ***
DELIVERANCE FILMS. 4 EDITIoN Deliverance In the early 1970s, accelerated no doubt by Watergate, the against a boulder, his arm impossibly twisted behind his head. Such optimistic liberal tradition was in some crisis. Conspiracy and para- scenes are constant reminders of the brute materiality of this wilder noia had become common currency in popular culture, a trend evident ness and of the quartets inability to do anything but react to such otherwise diverse films as Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, Pakula's a succession of real and imagined provocations. Even after their The Parallax view, Coppolas The Conversation, and Boorman's deliverance, Ed wakes screaming, haunted by the fear and guilt Deliverance. Where ten years earlier movie protagonists routinely embodied in his nightmare image of a hand emerging from the lake riumphed over adversity, the heroes of these and other 1970s films As the credits roll, he lies in bed, unable to sleep. were increasingly to find themselves trapped and destroyed by the At this level Deliverance is a pessimistic and absorbing piece of relentless logic of events. story-telling. But it is also more than that. In charting the collapse of This is the claustrophobic plight of Deliverance's four central "civilised"values, the film invokes larger, almost metaphysical characters: a group of urban men caught in an escalating series of themes. While they are never simply emblematic, Deliverance's four olent confrontations with the Appalachian wilderness and its(to entral characters do represent different aspects of the failings of them) alien inhabitants. Carried along by the very linearity of the civilised society, failings crystallised in their confrontation with the narratives voyage structure(the four are canoeing down a wild river wilderness. There is something in the woods and the water that we before it is dammed to form a lake) we directly experience the have lost in the city"opines Bobby, the brash salesman. " We didnt constraining force of events in the movie's unremitting emphasis on lose it, Lewis replies, we sold it. Happily, any tendency to ysical detail. Fat Bobby, struggling in the dirt, groped and fondle promote a mystic commitment to Nature over Civilisation(all too at some length before he is forcibly buggered; the close-up sight and apparent in Boorman's later ecological parable, The Emerald Forest) sound of an arrow pulled from the body of his attacker; the frenzied is undercut by the fact that Lewis, the self-proclaimed survivor and scrabbling of the group as they dig a grave with their bare hands; the man of the wildeness, is never elevated into the kind of sub- viscera hanging from the wound in Lewis's leg; Drews body trapped Nietzschean superman found in, say, The Deer Hunter. Instead, he
DELIVERANCE FILMS, 4th EDITION 306 Deliverance In the early 1970s, accelerated no doubt by Watergate, the optimistic liberal tradition was in some crisis. Conspiracy and paranoia had become common currency in popular culture, a trend evident in such otherwise diverse films as Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, Pakula’s The Parallax View, Coppola’s The Conversation, and Boorman’s Deliverance. Where ten years earlier movie protagonists routinely triumphed over adversity, the heroes of these and other 1970s films were increasingly to find themselves trapped and destroyed by the relentless logic of events. This is the claustrophobic plight of Deliverance’s four central characters: a group of urban men caught in an escalating series of violent confrontations with the Appalachian wilderness and its (to them) alien inhabitants. Carried along by the very linearity of the narrative’s voyage structure (the four are canoeing down a wild river before it is dammed to form a lake) we directly experience the constraining force of events in the movie’s unremitting emphasis on physical detail. Fat Bobby, struggling in the dirt, groped and fondled at some length before he is forcibly buggered; the close-up sight and sound of an arrow pulled from the body of his attacker; the frenzied scrabbling of the