La Fille de Joie Est Triste (L’accordéoniste)
“The Accordionist” (1940)
This is a beautiful song written and performed by Edith Piaf (Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien – Inceptionand Tu es Partout – Saving Private Ryan). The chorus gives me chills.
It is about a prostitute who is married to an accordionist who will be going to war soon and will not return to her alive.
Her man will never come back.
Goodbye to beautiful dreams.
Her life is done for.
I interpret her story as though she has to forget her emotions while she’s working, but as soon as she leaves and watches her husband play the Java, she becomes overwhelmed with emotion.
She wants to weep, it’s physical
All of her being is tense
Her breath suspended
The music has wrung her out
This song may be derived from similar life experiences. Piaf was abandoned by her parents and lived with her grandmother who owned a brothel. The prostitutes raised her and took care of her. By the age of 17 she had a child who then died at the age of two. Edith was involved in three near fatal car crashes, resulting in alcoholism that contributed to her liver cancer that took her life.
Such an unfortunate life, contrasted by her huge fame during the 1930s to 60s is tragic. But has most certainly been channelled in her beautifully emotional songs.
Obviously this song is sung in French, but that does not take any of the emotion away at all! Before I knew what she was singing about, I could hear the desperation and longing in her voice.
STOP!
Stop the music.
A beautiful song.
Jodie.
The final chorus from 2.40 is chilling!
Director: Michael Mann Writer: Michael Mann, Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman Released: 2009 Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup, Stephen Dorff, Stephen Lang
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After reading the blurb on the back of the $9.99 DVD I was preparing myself for a mind-numbing 143 minutes of car chases and gunfire. With such an instant dislike you may wonder why I bothered rescuing this film from the bargain bin. Well, I put my faith in Johnny Depp’s reputation of being in the best of films.
Three words; Way. Friggin’. Cool. The car chases were not boring (possibly for the simple reason that the 1930s cars are wicked!) and the gun fire had consequences. i.e. it wasn’t random gunfire for the most part – some bullets did actually collide with people or surroundings, which is always a bonus.
The real John Dillinger
Public Enemies is a true account of John Dillinger’s (Depp) bank robberies, successes and being on the constant run from the cops during the depression of 1933-34. Despite it being rather difficult to distinguish many of the male characters during the dimmer scenes due to their very similar wardrobe, the characters were pretty well rounded and before you knew it, you were rooting for the ‘baddies’. You know the writers and film makers have done their job when you end up supporting the murdering protagonists. It’s like Dillinger is perceived as a superhero villain/rock star… He’s the dark superstar of the 1930s.
Depp as Dillenger
This action thriller is fantastic because it did happen which makes all of the gasping and gob-smacking moments even more appropriate. However, after doing about ten-minutes worth of research after watching the film, I realised that they embellished the love-interest and missed out the hugest mystery of all; the question mark over Dillinger’s death!
Apparently there was a look alike named Jimmy Lawrence who was a petty thief who became Dillinger’s alias in Chicago, and because John Dillinger burned his fingers with acid to remove his fingerprints, the post-mortem was inconclusive despite the FBI closing the case – possibly to save any more embarrassment in relation to the long chase. I think they should have included that, and laid off on the love interest of Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) a tad.
The filming and lighting was FANTASTIC! It was mostly hand-held with slow motion shots that made chills go down your spine and incredible shadows which created the entire mood.
Director: Christopher Nolan Writer: Christopher Nolan Released: 2010 Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
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A mind-twisting film which demands the full attention of viewers as it’s not an ‘easy watch’. By that, I mean that a passive audience is not going to be handed the complex idea of dream inception and deep characters on a platter.
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the primary dreamer or extractor hired by a corporation-owner, Mr Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant a lucrative idea into Robert Michael Fischer’s (Cillian Murphey) mind via a dream. This is to encourage him to decide to break up the energy conglomerate which he recently inherited to make way for Saito’s company.
Despite this not being an easy task. But to add to the challenge, Cobb’s late wife invades the dreams, potentially sabotaging the entire job and putting the dreamers (including Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Ellen Page) in fatal danger. This is because dying in a “dream within a dream” will not wake them up, but send them into limbo which is basically no-man’s land for what seems like an eternity.
That was a mouthful!
This epic film is a James Bond action meets Matrix science fiction meets a totally unique twist of a psychological thriller, which incorporates the modern fear of privacy invasion and increasing reality that companies have the most power.
With so much going on and so much to think about during the movie, the two and a half hours whizz by.
My favourite scene would have to be the parallel storyline of the van that is driving the unconscious dreamers, with the storyline of the conscious dreamers within somebody else’s dream. (Yes, it’s difficult to explain).
It’s the fast-paced dream versus the slow motion van that explains the time difference between dreaming and real life.
The count-down begins as the slow motion van is driven off of the bridge and the dreamers need to accomplish the mission and wake up before their physical selves drown in the van. It’s so intense!
The cliff-hanger ending leaves much debate between viewers – so after much philosophical thinking, logical analysis and heated debates with friends, you would be back in the cinema for a second viewing or buying the special edition DVD from the nearest store.
The devoted and flabbergasted viewers will find themselves questioning how they come to certain decisions (are we in a dream?) in the same way the Matrix promoted questions of fiction and reality (is this world physically real?). In the same way as Sims players question if somebody is playing our lives out.
Of course, different people take away very different things from this movie. The most popular comment being “I don’t get it.”
With a stream of shallow chick flicks and rom-coms, Inception was a breath of fresh air for those who enjoy a bit of an “epic”.
Of course, the film and talented cast is not all that creates such a movie – Hans Zimmer’s haunting scores were essentially what gives you chills!
Not forgetting the song that was the cue for the dreamers to wake up in the film (and is everybody’s alarm clock sound now) – Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein sung by Edith Piaf. It stirs emotions of apprehension and nostalgia in the audience which is parallel with the characters’.
I’m sure you can tell that I am an Inception fan, but I have to say that such a long and complicated film has less entertainment value by the third or fourth viewing.
However, it’s a “must have” for all dedicated DVD collectors or movie-making enthusiasts.
Even if it is a DVD that is not watched frequently, it’s a film that will always spark conversation and is kept handy for casual social viewing for a wide audience.
With a stream of shallow chick flicks and rom-coms, Inception was a breath of fresh air for those who enjoy a bit of an “epic”.
NZ Film Freak 