(from Cannes Luigi Noera and Marina Pavido – Photos are courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival)

Jerzy Skolimowski omaggia Robert Bresson, ma anche un’inaspettata Elisabetta d’Austria nel film Corsage presentato ad Un Certain Regard, mentre Arnaud Desplechin delude la platea

Ce ne voglia il Direttore artistico, ma iniziamo dalla selezione di In some perspective

Un’inaspettata Elisabetta d’Austria – Corsage

An unusual, controversial portrait of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (by all called affectionately Sissi) it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 - within the Un Certain Regard section. The feature film in question is Corsage, latest effort by Austrian director Marie Kreutzer, starring the famous (She 's VERY GOOD) Vicky Krieps. Elisabeth of Austria is, on this particular occasion, a fragile woman, Human, obsessed with body care and the passage of time, which is shown to us in all its humanity.

It all begins on the eve of his fortieth birthday, in December 1877. Elizabeth lives with her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister), and to the sons Rudolph (Aaron Friezs) and Maria Valeria. The relationship with the spouse has now cooled down and the desire to run away is always very strong.

In Corsage, therefore, Marie Kreutzer completely relied on her protagonist, giving us intense close-ups and details of hands gripping corsets, unbridled horse rides and moments of relaxation in the halls of the palace. In the same way, during the film we are shown the most controversial sides of the Empress through crude realism, further accentuated by opulent and decadent environments at the same time and by moments in which we see the protagonist despair over the death of her horse, make faces at the doctor (when he tells her that at forty she was now considered old and to be injected with this "new medicine", heroin, at the time considered a medicine capable of putting an end to any internal torment without running any risk to health.

And so, in Corsage, the costumes and sets are strongly opposed to pop music, ricordando quasi l’approccio adottato da Sofia Coppola in Marie Antoinette (2006). In this case, But, Marie Kreutzer opted for a more classical staging, focusing his attention exclusively on his protagonist and making this important film a courageous and never excessive or gratuitous feature film.

Info su Corsage his Cinema Austriaco

Dalla Selezione principale segnaliamo Lo sfruttamento degli animali e un omaggio al grande Robert Bresson – EO

Random balthazar, direct in 1966 from the great Robert Bresson is one of the undisputed masterpieces of the history of cinema, without fear of any exaggeration. Several expectations, therefore, aroused the presence in competition at the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival of EO, latest effort by filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, that - always a great admirer of Bresson's film - wanted, just, create a sort of remake / homage.

EO, therefore, is a donkey that is part of a small provincial circus and is cared for and pampered by a girl who usually performs with him. One day the donkey is sold, he will manage to escape and start a long one, very long journey in the most remote areas of eastern and southern Europe, in which through continuous flashbacks he will continue to remember the happy times with his friend, dreaming of being able to return, one day, from her.

EO è una tagliente denuncia nei confronti dello sfruttamento degli animali (as is explicitly demonstrated by a scene in which some demonstrators protest against those involved in the cattle trade), but also a visually appealing feature film, which wisely deviates from what Bresson achieved and that, through a language of its own, pays him homage honestly and sincerely.

A tal fine, Jerzy Skolimowski has created an interesting combination of real and dreamlike, between linear narrative and experimentalism, in which red-toned colors are from the very beginning to convey an unsettling feeling of death and in which an accurate musical commentary gives everything a heart-pounding rhythm. Everything is shown to us exclusively from the point of view of the donkey (frequent, Furthermore, is the use of the subjective), together with him we too feel confused, bewildered, terrified.

EO è un urlo di dolore, the dream of a happy past, the hope for a better future that would never seem to come true. A painful and painful feature film, in which a directorial approach in full Skolimowskian style reveals itself, at the same time, obsequiously mindful of who for Skolimowski himself was a fundamental model.

