The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Love Songs: "Les chansons d'amour" (2007) by Christophe Honoré
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2008/03/review_sweet_no.html
Reviews
A scene from Christophe Honoré's "Love Songs." Image courtesy of IFC First Take.
REVIEW | Sweet Nothings: Christophe Honoré's "Love Songs"
by Michael Koresky (March 15, 2008)
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.]
As in last year's "Dans Paris," 37-year-old filmmaker Christophe Honoré ventures back to that lost Eden known as the French New Wave, this time to punch up a featherweight tale of young love and loss with high-concept tomfoolery. And though "Love Songs" (or, if we could please use its original, more melodic title, "Les Chansons d'amour") better evokes that era's carefree cinematic spirit, it's similarly bound by dictates and referents, twice-removed and over-rehearsed. Hence "Love Songs" is not merely a musical -- in which passionate, lost twentysomethings wend their way through difficult times by breaking into pop tunes with puppy-love ingenuousness -- but also a riff on musicals, performance, play-acting, etc. Part of this is just by postmodern design, yet often the result is simultaneously ingratiating and distancing. Those looking for the exhilarating crescendos of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (the film's declared inspiration: Honoré borrows Jacques Demy's structure, separating his narrative into the same three distinct chapters -- Departure, Absence, and Return) might be put off by the film's less dramatic swooniness; "Love Songs" is the brief dalliance to "Cherbourg"'s intense affair, perhaps too shy to fully take the plunge, but nimble enough to give off a flirtatious buzz.
"Dans Paris" winked and nudged itself to the edge of oblivion, while "Love Songs" merely wants to smile and shrug its way into your heart. Thanks to a magnetic cast of up-and-coming certified French hotties frolicking through a roundelay of appealing polysexual pleasures, it almost gets there. Louis Garrel plays magazine editor Ismaël with a sly, self-aware Belmondo twinkle in his eye, whistling and goofing through a tenuous three-way relationship with Julie (Ludivine Sagnier, putting her pixie past behind her and growing more formidable with each passing film) and Alice (Clotilde Hesme, striking an audacious, animated opposition to her lovely, detached Lilie from "Regular Lovers"), until unforeseen tragedy befalls them. This event radiates throughout their lives, affecting Ismaël in thoroughly unexpected and ultimately disarming ways, most of them better left for the viewer to uncover. If the third act of "Love Songs" isn't quite as emotionally (or physically) plausible as the narrative requires, at least Honoré has clearly psychologically worked out his conclusion, leaving his characters on a precariously lovely edge.
To keep afloat all this catchy, erudite gossamer, Honoré employs previously written pop tunes by composer/performer Alex Beaupain; if they're far from the traditional "chansons" of Jacques Brel or Piaf, they evoke sixties French standards with their distinct lyrical playfulness and tinny delicacy. Yet for all Beaupain's minor musical charms, this is where the film's insistent comparisons to Demy leave something of a gaping wound; "Love Songs" would undoubtedly have benefited from Michel Legrand's operatic schematics, in which melodies overlap, repeat, and echo to create a dynamic interior space for the characters, as well as a consistent artistic framework on which to hang vaporous themes of love vs. romanticism. Beaupain's songs are dispersed throughout, mere ephemera, drifting away as soon as you grasp them (the obnoxious subtitles, which of course try to impose rhyming English verse onto the original French lyrics, don't help); the result doesn't feel wholly unified, even if, it can be handily argued, it speaks well to the characters' less than shrewd grip on their emotional and sexual identities.
If "Love Songs" fundamentally lacks musical grandeur, the same could be said for spectacle. There's no genre that as explicitly invites expressionistic flourish as the musical, yet Honoré often just films his actors, even at their most lovelorn, desperate, or tunefully giddy, in flat midshots and cramped frames; there's an especially dully blocked moment in which characters sing to each other through their cell phones that's decidedly less clever than the filmmaker evidently thinks it is, and I'm truly sick of girls sassily sashaying away from pleading pursuing boys as standing in for viable choreography. "Love Songs" often just isn't visually enticing, relying too much on well-appointed scarves and metropolitan cityscapes (as a friend mentioned, it looks like a Gap ad).
Honoré's better at plucking moments out of time (there's a splendid cut from a shot of a bartender pouring a drink to her coming out of Ismaël's bathroom in panties and T-shirt) than at sustaining narrative momentum, which can leave some of his terrific supporting players stranded (Chiara Mastroianni, magnetically melancholy as Julie's sister, and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, adorable as a cocksure schoolboy crushing on Ismaël, are often shoved to the peripheries, so their crucial character arcs don't always shine through). As an implicit longing for a cinema of white, Parisian, middle-class intellectuals, "Love Songs" often feels like a rusty trinket; that it hasn't yet completely lost its luster is thanks in no small part to its vibrant portraitures, steeped in the heartsick pangs of young love.
Michael Koresky is co-founder and editor of Reverse Shot and the managing editor and staff writer of the Criterion Collection.]