group as they dig a grave with their bare hands; the viscera hanging from the wound in Lewis’s leg; Drew’s body trapped against a boulder, his arm impossibly twisted behind his head. Such scenes are constant reminders of the brute materiality of this wilderness and of the quartet’s inability to do anything but react to a succession of real and imagined provocations. Even after their deliverance, Ed wakes screaming, haunted by the fear and guilt embodied in his nightmare image of a hand emerging from the lake. As the credits roll, he lies in bed, unable to sleep. At this level Deliverance is a pessimistic and absorbing piece of story-telling. But it is also more than that. In charting the collapse of ‘‘civilised’’ values, the film invokes larger, almost metaphysical themes. While they are never simply emblematic, Deliverance’s four central characters do represent different aspects of the failings of civilised society, failings crystallised in their confrontation with the wilderness. ‘‘There is something in the woods and the water that we have lost in the city’’ opines Bobby, the brash salesman. ‘‘We didn’t lose it,’’ Lewis replies, ‘‘we sold it.’’ Happily, any tendency to promote a mystic commitment to Nature over Civilisation (all too apparent in Boorman’s later ecological parable, The Emerald Forest) is undercut by the fact that Lewis, the self-proclaimed survivor and man of the wilderness, is never elevated into the kind of subNietzschean superman found in, say, The Deer Hunter. Instead, he
FILMS. 4th EDItION LA DENTELLIERE serves as a foil to the other three, and especially to Ed, whose self- Jean Obe(Francois 'father): Monique Chaumette(Francois'mother): image as a decent, pipe-smoking family man is progressively eroded Michel de Re(The Painter): Renata Schroeter(Francois'friend as the world proves more intractable than he could ever imagine Sabine azema( student) the end, though, he does survive, forced to kill and lie to do Significantly, it is Drew who dies, his simple belief in the goodness of Awards: Cannes Film Festival. Ecumenical Prize. 1977. luman nature(exquisitely expressed in his guitar and banjo duet with the moon-faced child and in his evident disappointment when the boy bsequently ignores him) an inadequate defence against a malevo lent world The films downbeat mood is sustained in its cinematography as well as its dramaturgy. Seeking to lend what he called an"ominous Script quality"to the"pleasant and restful greens and blues of sky, river and trees, Boorman (in conjunction with Technicolor) developed Goretta, Claude, and Pascal Laine, La dentelliere, Paris, 1981 a new color desaturation technique for Deliverance. The result a film shot in threatening grey-greens, not so much washed-out as Articles evacuated of conventionally pretty nature imagery. Although the big Panavision images of river, cliffs, and forest are impressive enough Moskowitz, G, Variety(New York ), 25 May 1977. (there are some breath-taking moving compositions of the two Roulet, C, in Cinematographe(Paris), June 1977 canoes, exploiting both the format and the long lens's flattened Maillet, D, ""Claude Goretta, "in Cinematographe(Paris), June 1977 perspective)the desaturated color always ensures that they do not Jong, A, "Claude Goretta en La Dentelliere, ' in Skoop(Amster- become merely picturesque. As befits a story of liberal complacency dam), June-July 1977. confronted by brutal antagonism, it is the struggle to survive that Chevassu, F, in Image et Son(Paris), September 1977 predominates, the big screen used more to document that in close-up Milne, Tom, in Monthly Film Bulletin(London), November 1977 than to celebrate the pictorial splendours of the setting International Film guide /978. London. 