Life is to be lived, enjoyed, shared or maybe just endured, depending on your lot and how you choose to live it.
Director/co-writer Pietro Marcello’s “Scarlet” takes place between 1919 and 1939, described as “a time of great inventions and great dreams.” It was also a time of difficulty, between world wars, a time of recovery and starting over for many.
At the beginning, old former soldier Raphael (Raphaël Thiéry) comes to a small French town in search of his wife Marie and a daughter he’s heard is his. He runs into Mme. Adeline (Noémie Lvovsky), a sort of mayor figure who seems to keep track of who’s who and what’s what in town.
Mme. Adeline holds a crying baby and says “She’s your daughter. Her name is Juliette. She has Marie’s eyes. I hear you work with wood. I can’t pay you, but I can put you up.”
There are two other major characters in this film: “La magicienne” (Yolande Moreau) and Fernand (François Négrier), described by Mme. Adeline as “a bastard.” You can guess why.
Raphael, it turns out, is a wizard with wood. He can build anything out of wood, and decides to make a toy for Juliette.
Raphael is such a wizard with wood that he can build almost anything….except dreams. But Juliette, who plays piano, is a dreamer and says things like “I’d like to go away in the softness of clouds.”
One day Juliette meets Jean (Louis Garrel), a young stranger who owns and likes to fly airplanes. “I make my money with my plane,” he tells Juliette.
“I think it’s beautiful,” she says. “I never saw one up close.”
Could this be the beginning of something wonderful?
You’ll have to see the film yourself. I recommend it highly. Though it is at times emotionally wrenching, it’s a lovely fairy tale. The acting is top-notch and Marcello’s directing brilliant.
It was also named one of the 12 best films of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
“Scarlet” opens July 30 at San Diego’s Digital Gym Cinema, 1100 Market Street.
No comments:
Post a Comment