A motion picture does not have to be a star-studded blockbuster to make your heart sing, to provoke thought or to inspire your imagination. Certainly, some of our most cherished movies have been independent, relatively low-budget affairs, films such as Before Sunrise (1995), The StationAgent (2003), After the Wedding (2006), The Last Station (2009), and even last year's Academy Award winner, The King's Speech (2010). One might even argue that the big- budget movie is far less likely to touch us, to provoke us, or to engender new insights than the "small" film. But perhaps, this is just matter of taste.
The Taste of Others (Le Goût des Autres) is a little gem. It was nominated for an Academy award in 2001 in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Among other things, the film is about how taste - intellectual, cultural and social - affects our perception of others and of our selves, and also about how, sometimes, a little taste of someone else's very different life, their style or ideas, can be the seed of change and growth. A useful means for exposure to the taste of others, of course, is romantic love, and this lovely movie follows that course in developing its themes.
The Taste of Others is the first directorial effort by Agnes Jaoui, who cowrote the screenplay with her longtime collaborator Jean-Pierre Bacri (who also happens to be her husband), and both star in the film as well. It is a finely plotted story of intersecting lives. At the core is Castella (Bacri), a wealthy industrialist in Rouen, who is on the verge of concluding a major deal with the Iranians. But Castella is bored with his business and his life. He doesn't want to take a meeting with the Iranians. He doesn't want to go through with the English lessons his assistant has arranged for him. Castella is stuck emotionally and stylistically; if he can be said to have any taste at all, it might be called plodding or pedestrian, symbolized by his funky, out of date mustache.
His wife, Angelique (Christiane Millet), a narcissistic interior designer with amusingly atrocious taste, and a preference for animals over people, pretty much runs Castella's home life. One day she drags him to a local production of Racine’s Bérénice, because his niece has a bit part; and much to his surprise, Castella finds himself moved to tears by the dramatic performance of the lead actress – whom he recognizes as his seemingly mousy English instructor, Clara (Anne Avaro). He goes back to the theater the next night, sans sa femme, to soak up the experience, falls in love with the actress, and throughout the rest of the film tries to ingratiate himself with Clara and her artistic and intellectual friends, buying them drinks, buying their art, etc.. Clara’s crowd, of course, believes they are superior to this boorish, unschooled, capitalist lout. But Castella is changing; his association with these people, their galleries, their conversations awakens in him a desire for something finer in his own life. And as he changes, the lives of others around him will also change.
There is a parallel story involving Manie (Jaoui), the barmaid - and sometimes marijuana/hashish dealer - at a tavern near the theater, where Clara and her friends hang out. Manie is a friend and confidant of Clara. She also hooks up, briefly, with Castella’s chauffeur, Bruno (Alain Chabat), and, more seriously, with Franck (Gerard Lanvin), Castella's temporary bodyguard. Manie is an independent woman, who’s tired of having affairs and wants a serious relationship, but is unwilling to be subservient to a man. Franck brags of having slept with hundreds of women over the years, but perhaps there’s something different about this one?
We initially perceive each of these folks as defined by their ascribed roles - barmaid, businessman, bodyguard, artiste - but along the way, we get to see far more: the nuances of their personalities, emotional needs and longings. We come to care about them as real people, and we remember them. Jaoui has created beautifully etched and astutely observed characters, whose every move and every utterance seems right and true. It’s a remarkable achievement, aided by fine performances from the entire ensemble of actors, herself included.
One of my companions suggested that this was a film only the French could make, certainly not Americans. In that the arc of the film is propelled almost entirely by dialogue, rather than action, I would agree that this is a quintessentially French product. And I would like to see more character driven, relationship oriented movies from these shores. We do come up with a few lovely little pictures about real people now and then, like the aforementioned Before Sunrise and The Station Agent, and some of the recent Woody Allen movies, for example.
Anyway, I highly recommend this flick. Between the subtitles (which are quite well done) and the initial slow pace of the story, I also encourage you to come at it with some degree of alertness and at least partial sobriety. If you snooze, you lose. (This comes from personal experience: I started my viewing of The Taste of Others after 9 PM, following a hearty meal and several glasses of wine. I drifted in and out of the first half, not really connecting the dots; although when full consciousness returned, and I got my second wind, I was able to enjoy the second half of the film. The next day, fully awake, I went back, re-watched the first part, and filled in quite a lot of gaps!)
Jaoui has written directed a couple of other films in, I’m told, a similar style: Look At Me (Comme une Image) (2004) and Let It Rain (Parlez-moi de la Pluie) (2008). I can’t wait.
Available on DVD from Netflix
Nice job! Makes me want to see it again!
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