(posted on Mar 16, 2008 at 02:02PM)
Aloysius J. Gleek:
IMDb Chansons d'amour, Les (2007)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0996605/
A Wonderful Surprise, 11 April 2008
9 out of 10 Stars
Author: hollyfairbanks-usa from Los Angeles, CA
"I wonder why this gem of a film was released in secret, at least in the USA. I was literally dragged to see it by some friends - to whom I'll be eternally grateful. The film lives on its own with glances to the great Jacques Demy. Rains and umbrellas, songs and impossible love. Louis Garrel must be, by now, considered one of the greatest film presences of the new millennium. He is devastating and his relationship with the doomed Ludivine Sagnier has all the warmth and sexiness of the great romances. The entrance of the adorable Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet takes all our preconceptions and turns them around. This sensual coupling full of innocence has the power to seal a tragedy with love. I adored this movie and the makers should protest vigorously as the way the film was distributed in the United States."
;)
Aloysius J. Gleek:
An interview--in which we learn there may be a sequel in the offing to Les Chansons d'amour!
http://www.moviepicturefilm.com/index.php?itemid=1828
20/04: Interview:
EXCLUSIVE 1 On 1 with Christophe Honoré
(Love Songs)
Christophe Honoré walks into the hotel room where I'm waiting anxiously to meet him. Sure we met briefly the night before at a Q&A he was doing and we spoke over the phone for thirty minutes or so last year, but this would be my first real time sitting face to face with one of my new favorite directors. “I know you!” Honoré says playfully when he sees me. I'm kind of surprised, did he recognize or remember me from the night before?
We shake hands- it turns out he was told we had already spoken over the phone. It's funny because only after that interview was over did my obsession with seeing "Love Songs" really start. Sure it was there already, but I became a real supporter for the film as the months went by (you can search the site and see) and was checking in with festivals and other people making sure the movie was picked up and ready to be shown in the U.S. almost every week. Soon enough, I heard that IFC picked the film up and it would be shown in 2008.
Speaking through a translator (and at times speaking coherently in English) I sat down with Honoré for an EXCLUSIVE 1 on 1 to talk about the U.S. release of "Love Songs", his many influences and a very possible sequel to one of the best films of the year. Read on for more with director/writer Christophe Honoré...
MPF: I’m so excited to be sitting here with you, face to face at last talking about the film that I’ve been following for over a year.
Christophe Honoré: Thank you, yes I know you’ve been writing about it.
MPF: So when did IFC get involved? I know I was pressuring a lot of studios to pick up the film since last August.
CH: The discussions began around May of last year at the Cannes Film Festival. As you know, IFC also picked up “Dans Paris”. Eventually it was picked up, I don’t know when exactly.
MPF: It’s incredibly hard to find your films in the U.S. I’m constantly forced to import most of your work and a lot it doesn’t even have English subtitles-
CH: It’s true. I sort of trust my French distributors; I don’t really know how to get my work over seas. I’m often not even told if the films are being shown or coming out.
MPF: I’ve seen “Love Songs” five times now, seeing it with all different kinds of crowds and every time I do see it- there is an audible nervous laughter during the love scene between Louis and Grégoire. What has the reaction been like in France to that particular scene?
CH: In France it wasn’t seen as a gay movie. You’re talking about the scene in bed and they’re singing, right?
MPF: Yes.
CH: I can understand the reaction but I think that the scene has a certain sensuality which isn’t aggressive. In France the movie has a cult following, I’d say with High School students. But not really in the Gay community, I don’t even think it was seen much by them. It was quite popular in the age bracket of 15-20 year olds. I’ve done other films as I’m sure you know, that are much more explicit sexually (like "Ma Mere"). So in fact now I feel I’m blasé. Maybe it’s because it’s a scene that is both sung and intimate at the same time. I think the reaction its had is because Louis’ character has had a relationship with many various women and then he takes a sudden turn. There is something that disturbs the audience on that level.
MPF: Is it true a lot of the film’s dialogue is from Adam Thirlwell’s book “Politics”?
CH: Yes, very good. Coming from a literary background, I always borrowed a lot from novels in my screenplays. In fact in a clandestine fashion, you could say I stole. It’s true that there is this American author Adam Thirlwell and he’s at the same publishing house that I belong to in France. What I found interesting about “Politics” is that it was sort of a English variation of “Jules and Jim”. Starting from this English version, I came back to a French version of this kind of ménage a trois. So the film is this mixture of Truffaut, Thirlwell and me. But it’s really only in two scenes where I borrowed something from his novel.
MPF: I keep on hearing about your next film-
CH: It’s called “The Beautiful Person” and I shot it in a High School with mostly adolescents. Half the actors weren’t professionals, they were amateurs. The other half are some people from “Love Songs”. Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet is one and Louis Garrel plays an Italian professor. The movie is a very loose adaptation of a novel from the sixteenth century called “The Princess of Cleves”. It’s a story of absolute love between a young woman and a man that’s a little bit older. It’s a real drama. I’m a big fan of pop music as well and in this new film I used a lot of Nick Drake music.
*spoilers* MPF: Is the film’s last piece of dialogue: "love me less but love me a long time" open to interpretation at all?
