Water Drops on Burning Rocks

François Ozon has flair and style ('Swimming Pool', 'Under the Sand', '8 Women', etc) and in scripting Rainer Fassbinder's 1970s play 'Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes' for the screen he has created an edgy, fun, and poignant examination of the lives of four people at their intersection.

Act I (for that is the way the film is laid out in homage to Fassbinder's play): 50-year-old Léopold (Bernard Giraudeau) is entertaining 19-year-old Franz (Malik Zidi), who he has picked up in a bar, with sharp repartees about his past loves and is sparred by Franz relating his current affair with the young and beautiful Anna (Ludivine Sagnier). The conversation gradually gets around to seduction and both Léopold and Franz happily reenact each other's physical fantasies. Act II: some months later and Franz has moved in with Léopold becoming the devoted housewife in lederhosen to Léopold's increasingly cranky self. They argue, threaten, but eventually succumb to the safety of the boudoir to settle differences. Act III: Léopold's ex lover Vera (Anna Levine) arrives at the door to find Léopold in a new life and departs brokenhearted. Anna likewise arrives during one of Léopold's absences and for two days Franz and Anna try to recapture their previous affair. Upon Léopold's return, Anna finds Léopold appealing and behaves seductively. Vera arrives, reports that she is a transsexual now in a female form, and Léopold is delighted with the idea of a ménage a quarte. But it is Franz who has found his true life and love and how he deals with the proposed turn of events forms the rather surprising end to this film.

Each of the four actors is excellent and Ozon paces them well. There are some really fine moments, as when Franz reclines in his bath quoting Heine's poem 'Lorelei' revealing how far more penetrating the changes in his vision of his life really have become, when Ozon improves on Fassbinder. Not a great movie but a bit of the different that spices movie viewing. Grady Harp

And I thought 8 Women was a masterpiece..

Francois Ozon is a filmmaker who is on the high road to immortality. I saw this film late one night when I couldn't sleep and it was the single most enthralling movie-watching experience I've had in that condition. Pourqois?

Three reasons: 1. The gorgeous cinematography. While it was mostly static edited shots, they were Kubrick-accurate (angled impeccably) & the color was so lush I was literally remarking aloud- "Ozon is a master". 2. The gorgeous actors. Only 4 stars in this film, and they are all excellent. Their faces are endlessly fascinating, and I do not have words to describe their beautiful bodies. (J'adore Sagnier Sagnier Sagnier!) 3. The gorgeous story. This film has it all-emotion, sex and death. Everything a successful film should have. But what I say can't come close to the experience. "Water Dropping" should drop your jaw.

I've never been a big Fassbinder fan but with the coming retrospective I thought it was time to check him out again. So I chose this movie, since it was a Fassbinder script directed by a Frenchman (Ozon) that I admire. It was a delight. Somehow the problems I always had enjoying Fassbinder (the intense cruelty between his characters, the disorienting emotional mood swings, the bleak, dreary German atmosphere) were completely offset by the sense of play and love of color and music that Ozon brings to this script. As in 8 Women, his sense of style and beauty rival Almodovar's and even the grim reality of Fassbinder has a beautiful, chic French gloss. He understands that love and sex in Fassbinder are closely matched with jealousy and destruction. It all clicked for me. And the omnisexuality is so fresh - so unspoiled... That said, it's a devastating critique of what lovers can do to each other. But it's,...well...so pretty...

I really, really enjoyed it.

The film version of Fassbinder's play retains the theatrical structure with 4 acts, 4 actors and 4 great performances. The dialogue wins you over at once and keeps you in rapt attention hanging on every word. Leopold a persuasive self-indulgent bi-sexual restructures the lives of 3 people as he introduces them to new sexual adventures. First there's Franz a good-looking 20 year old who is contemplating marriage with his girlfriend Anna. He becomes confused about love when he has a homosexual dream which Leopold is only too happy to recreate once he has enticed the somewhat inexperienced Franz into his bed. Then there's Anna who is agreeably surprised at the change in Franz's sexual attitude. She too is overwhelmed by Leopold's advances towards her. Thirdly there's Vera - now a woman, once a man - Leopold's ex-lover perhaps more confused and disappointed than any of them. It's an entertaining romp as we watch the hand of experience "create" new lives for each of them. Leopold always in search of novelty knows what each victim is yearning for and he is only too ready to meet their desires....at least until the novelty wears off. I felt the first three acts were absolutely flawless. Act 4 with its black humour was less appealing I thought. The telephone call to his mother was quite unforgettable....."I think I'll go to Heaven because I'm young!"....and spoken with such dead pan sincerity. And the follow-up call to mother was a real gem. Yes...it's the dialogue that fascinates and holds the play together... the casting too is exceptional....and as for the old game of Ludo.... it will be so much more meaningful to me in the future!

This film truly is a work of art. And like all art, it's formalized; it doesn't even try to hide its formalism. The shots are squared and rigid, the duologue goes in circles, and there's a certain paralellism to the entire picture. It's not meant to be realistic, but like in all great art, it's by codifying and simplifying that deeper truths are revealed.

Despite its minimalism, I was caught up in this film because the duologue is entrancing, the atmosphere is palpable, and the characters act in such mysterious (yet somehow consistent) ways that even though there are certain patterns to the behaviour, you never really know what's coming next. I suppose this film is a comedy, although you won't find yourself laughing much. It's more a case of being too absurd to be considered a serious, straightforward drama.

"Gouttes d'Eau" is not perfect (whit is?), but it has a certain "je ne sais quoi" lending it a uniqueness that places it in my Top 20. Definitely entrancing and thoroughly thought-provoking.