1978 When the survivors emerge from the last rapids onto the lake, it is Leroux, A, in Sequences(Montreal), January 1978 not-as it might have been-a comforting expanse of calm water that Pruks, I, in Cinema Papers(Melbourne), April-June 1978 greets them and us. It is the rusting bulk of a wrecked automobile, Peterson-Schultz, B, in Kosmorama( Copenhagen), Summer 1978 ater lapping around its fender. Bobby splashes through the shallows Kass. Judith, " Claude Coretta and Isabelle Huppert, "in Movietone towards it. Weve made it, Ed, he cries, grateful for this equivocal News(Seattle), 14 August 1978. symbol of civilised society. It is an appropriately two-edged image in Parker, G, in Film Quarterly(Berkeley), Fall 1978 a film which, to the last, refuses to accept that there are simple Gunter, J., in Film und Fernsehen(Berlin). October 1978 solutions to the moral dilemmas that it poses Brossard, Jean-Pierre, Trotz allem hoof ich, in Film tnd Fensehen (Berlin), October 1978. -Andrew Tudor Termino, L in Cinema Nuovo(Bari), February 1980 cebe. Gilles Martyre de I'amour, ' in Avant-Scene du Cinema Paris), 15 April 1981. LA DENTELLIERE Millar, Gavin, in Listener(London), 3 March 1983 Telerama(Paris ), 6 November 1996 CThe lacemaker) Switzerland-France- West germany, 1977 m, his first made in France, tells a deceptively simple story of lost innocence against the picturesque Director: Claude goretta background of the normandy coast and the contemporary ambience of Paris. The Lacemaker is marked by the economy, close observa Production: Citel Films(Geneva), Actions Films(Paris), and tions, and compassion of its director and the virtuoso performance of Filmproduktion(Frankfort); Eastmancolor, 35mm; running time: 108 its star, Isabelle Huppert, who plays Beatrice, nicknamed""Pomme, minutes. Released May 1977, france. Filmed in France. a shy young assistant in a Paris beauty parlor. The film depicts her first romance with a well-bred Sorbonne student named francois Producer: Yves Peyrot with Yves Gosser; screenplay: Claude (Y ves Beneyton), who meets her while on vacation in the resort town Goretta and Pascal Laine, from the novel by Laine; photography: of Cabourg and rejects her some months later, bringing on an Jean Boffety: editor: Joelle Van Effenterre; sound: Pierre Gemet and emotional and physical collapse. Coretta has synthesized several Bernard Chaumeil; production design: Serge Etter and Claude potentially sentimental genres--Bildu n, pastoral, seduction Chevant; music: Pierre Jansen: music editor: Georges Bacri. story, poor-meets-rich romance-and managed to evoke fresh re- sponses to his films own particular time and place Cast: Isabelle Huppert(Beatrice): Yves Beneyton(Francois): Flor- The Lacemaker begins by exploring the friendship between Pomme ence Giorgietti(Marylene): Anne-Marie Duringer(Be'atrice's mother); d Marylene(Florence Giorgietti), a slightly older and far
FILMS, 4 LA DENTELLIÈRE th EDITION 307 serves as a foil to the other three, and especially to Ed, whose selfimage as a decent, pipe-smoking family man is progressively eroded as the world proves more intractable than he could ever imagine. In the end, though, he does survive, forced to kill and lie to do so. Significantly, it is Drew who dies, his simple belief in the goodness of human nature (exquisitely expressed in his guitar and banjo duet with the moon-faced child and in his evident disappointment when the boy subsequently ignores him) an inadequate defence against a malevolent world. The film’s downbeat mood is sustained in its cinematography as well as its dramaturgy. Seeking to lend what he called an ‘‘ominous quality’’ to the ‘‘pleasant and restful’’ greens and blues of sky, river and trees, Boorman (in conjunction with Technicolor) developed a new color desaturation technique for Deliverance. The result is a film shot in threatening grey-greens, not so much washed-out as evacuated of conventionally pretty nature imagery. Although the big Panavision images of river, cliffs, and forest are impressive enough (there are some breath-taking moving compositions of the two canoes, exploiting both the format and the long lens’s flattened perspective) the desaturated color always ensures that they do not become merely picturesque. As befits a story of liberal complacency confronted by brutal antagonism, it is the struggle to survive that predominates, the big screen used more to document that in close-up than to celebrate the pictorial splendours of the setting. When the survivors