L'Amour et les Forets

Virginie Efira and Melvil Poupaud

Valérie Donzelli's L'Amour et les Forêts (Love and the Forests) is a not quite good film with many elements that I enjoyed. The flick was released in the US in 2024 under the anodyne title Just the Two of Us. Ms. Donzelli and Audrey Diwan adapted the script from Éric Reinhardt's novel. The film chronicles an abusive marriage from the point of view of the mistreated wife, Blanche (Virginie Efira). The story is told in flashback as Blanche recounts the arc of her marriage to Grégoire (Melvil Poupaud) to her divorce lawyer. Blanche and Grégoire enjoy a whirlwind romance though Blanche's twin sister, Rose (Ms. Efira doing double duty), is not sold on the lug. After the happy couple settle down and produce two children, Grégoire reveals his needy and controlling nature. Starved for true affection, Blanche takes a lover which sends hubby over the edge. Grégoire morphs into a furniture smashing monster who spies on his wife and drives her to a suicide attempt. A stay in a mental hospital helps bring Blanche to her senses and she leaves the facility determined to leave her husband. More (mild) terror awaits, of course. 

I liked some of Ms. Donzelli's directorial strategies. We first see Blanche against a fragmented background and scraps of memories, usually concerning happy times with her lover, intersperse her reverie. This seems an apt way to covey that Blanche is trying to piece together the shards of her broken life. However, some techniques don't work. I usually like it when a director color codes a film, but the choice to use red for eros and blue for fear seems too facile to me. The film lacks humor or irony. The only touch that gave me a mordant chuckle was that Blanche and Grégoire secret shared love word is verite. I think the initial rendezvous between Blanche and her lover is bungled. He breaks the ice with her by teaching her archery, surely a prime opportunity to register the thwack of cupid's dart. However, the scene is neither elegant nor erotic. Certainly, as this former archery counselor can attest, no one on the set knew how to properly notch and release an arrow.

For a psychological thriller, L'Amour et les Forêts lacks psychological insight. We learn nothing of Grégoire's background or family. He is a relative cipher and that makes the film a little too formulaic. Now this flaw may stem from the source novel, but it flattens the film's texture. I also felt the Tartuffe reference was too on the nose in trumpeting the theme: two faces have I. Nevertheless, the level of acting in the film is outstanding. Ms. Efira, a major star in Europe but under appreciated stateside, is particularly adept at projecting her character's plight through her soulful eyes. I thought Mr. Poupaud's performance was good at expressing his character's surface charm and desperation, but it lacked volcanic energy during the numerous frenzied rages. The supporting players are uniformly superb, especially Dominique Reymond as Blanche's lawyer, Marie Rivière, and Virginie Ledoyen.

Book Review: Hitchcock & Herrmann by Steven C. Smith

Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann mug for a publicity shot

Steven C. Smith's Hitchcock and Herrmann is a well written and researched survey of the collaboration between the two maestros that lasted from 1955 (The Trouble with Harry) to 1964 (Marnie). The relationship foundered when Hitchcock rejected Hermann's proposed score for Torn Curtain, but it is amazing that the collaboration between these two needy and anxious geniuses lasted as long as it did. Mr. Smith's reliance on first person interviews, not all his own, prevents the book from suffering from the phantasms of some of the volumes about Hitchcock. Smith's main bailiwick is music, he is the author of esteemed biographies of both Herrmann and Max Steiner, so the tome should have been titled Herrmann and Hitchcock. However it is titled, the book is welcome because there is an oceanic amount of scholarship on Hitchcock, but only a trickle about Herrmann. Instead of rehashing his biography about Herrmann, Smith enlists a bevy of music lovers, ranging from conductor/composer William Stromberg to New Yorker music critic Alex Ross, to analyze and assess Hermann's scores. The book is learned, but not in an ostentatious way. You do not need a background in music theory to appreciate the book.

That said, I wish it had a discography. Herrmann produced an amazing array of music and guidance is needed. Besides the scores for his Hitchcock films, I recommend the scores to Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Devil and Daniel Webster (which shows off his debt to Charles Ives), Jane Eyre, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Day the Earth Stood Still, On Dangerous Ground, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Cape Fear, Jason and the Argonauts, The Bride Wore Black, Sisters, Taxi Driver, and, my personal favorite, Fahrenheit 451. Some of these are hard to track down, but all are worth listening to on their own. Smith touches on the full breadth of Herrmann's career, from music for radio and television shows to classical cantatas, so I am sure there is much more to explore.

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Sally Field and Lewis Pullman

Olivia Newman's adaptation of Remarkably Bright Creatures is pleasant fare. Any adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt's bestselling novel would suffer from the contrivances and cutesy anthropomorphism of that magically realistic work, but Newman's restraint and the efforts of a well chosen and talented cast made for palatable viewing even for this hardened cynic. Set in the present day Pacific Northwest, the film and novel tells of two damaged loners who bond over an aging octopus in a small aquarium. The octopus (voiced mellifluously by Alfred Molina) is named Marcellus and provides occasional narration, somewhat dismissive of his human captors, that gives the film a welcome sardonic note. Tova (Sally Field) is an elderly widow in a small coastal town work who works nights at the aquarium where Marcellus becomes her sounding board. After Tova injures her ankle, she tutors her replacement, Cameron (Lewis Pullman), a drifter at loose ends after the dissolution of his band. Both Tova and Cameron have trauma lingering from their past which, with the help of each other and Marcellus, they work through.

If you detect a bit of snideness to this description, that would be accurate. The reveals of the mysteries of Tova and Cameron's past trauma are extremely pat and predictable. However, the scenery is pleasant, the CGI sterling, and Newman's brisk pacing never lets us focus too closely on the many improbabilities of the plot. Remarkably Bright Creatures' supporting cast makes the film a good hang. In what could have been token roles, romantic foils for the two leads, Sofia Black-D'Elia and Colm Meaney both display great charm and skill. It is certainly nice to see Mr. Meaney, who has played a host of villains and boors in a long career,  shine in an appealing role. The fact that his character is a Deadhead portrayed for once without cliché is an added bonus even to someone like me who has never cottoned to Jerry Garcia and company. Tova's female friends, who are self-dubbed the "Knit-Wits" and include Joan Chen and Beth Grant. are an amusing flibbertigibbet Greek chorus. Their standout is Kathy Baker, at the end of a career that has not matched her talent, who gets to tell Tova to snap out of her funk in the film's best monologue.  

The presence of Sally Field often elicits a diabetic reaction from critics and sophisticated audiences. First, the legacies of Gidget and The Flying Nun had to be overcome. Even when she won two Oscars, Field's plain Jane sincerity ("You like me, you like me") brought more ridicule than respect. In the long run though, I believe she has given as many great screen performances as Meryl Streep. It is a testament to Ms. Fields' talent and Ms. Newman's touch that Tova never seems ridiculous even when addressing an octopus. Ms. Newman also brings out heretofore unexploited aspects of Lewis Pullman's capabilities. His warmth and ingratiating awkwardness here bode well for his future.