"Le jeu avec le feu" [1975 France, Italy]

 

Alain Robbe-Grillet:

It has taken a while to bring up Alain Robbe-Grillet's filmography despite his obvious candidature for this site, simply because one would also need a passing knowledge of his important literary legacy that subsequently spawned his film career to do it any justice. Called the Nouveau Roman (New Novel), his avant-gardist literary works are said to have redefined the scope of modern novels not just in France, but all over the world.

By the time he penned his first film script for Alain Resnais's Nouvelle Vague masterpiece "Last Year at Marienbad", he was already a celebrated writer. Resnais's, and to some extent Antonioni's influence can readily be seen in Robbe-Grillet's first film as writer-director, "L'Immortelle", but his subsequent films began to take on a distinct identity of their own. Whatever Robbe-Grillet did in film, Jean Rollin and Jesus Franco stylistically appropriated, or at the very least drew considerable inspiration from. In return, Robbe-Grillet parodied their work along with those of mainstream stalwarts such as Claude Chabrol and Mario Bava to the extent that his later films came to be seen as a parody of parodies.

Despite all that, Alain Robbe-Grillet's core concern in all his films remained unchanged right from 'Marienbad' - it is about deconstructing the role memory plays for both his characters and the audience - whether playing a part, reading a novel or watching a film. Events are often obsessively repeated - even from the same character's point of view, not only leading to the same outcome with a different nuance, but sometimes also to variable outcomes - in short, we cannot take anything we see on screen for granted - avant-garde, for sure.

 

"Le jeu avec le feu" (1975)

Alain Robbe-Grillet's mid-career comedy "Le jeu avec le feu" [Eng. Title: Playing With Fire] can politely be described as an intensely self-aware parody. I prefer to call it a piss-take of Italian gialli. What you see in the film is not necessarily the truth, and characters are also not what they claim to be. To add to the chaos, actors return to play different characters during its run-time - perhaps this is a Freudian examination, perhaps it is reminding us that everything, like the film, is make-believe, or perhaps the characters themselves are two-faced.

The film begins with banker Georges de Saxe (Philippe Noiret) receiving a demand for ransom from a couple of visiting baddies for something they haven't achieved yet - they're yet to kidnap the banker's precious daughter Carolina (Anicée Alvina), who's still safely ensconced in her room upstairs.

In order to protect her, Georges hires detective Frantz (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who'd been telegraphed to the audience in advance as working for the kidnappers. Frantz suggests housing Carolina for her own protection at a place the kidnappers would least bother to look - a high-class brothel run by Erica von Eigher (Martine Jouot). He introduces the place to an innocent Carolina as some kind of a 'clinic' for women suffering from 'exhaustion'.

We can easily see where this plot is heading from here, but then again, we may not. Whatever the case, it wouldn't matter. For most of its duration, the film is an unbridled indulgence in fantasised masochism, a pastime Robbe-Grillet had never hidden or apologised for throughout his personal life. We see thugs bundle away in public view young maidens from night clubs, morning jogs, and even from wedding ceremonies. As Carolina strolls through doors in Erica's mansion to discover torrid happenings à la Alice in Wonderland, the film teases the audience through Carolina's implied and faux sexual awakening. It gets ridiculous towards the end to such an extent that a character even complains to camera that the typist girl had messed up the film's script sequence..!

What is noteworthy however is the straight face with which some of the biggest stars in French cinema play their respective mixed-up roles - they surely relished their outing here. The set designs and shot compositions are done with the greatest care and attention to detail that for a moment, you might think you're watching a Visconti or Bergman. I'm sure the highbrow art circles weren't particularly amused when they had to write about it, but perhaps that's what also endears me to this film. Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.fr 9 DVD Box-set [PAL]
Contains the complete directorial filmography of Alain Robbe-Grillet in restored print - a bargain any way you look at it.

 

The Nudity: Anicée Alvina, Christine Boisson, Nathalie Zeiger, Joëlle Coeur, Sylvia Kristel, and Maranha
Considering the abundance of female nudity in the film, I felt it appropriate to categorise them into three sections dealing with abductions, exploitation, and Anicée Alvina.