emerge from the last rapids onto the lake, it is not—as it might have been—a comforting expanse of calm water that greets them and us. It is the rusting bulk of a wrecked automobile, water lapping around its fender. Bobby splashes through the shallows towards it. ‘‘We’ve made it, Ed,’’ he cries, grateful for this equivocal symbol of civilised society. It is an appropriately two-edged image in a film which, to the last, refuses to accept that there are simple solutions to the moral dilemmas that it poses. —Andrew Tudor LA DENTELLIÈRE (The Lacemaker) Switzerland-France-West Germany, 1977 Director: Claude Goretta Production: Citel Films (Geneva), Actions Films (Paris), and Filmproduktion (Frankfort); Eastmancolor, 35mm; running time: 108 minutes. Released May 1977, France. Filmed in France. Producer: Yves Peyrot with Yves Gosser; screenplay: Claude Goretta and Pascal Laine, from the novel by Laine; photography: Jean Boffety; editor: Joelle Van Effenterre; sound: Pierre Gemet and Bernard Chaumeil; production design: Serge Etter and Claude Chevant; music: Pierre Jansen; music editor: Georges Bacri. Cast: Isabelle Huppert (Béatrice); Yves Beneyton (François); Florence Giorgietti (Marylène); Anne-Marie Duringer (Béatrice’s mother); Jean Obe (François’ father); Monique Chaumette (François’ mother); Michel de Re (The Painter); Renata Schroeter (Francois’ friend); Sabine Azema (Student). Awards: Cannes Film Festival, Ecumenical Prize, 1977. Publications Script: Goretta, Claude, and Pascal Laine, La Dentellière, Paris, 1981. Articles: Moskowitz, G., Variety (New York), 25 May 1977. Roulet, C., in Cinématographe (Paris), June 1977. Maillet, D., ‘‘Claude Goretta,’’ in Cinématographe (Paris), June 1977. Jong, A., ‘‘Claude Goretta en La Dentellière,’’ in Skoop (Amsterdam), June-July 1977. Chevassu, F., in Image et Son (Paris), September 1977. Milne, Tom, in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), November 1977. International Film Guide 1978, London, 1978. Leroux, A., in Séquences (Montreal), January 1978. Pruks, I., in Cinema Papers (Melbourne), April-June 1978. Peterson-Schultz, B., in Kosmorama (Copenhagen), Summer 1978. Kass, Judith, ‘‘Claude Goretta and Isabelle Huppert,’’ in Movietone News (Seattle), 14 August 1978. Parker, G., in Film Quarterly (Berkeley), Fall 1978. Günter, J., in Film und Fernsehen (Berlin), October 1978. Brossard, Jean-Pierre, ‘‘Trotz allem hoofe ich,’’ in Film und Fernsehen (Berlin), October 1978. Termino, L., in Cinema Nuovo (Bari), February 1980. Cèbe, Gilles, ‘‘Une Martyre de l’amour,’’ in Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), 15 April 1981. Millar, Gavin, in Listener (London), 3 March 1983. Télérama (Paris), 6 November 1996. *** Claude Goretta’s third feature film, his first made in France, tells a deceptively simple story of lost innocence against the picturesque background of the Normandy coast and the contemporary ambience of Paris. The Lacemaker is marked by the economy, close observations, and compassion of its director and the virtuoso performance of its star, Isabelle Huppert, who plays Béatrice, nicknamed ‘‘Pomme,’’ a shy young assistant in a Paris beauty parlor. The film depicts her first romance with a well-bred Sorbonne student named François (Yves Beneyton), who meets her while on vacation in the resort town of Cabourg and rejects her some months later, bringing on an emotional and physical collapse. Goretta has synthesized several potentially sentimental genres—Bildungsroman, pastoral, seduction story, poor-meets-rich romance—and managed to evoke fresh responses to his film’s own particular time and place. The Lacemaker begins by exploring the friendship between Pomme and Marylène (Florence Giorgietti), a slightly older and far more
