Ce jour-là

This wonderful 'who-done-it'& why' Bunel-esque movie is a hit at the 2004 SAN FRANCISCO International Film Festival!

Everyone in the audience loved this sureal quirky mystery about greed with the beautiful Elsa Zylberstein playing the 'insane' Livia who is tracked down by an escaped 'mental patient' Pointpoirot played wonderfully by Bernard Giraudeau.

The director is a master of story telling combining surealism, comedy, suspense and heartfelt moments.

After the movie, the beautiful Ms. Zylberstein provided a wonderful commentary about the film making process, the director, and her role . Especially pertinent was the explanation of the symbolism of the 'dinner party' to actual events during the military dictatorship in Chile.

Incredible film, which hopefully will be distributed and later available on DVD! (I want it in my DVD collection!)

Well, I should not lie. I did not actually see the movie since I walked out after about 30 to 45 minutes. It was unbearable. I am quite shocked that other viewers have compared this filmmaker to Bunuel, a great director, no questions asked. Ce jour-là was absurd, which can be good, but it was also grotesque, gory and idiotic. The acting was quite painful : artificial and overstated. The jokes were not funny, the dialog was heavy and anything but subtle. The plot was the least offensive part of this movie but it was not good enough to make me want to stay until the end and suffer through a long 105 minutes (or so). Unless the second half miraculously redeems the first one, I would advise any potential viewers to save their money and rent a Bunuel instead.

This is a great movie. From the very beginning it's clear that this isn't a typical comedy or a typical drama. However odd, it works. Each murder is committed under such strange circumstances that they create great comic moments. If you go to see this, stay 'till the end. It's all explained (however vaguely). Very, very funny.

In this comedy of homicidal manners, people keep trying to kill both the sprite-like madwoman Livia (Elsa Zylberstein, gorgeously weightless) and her would-be assassin, the tottering madman Pointpoirot (Bernard Giraudeau, appropriately blank), and naturally there's a huge inheritance and a government conspiracy involved. Ruiz's staging is flawless, and the killing scenes in particular are exemplary - he knows when it's funnier to follow the characters, and when it's funnier to sit the camera dead still. I don't know if it all means any more than "Battle Royale" - Zylberstein said that Ruiz came to the conclusion in mid-shoot that it was a metaphor for Pinochet's violence, which may or may not be consistent with what we see on screen. Still, at least it takes the trouble to set up jokes properly, and it's not till the last third that they start seeming repetitive. I'm more or less neutral on this one.

This is by far the best absurdistic film I have seen in a long time. It reminds me of Godard's Pierrot le fou (1965), but it has a real be it absolutely insane coherent plot and it is not a road movie. Luis Buñuel springs also to mind. There is for instance a scene reminiscent of the horror of 'the last supper scene' in Viridiana and of the famous scene around the table in The secret charms of the bourgeoisie.

The combination of black comedy, crime, even horror, religion and superstition, politics and global economy gives the film so many layers of meaning that they are hard to grasp in one big scoop.

And I forget psychology (various kinds of insanity, the effects of blackmail, the workings of gossip) and the mythology of redeeming love and loyalty.

But above all, it is a funny film. Funny in its actions, including the sudden position reversal of mortal combatants, funny in its dialogs (one-liners, huge understatements), funny in the juxtaposition of horror and the most mundane everyday life. It is full of the unexpected, surprises galore, and full of subtle and not so subtle hints that keep the viewer alert. It also has a happy rhythm of wild action and serene stills.

Do not expect the wallowing in blood of Quentin Tarantino's Killing Bill. Ce jour-là is a much lighter film and it is not one-dimensional, thanks to the already mentioned surfeit of connotations.

May I add that it is also a moral tale with a happy ending? And it ridicules the Swiss: Alain Tanner with a vengeance.