I rarely watch movies, but there’s one movie that I’ve watched more than once, and it happened that when I wasn’t able to choose the right movie to watch, I just turned it on and watched it. Yes, of course, Ettore Scola is one of my favorite directors and I love many of his films. But this film for me out of competition is the film
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I rarely watch movies, but there’s one movie that I’ve watched more than once, and it happened that when I wasn’t able to choose the right movie to watch, I just turned it on and watched it. Yes, of course, Ettore Scola is one of my favorite directors and I love many of his films. But this film for me out of competition is the film "Bal" / Le bal (Italian name Ballando, ballando), 1983, created on the basis of the musical performance of the French theater "Theatre du Campagnole Jean-Claude Penchesn, who himself starred in one of the roles in this film. The film takes place in a small Parisian dance hall, where regulars of dance parties gather regularly. The film consists of six episodes - 1936 (victory of the Popular Front), 1940 (war), 1944 (occupation and liberation), 1946 (Jazz de Paris), 1956 (fathers and children), 1968 (Sorbonne on the barricades), the prologue and epilogue relating to 1983 - the year when the film was made. Throughout the film, we see how the melodies, people, their behavior, fashion change, we guess the most important political events that took place at that time in France, because these years were not chosen by chance. Despite the fact that not a single word is pronounced in the film, we can pretty well determine what these people are, because all the images are extremely expressive, the types are obvious, and the famous movie stars are also guessed in some images (Simona Signoret, Annie Girardo, Ginger and Fred, Jean Gabin, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin). The behavior of the characters is also characteristic of the time in which they live. We observe them, it seems that we understand them, understand their problems, and imbue them with their characters, even though they are all very different. Some characters are likeable to us, we sympathize with them, some are antipathetic and even disgusting. Some characters are cross-cutting, go through the whole movie, some episodic. We hear popular tunes for each time, the orchestra is replaced by a tape recorder, and then electronics. The film is also beautiful camera work (Ricardo Aronovich), because it is thanks to her that we see the faces of these people, their facial expressions, movements, all this is very organically filmed and presented. And extremely recognizable and memorable melody of Vladimir Cosma, sounding the leitmotif, although a little hurt that Scola “changed” here his favorite composer Armando Trovaioli. Perhaps it is the lack of words in this film that determines its special appeal, at least to me. And it is very significant that the film without words was nominated for an Oscar in 1984 as the best film in a foreign language. He was awarded many awards Silver Bear, Cesar, David di Donatello. But he's still my favorite.
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