LA DENTELLIERE FILMS. 4 EDITIoN La dentelliere experienced beautician. Like her illustrious namesake, Marilyn Mon- visually underscoring their differences at the very moment their roe, whose poster adorns a wall in her high-rise apartment, Marylene romance begin is blonde, restless, and seductive, a compulsive poseur. Pomme seems Goretta depicts the development of their relationship through her complete opposite: small, quiet, utterly guileless. While Marylene's a series of delicately woven vignettes, the most clearly symbolic of extroverted personality, sensuousness, and superior position in the which involves a game of blindmans bluff on a steep cliff overlook shop clearly present her as a foil in the opening sequences, she is soon ing the Channel. francois leads her to the very edge, but Pomme vulnerable to men than Pomme will become. The continues to follow his commands without ever opening her eyes. opening movement of The Lacemaker thus concludes with Marylene When she finally does, standing at the very edge of the precipice, being jilted by her married boyfriend and deciding to forget her Francois has to grab her to keep her from falling with fright. Soon troubles by taking Pomme along on a vacation at the seacoast. after this strangely disturbing interlude, Pomme agrees to sleep with Marylene soon meets a new man and moves out of the hotel room him, her first time with a man she briefly shared with Pomme, who acquiesces silently. francois Back in Paris and now living in Francois's flat near the university, sees her eating an ice cream at an outdoor cafe and introduces himself pomme happily cleans and cooks after her own work at the beauty to the shy girl as a brilliant student of literature from Paris. Goretta parlor is done so that he might pursue his studies. Their life together departs from his customary unobtrusive cinematic style at this point seems epitomized in a scene where she tries to eat an apple silently with a beautiful of long tracking shots and cross-cutting to (her nickname, pomme, meansapple'")without disturbing his depict Francois and Pomme looking for each other the next day. The oncentration, and he becomes annoyed not so much by the sound as distance between them in the panoramic vistas and the high camera by her effort at self-effacement. The films pivotal scene occurs placements suggest both the separate worlds they inhabit and the fate during the couples visit with Francois's parents in the country. When that draws them together. When they finally meet on the boardwalk, the dinner conversation turns to news about Francois's successful Pomme wears a white dress and francois a dark t-shirt and jeans, young friends and questions about what she does for a living, Pomme
LA DENTELLIÈRE FILMS, 4th EDITION 308 La Dentellière experienced beautician. Like her illustrious namesake, Marilyn Monroe, whose poster adorns a wall in her high-rise apartment, Marylène is blonde, restless, and seductive, a compulsive poseur. Pomme seems her complete opposite: small, quiet, utterly guileless. While Marylène’s extroverted personality, sensuousness, and superior position in the shop clearly present her as a foil in the opening sequences, she is soon shown to be no less vulnerable to men than Pomme will become. The opening movement of The Lacemaker thus concludes with Marylène being jilted by her married boyfriend and deciding to forget her troubles by taking Pomme along on a vacation at the seacoast. Marylène soon meets a new man and moves out of the hotel room she briefly shared with Pomme, who acquiesces silently. François sees her eating an ice cream at an outdoor cafe and introduces himself to the shy girl as a brilliant student of literature from Paris. Goretta departs from his customary unobtrusive cinematic style at this point with a beautiful sequence of long tracking shots and cross-cutting to depict François and Pomme looking for each other the next day. The distance between them in the panoramic vistas and the high camera placements suggest both the separate worlds they inhabit and the fate that draws them together. When they finally meet on the boardwalk, Pomme wears a white dress and François a dark t-shirt and jeans, visually underscoring their differences at the very moment their romance begins. Goretta depicts the development of their relationship through a series of delicately woven vignettes, the most clearly symbolic of which involves a game of blindman’s bluff on a steep cliff overlooking the