Invece una grande delusione per Un burrascoso rapporto tra fratello e sorella in un importante dramma famigliare – Frère et Soeur

Big disappointment, in competition at the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Sibling, ultimo lungometraggio del celebre cineasta francese . Already, because, in fact, in staging a controversial and problematic relationship between brother and sister who find themselves sharing an important family drama, the director has lost the thread over and over again, letting the entire feature curl up on itself, dangerously losing credibility. But let's degrees.

Alice (personified by Marion Cotillard) and Louis (Melvil Poupaud) they haven't spoken to each other for almost twenty years and they hate each other deeply. One day their parents have a dramatic car accident and end up in hospital, seriously risking their lives. It will be impossible, in that case, do not meet. Will somehow manage to reach a sort of "truce"?

Alice is a successful actress, Louis an esteemed writer. Two strong personalities, two important egos and a latent hatred that took several years to explode in all its power. The starting situation could undoubtedly give rise to interesting implications and situations. Sin, But, that none of the objectives that Desplechin had set is achieved. Both protagonists are constantly over the top, annoyingly unnatural, to the point that the viewer fails to empathize with them even in moments when they should show some, albeit weak, glimmer of humanity.

In the same way, una sceneggiatura che fa acqua da tutte le parti e che fa sì che tutto si risolva in modo talmente semplice e banale da non risultare addirittura credibile contribuisce a rendere il presente Frère et Soeur un pastiche di elementi e personaggi che ora vorrebbero rimandare a grandi classici del passato (over all, Eve versus Eve, as regards the figure of Alice's admirer), now they find themselves in unlikely situations (eg, to be missionaries in Africa) completely out of context.

The motivations that move the protagonists are weak, the scenes that even touch the involuntary grotesque, at the same time, there are many more than one might think. Frère et Soeur fa praticamente acqua da tutte le parti, even penalizing the performance of the entire cast. The first, grande delusione di questo Festival di Cannes 2022.

Lo sguardo sulla Settimana della Critica ci offre due film nei quali cogliamo la vita apparentemente tranquilla di un falegname e una bambina divenuta adulta prima del tempo – The Woodcutter Story e Love according to Dalva

With a varied and colorful focus on directors who for the first time have decided to get involved behind the camera, la Semaine de la Critique di questa 75° edizione del Festival di Cannes sta offrendo al pubblico della Croisette delle vere e proprie perle. About that, due lungometraggi particolarmente degni di nota – molto diversi l’uno dall’altro per approccio e tematiche – sono The Woodcutter Story, diretto dal finlandese Mikko Myllylahti e Love according to Dalva, directed by Belgian filmmaker Emmanuelle Nicot.

In The Woodcutter Story, therefore, the story staged is that of the carpenter Pepe, a serene and calm man who seems to ask nothing of life, if not to spend quiet days in his small village with his family. His inner calm does not seem to waver even when a series of misfortunes befall his life, completely upsetting any pre-established equilibrium.

Which, therefore, the meaning of life? With a subtle and refined black humor - typical of Scandinavian cinema - the director has created a small and precious feature film that, drawing heavily on what has been achieved in the past (complete with explicit references to films that have made the history of cinema) succeeds, at the same time, to find a language of its own and to give us a protagonist (played by the excellent Jarkko Lahti) that we will not easily forget.

Of a very different imprint, instead, è il delicato Love according to Dalva, first work by Emmanuelle Nicot. who, indeed, the story of the young Dalva is staged, just, kidnapped by her father when she was still a child and forced by the man to become an adult prematurely and to suffer a series of abuses almost completely natural for her.

Particularly noteworthy, about that, is the complex growth path of the protagonist (a magnetic Zelda Samson), arrived in a reception center for children in difficulty in the middle of the Stockholm syndrome, but that, thanks also to the help of some of his friends, he will understand what is right and what is wrong, learning to look at things from the right perspective. An extremely painful feature film, but also tender and moving, which has made its warhorses of a realistic approach and subtle games of glances, revealing the talent of a director who, and hope, will still have much to offer us in the future.

marina fears