 

1) G.I.M.P (Girls in merciless peril)
Even though I'm not the greatest fan of the above film phenomenon, the absurd situations against which they happen in this particular film make the scenes, well - almost charming. Featuring Nathalie Zeiger (girl chased by a dog in the park), Joëlle Coeur (bride), Sylvia Kristel (girl in night club), and Maranha (night club singer), the star of this section is undoubtedly a nineteen year old, alluring, and randomly 'manhandled' Christine Boisson who's initially whisked off by hoodlums when she's about to board a train. She's not too happy when they decide to release her after realising that her parents were having financial difficulties. She's particularly peeved at having to leave the mansion a virgin and even threatens to return with her school friends to trash the place. :-)



 

2) Sadomasochism
Okay, that's applying it with a very broad brush, but the import is the same. Featuring Christine Boisson, Nathalie Zeiger, Sylvia Kristel, and Maranha, this is about Carolina's walk through Erica's 'clinic' where abductees are subjected to all sorts of humiliation, with an instance of Nathalie Zeiger's character also bordering on bestiality. Christine Boisson's character is forced to play Desdemona (well, that can be harrowing) against Philippe Noiret's shoe polished Othello. There are also implied references to necrophilia and cannibalism.



 

3) Anicée Alvina
It's a shame that this Iranian French beauty passed on too early for her age, but she'd left behind, thanks in no small measure to Alain Robbe-Grillet, some memorable scenes at her youthful best. Even though she doesn't feature in any sexual scenes, some are disconcerting nevertheless, in that her character is groped by the father on more than one occasion. In one scene, he (as some other character) bathes and puts her to sleep as one would a child. Her character is 'punished' later on by the same 'father-like' figure for trying to escape from the mansion.



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A film review: "Le mouton enragé" [1974 France]

Michel Deville had been a pleasant mainstream alternative to the typically highbrow intellectualism of the Nouvelle Vague exponents when it came to cinema during the sixties and seventies; his storytelling was conventional, and on the other end of the scale, his humour and satire was gentler in comparison to the likes of Bertrand Blier. His comedy "Le mouton enragé" [Eng. Title: Love at the Top] came out around the same time as Blier's more notorious "Les valseuses", and while both of them were a satire on modern society, the former is distinctly more 'humane', notwithstanding the killing of some of its main characters during the course of the film.













The film begins with a normally shy bank clerk Nicolas (Jean-Louis Trintignant) unexpectedly chatting up a young woman by the river - he'd never done that before, only to discover on his date the next day that she's a prostitute. But determined to score nevertheless, he forces the woman, Marie-Paule (Jane Birkin), into feigning genuine sexual interest in him. He even decides not to pay her after having sex!

Despite that, Marie-Paule strangely takes to the guy and soon enough, they become friends, and partners in crime when it came to cynical manipulation of wealthy victims in their quest for social mobility, thanks to the urging and scheming of his disenchanted best friend Claude (Jean-Pierre Cassel). Claude, unlucky in love, and too bad a writer to get his work published, feels he has finally struck upon new material for a new book, proving that one could transform an average achiever such as Nicolas into a success story, both in terms of seducing women and gaining social status.

After convincing Nicolas to quit his bank job, Claude assigns him the task of seducing Roberte (Romy Schneider), the beautiful and lonely young wife of an ageing academic. Following Nicolas' successful conquest, the unsuspecting Roberte falls truly in love with him, and will grow increasingly reckless in hiding her affair from her husband. In the process, new contacts open up for the ever non-committal Nicolas, to network and exploit.

Nicolas ignores Claude's advise to move on from Marie-Paule, and instead uses her as bait to build links with a well-connected businessman. She willingly obliges, and before long, she marries him and becomes heiress to his fortune, whilst carrying on her fun and games with Nicolas in secret. Together, they ruthlessly work their way to the top of the social ladder and respectability, whilst paying scant attention to their conscience...

Deville wryly pokes fun at a selfish society where success is unscrupulously pursued, and even with best of intentions, morality is set aside during the process. The film is hurriedly paced giving little time for self-reflection, and much like Blier's "Le valseuses" and Chabrol's "Les innocents aux mains sales", doesn't flinch in showing us the shameless side of modern society. Even if it looks a bit dated now, the film is reasonably well-made, and  Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Jane Birkin, Romy Schneider, Betty Berr, Florinda Bolkan, and Christine Boisson
The main reason to feature the film here is the relatively short but memorable, almost iconic, nude scenes featuring an adolescent looking Jane Birkin. Romy Schneider, despite only brief nudity in her scenes, is at her most beautiful, and an elegant Florinda Bolkan dazzles, even if she gets nude only for the exclusive eyes of Jean-Louis Trintignant in a scene. There is also a short nude streak from a very young (and uncredited) Christine Boisson to watch out for.