Channel. François leads her to the very edge, but Pomme continues to follow his commands without ever opening her eyes. When she finally does, standing at the very edge of the precipice, François has to grab her to keep her from falling with fright. Soon after this strangely disturbing interlude, Pomme agrees to sleep with him, her first time with a man. Back in Paris and now living in François’s flat near the university, Pomme happily cleans and cooks after her own work at the beauty parlor is done so that he might pursue his studies. Their life together seems epitomized in a scene where she tries to eat an apple silently (her nickname, ‘‘pomme,’’ means ‘‘apple’’) without disturbing his concentration, and he becomes annoyed not so much by the sound as by her effort at self-effacement. The film’s pivotal scene occurs during the couple’s visit with François’s parents in the country. When the dinner conversation turns to news about François’s successful young friends and questions about what she does for a living, Pomme
FILMS. 4th EDItION DERⅤ AR ENGANG EN KRIG is overcome by a violent fit of choking. In moments such as these, Goretta reveals the subtle unraveling of their romance, without a single argument between them. In a high-angle long shot foreshad- owing their parting, and mirroring the panoramic views of Cabourg, francois rushes across a city boulevard, leaving Beatrice stranded on a traffic island. Some time after Francois explains how breaking up will be best for both of them and returns her to her mothers apartment, Beatrice collapses in the middle of a busy intersection le Lacemaker's final sequence takes place in a sanatorium where Francois comes to visit Beatrice, whose altered appearance is pre foundly disquieting. She wears a shapeless black dress like a shroud; she moves and speaks mechanically, drained of all her former charm As they pass the time together in a park filled with fallen yellow eaves, Francois asks what she has been doing since they parted When Beatrice tonelessly describes a trip to Greece with someone she met, Francois seems relieved to learn she has taken other lovers. In the closing shot, however, the camera tracks in on the therapy room here Beatrice sits alone in a comer knitting in front of a bright poster of Mykonos. Her foreign travel was an illusion, both a deception and farewell gift for the guilt-ridden Francois. As the truth dawns, she Ins to the camera with a chilling expression which Goretta then freezes. The closing title appears, with its reference to the anonymous working women-seamstresses, water-girls, lacemakers--of the pair ings of the old Masters. Goretta's film. like his heroines face, is deceptively simple While seemingly inviting interpretation as a modern parable of innocence betrayed, a Marxist allegory on the plight of the working class, feminist tract against patriarchal society, or even a clinical udy of mental breakdown, The Lacemaker remains ultimately less Der var engang en krig moralistic than Eric Rohmer's films, less political than Godard's or Tanners, less intellectual than Resnais's. Goretta's deepest concern- Madson (Jane): Christian Gottschalck(Grandfather): Yvonne Ingdal and the films ultimate" meaning"-lies with Beatrice herself, with what she has lost and, just possibly, what she has gained (Lis ); Karen Marie Lower(Lis's mother); Gregers Ussing(Frank) Jan Heinig Hansen(Markus): Birgit Bruiel(Markus's mother): Jorgen -Lloyd Michaels Beck(Friend); Elsa Kourani( Friend's wife); Henry Skjar (Headmas ter): Holger Perfort(Teacher in gymnastics) DER VAR ENGANG EN KRIG Publications (Once There Was a War) Norway. 1966 Rifbjerg, Klaus, and Palle Kjaerulff-Schmidt, Der engang en krig Director: Palle Kjaerulff-Schmidt Books Production: Nordisk Films Kompagni; black and white, 35mm, widescreen: running time: 94 minutes; length: 2565 meters, or 8460 feet. Released 16 November 1966, Copenhagen. Filmed in Denmark Stormgaard, Uffe, and Soren Dyssegaard, Danish Films, Copenha- er: Bo Christensen; screenplay: Klaus Rifbjerg: assistant Passek, Jean-Loup, editor, Le Cinema danois, Paris, 1979. r: Tom Hedegaard; photography: Claus Loof; editor: Ole sound: Niels Ishsy and Hans w. Soensen; art director Articles. Henning Bahs: music: Chopin, Beethoven, and Leo Mathisen:cos- tume designer: Lotte Dandanell Variety(New York), 30 November 1966. Kosmorama( Copenhagen), December 1966 Cast: Ole Busck(Tim): Kjeld Jacobsen(Father): Astrid Villaume Hollywood Reporter, 2 November 1967. (Mother): Katja Miehe Renard(Kate, the sister): Birgit Bendix Film Quarterly(Berkeley), winter 1967-68
FILMS, 4 DER VAR ENGANG EN KRIG th EDITION 309 is overcome by a violent fit of choking. In moments such as these, Goretta reveals the subtle unraveling of their romance, without a single argument between them. In a high-angle long shot foreshadowing their parting, and mirroring the panoramic views of Cabourg, François rushes across a city boulevard, leaving Béatrice stranded on a traffic island. Some time after François explains how breaking up will be best for both of them and returns her to her mother’s apartment, Béatrice collapses in the middle of a busy intersection. The Lacemaker’s final sequence takes place in a sanatorium where François comes to visit Béatrice, whose altered appearance is profoundly disquieting. She wears a shapeless black dress like a shroud; she moves and speaks mechanically, drained of all her former charm. As they pass the time together in a park filled with fallen yellow leaves, François asks what she has been doing since they parted. When Béatrice tonelessly describes a trip to Greece with someone she met, François seems relieved to learn she has taken other lovers. In the closing shot, however, the camera tracks in on the therapy room where Béatrice sits alone in a corner knitting in front of a bright poster of Mykonos. Her foreign travel was an illusion, both a deception and farewell gift for the guilt-ridden François. As the truth dawns, she turns to the camera with a chilling expression which Goretta then freezes. The closing title appears, with its reference to the anonymous working women—seamstresses, water-girls, lacemakers—of the paintings of the Old Masters. Goretta’s film, like his heroine’s face, is deceptively simple. While seemingly inviting interpretation as a modern parable of innocence betrayed, a Marxist allegory on the plight of the working class, feminist tract against patriarchal society, or even a clinical study of mental breakdown, The Lacemaker remains ultimately less moralistic than Eric Rohmer’s films, less political than Godard’s or Tanner’s, less intellectual than Resnais’s. Goretta’s deepest concern— and the film’s ultimate ‘‘meaning’’—lies with Béatrice herself, with what she has lost and, just possibly, what she has gained. —Lloyd Michaels DER VAR ENGANG EN KRIG (Once There Was a War) Norway, 1966 Director: Palle Kjaerulff-Schmidt Production: Nordisk Films Kompagni; black and white, 35mm, widescreen; running time: 94 minutes; length: 2565 meters, or 8460 feet. Released 16 November 1966, Copenhagen. Filmed in Denmark. Producer: Bo Christensen; screenplay: Klaus Rifbjerg; assistant director: Tom Hedegaard; photography: Claus Loof; editor: Ole Steen; sound: Niels Ishsy and Hans W. Søensen; art director: Henning Bahs; music: Chopin, Beethoven, and Leo Mathisen; costume designer: Lotte Dandanell. Cast: Ole Busck (Tim); Kjeld Jacobsen (Father); Astrid Villaume (Mother); Katja Miehe Renard (Kate, the sister); Birgit Bendix Der var engang en krig Madson (Jane); Christian Gottschalck (Grandfather); Yvonne Ingdal (Lis); Karen Marie Løwert (Lis’s mother); Gregers Ussing (Frank); Jan Heinig Hansen (Markus); Birgit Brüel (Markus’s mother); Jørgen Beck (Friend); Elsa Kourani (Friend’s wife); Henry Skjar (Headmaster); Holger Perfort (Teacher in gymnastics). Publications Script: Rifbjerg, Klaus, and Palle Kjaerulff-Schmidt, Der var engang en krig, Copenhagen, 1966. Books: Stormgaard, Uffe, and Soren Dyssegaard, Danish Films, Copenhagen, 1973. Passek, Jean-Loup, editor, Le Cinéma danois, Paris, 1979. Articles: Variety (New York), 30 November 1966. Kosmorama (Copenhagen), December 1966. Hollywood Reporter, 2 November 1967. Film Quarterly (Berkeley), Winter 1967–68