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Christine Boisson & co in "La Mécanique des Femmes" [2000, France]

Jérôme de Missolz apparently based his film "La Mécanique des Femmes" [Eng. Title: The Mechanics of Women] on a controversial novel by Louis Calaferte. While I've not read her work and therefore not in a position to judge its interpretation, I can say for certain that this is one of the most annoying and least enjoyable films I've seen recently. And what is even more annoying is that it is precisely because of this reason that they linger in your mind for longer than they should..!

I honestly can't see what the film is getting at - is this supposed to be a man exploring post-feminism, Catherine Breillat style? In which case it has failed miserably. The director was probably trying to 'build' the male protagonist's character in the film by the manner in which women interact with him. May be the protagonist is merely used as a 'soap-box' from where these women tell us what they feel. But what we see is just pretentious rubbish - I for one didn't care for any of them, not least the protagonist. The film uses vulgarity to shock the audience (a la "Ma Mère"), but there's nothing to provoke your thought - and the film is not even erotic. Apart from its cinematography, especially the night scenes of Paris and a decent soundtrack, I cannot find anything positive to say about this film. Yes there is plenty of nudity shown from almost every conceivable angle but if that's all one's looking for, there are plenty of other options than spending money to watch this.

The Storyline:
(or more accurately, what happens in the film - there's no story)
A man who recently ended a relationship goes through a string of women of all shapes and sizes and is still not sure what he wants at the end of it. I'm trying to rush through this write-up as the more I think about the film, the more it pisses me off..!


By the way, while I've quoted Ms. Breillat more than once in this blog, and also have some of her films on DVD, I'm not sure I want to start her filmography here yet. In fact I've been revisiting my excellent brand new Eric Rohmer box-set of late - so my next French film will likely be from one of his classics.
The compilations are longer than usual, and perhaps more than what they should ideally be - but I don't often have the time to make several compilations, as each one needs to be accompanied by its own graphic.




 

Compilation 1: Fabienne Babe and Christine Boisson
It's a shame I had to introduce Christine Boisson into the blog with this one - she's actually a pretty good actress who has also worked in some fine films.



Scene Guide:

• A crazy girl 'pulling out all stops' to turn the guy on - played by Fabienne Babe - she's a babe alright - and proves she could be shameless too..!
• The protagonist gets fixated with the character played by Christine Boisson from the moment he set eyes on her at a club - a nymphomaniac who hunts down different men each day. She tells him how ready she always is for sex.
• Sunbathing topless by the river.
• This is meant to be erotic - we also see Ms. Boisson handling penis on at least two occasions, and at least two instances of actual or implied cunnilingus.
• More, almost repetitive sex scenes only make them tedious to watch.
• We see a brief scene of a new character telling him off for being so obsessive - one of her breasts gets briefly exposed, but I couldn't identify the actress. Perhaps someone who recognises her can fill us in.
• The protagonist lets a stranger have fun with Ms. Boisson's character first.
• From the film's end scenes.

 

Compilation 2: Florence Loiret-Caille, Katerina Savrani, Florence Denou, and others
These women form the rest of the protagonist's exploits.



Scene Guide:

• At over eight minutes, these almost continuous set of scenes are also the most entertaining of the lot, as "douce petite salope" played by belle petite Florence Loiret-Caille impresses upon her lover - the protagonist.
• A freaky goth chick discards her clothing and runs naked through the park after taunting an elderly man. This actress has been identified as Séverine Paquier in an old Collecta clip - I couldn't verify it for myself even though I'm aware the actress appears in the film's credits, but I trust his knowledge in these matters.
• Almost a monologue from voluptuous Mediterranean beauty Katerina Savrani.
• More pussy-obsession from the protagonist with another unidentified actress.
• Florence Denou only offers a brief tit-slip in this film, but she's done a whole lot more in a segment from this same director's much more interesting film about photographers exploring their own body through self-portraits, "Le Corps Sublime".
• No nudity, but more of Florence Denou - this time at the beach.

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