CH: I think that it’s not a happy ending. Even if Ismaël is in the arms of a boy he loves he has the awareness to know that he’s only 17. At 17 you fall madly in love but it can last a week. That’s why I ended the film on a ledge, they could almost fall off. So when he says “love me less but love me a long time” he knows it’s not going to last a long time.
MPF: Why leave the film so open? Is there a possibility of a sequel at all or is that just me having wishful thinking?
CH: (laughs) In three years or so, you know- there could be the possibility of a sequel.
MPF: Seriously? Don’t tease me Christophe, I’ll go crazy if that’s true.
CH: (laughs) The story is very personal in terms of me and Alex (Beaupain, the songwriter). I myself know what happens next; but Alex is continuing to write the music and it’s very much apart of his life. So yes, there are songs for a sequel. I’m just worried about doing it and it being thought of as just a commercial venture. It’s very possible we’ll find Ismaël again and see how he has evolved in his life so far.
MPF:Thank you so very much for sitting down with me Christophe.
CH: Thank you Scott, good luck with your website.
"Love Songs" is in theaters and on demand now.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
As an aside, I must say in the interview above--either Christophe Honoré or the interviewer, Scott Hoffmann of moviepicturefilm.com--who seems to be very nice--has made mistake in re: the nationality of the young writer Adam Thirwell, of the novel Politics, referenced in Les Chansons d'amour. Adam Thirwell is not American, but British. Interesting that the original sexual trio in the movie--played by Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier and Clotilde Hesme--are all reading either English or American books (in translation), whereas the youngest sister, played by Alice Butaud, is always reading (many!) French books only. ('Erwann,' of course, is reading mostly gay books!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Thirlwell
Adam Thirlwell (born 1978) is a British novelist and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and ex-pupil of the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree. He is assistant editor of Areté, an arts tri-quarterly. He also writes a column for Esquire magazine. In 2003 he published his first novel, Politics, and was included in Granta's list of the twenty best young British novelists. As an undergraduate (reading English) at New College, Oxford, he won several essay prizes and excelled in his final-year exams.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
Here is an interview made about a year ago between Christophe Honoré and Scott Hoffman of moviepicturefilm.com
http://www.moviepicturefilm.com/index.php?itemid=1448
15/08: Interview:
EXCLUSIVE 1 on 1 with Christophe Honoré
(Dans Paris)
Posted by: Scott Hoffman
Director and writer Christophe Honoré spoke with Scott over the phone about his new film "Dans Paris"...
What can I say without sounding like I'm gushing over director/writer Christophe Honoré? The man is imaginative, handsome, soft-spoken and kind, his new film "Les Chansons d'amour" ("Love Songs") is on the very, very top of my must see list and currently its soundtrack is blasting off my iTunes. I was beyond disappointed earlier this month when I found out that Honoré had some trouble getting into the U.S. and that he might not be able to do press for his current film "Dans Paris". A few days after this snafu, I was contacted by the folks handling the film and was lucky enough to set something up on over the phone with him. Not his latest film, but the one he did before it, "Dans Paris" which he made 05' and played Cannes in 06' is now just coming out in limited release the U.S.
It's currently playing at NY's The IFC Center and also on IFC in Theaters on your cable box (a very cool service). Speaking to me from France through a translator, Honoré was currently getting ready to promote his newest film at the Toronto Film Festival, but he took some time off to talk with me about his career, his passions and his tribute to French new wave: "Dans Paris". Read on for a fascinating conversation with director and writer Christophe Honoré...
MPF: Hi, glad to be able to speak with you.
Christophe Honoré: Hello, nice to make you acquaintance.
MPF: I was disappointed that you couldn't make it to U.S. to promote "Dans Paris", do you plan on trying to come back in the future?
CH: Yes, I might come to the U.S. in the near future, not necessarily New York though. I also might attend the Toronto Film Festival.
MPF: You like to work a lot with Louis Garrel, what keeps you returning to work with him? Also, why have him break the fourth wall and talk to the audience during segments of the film?
CH: The first time I worked with Garrel he was young, younger than twenty years old I think and it was my second feature film ("Ma Mere"). We met on this occasion and worked very well together, we sort of found each other. Our styles match very well. As for him breaking the fourth wall, there was always a desire for Louis to be sort of another director or a spokesperson in the film. I pushed this intention as far as making him a direct narrator to the spectator, he was almost representing me as a director.
MPF: You always seem to be winking at your audience in this film. From Garrel reading "Franny and Zooey" in bed (both works have a dead sister character in common) and him glancing over at the audience and smiling when walking by a poster for Van Sant's "Last Days" (Garrel co-starred with "LD" star Michael Pitt in "The Dreamers") and Cronenberg's "A History of Violence"...
CH: Indeed. I've always intended to do that. As far as the books are concerned, I happen to be a writer as well as a director so I suppose I'm making the link between both worlds. The two film posters shown in the end was just an idea of some of the cinema that I found exciting at the time I was shooting the film.
MPF: What I love about your films is that they're essentially multi-layered think pieces that all add up to a bigger meaning. Is that always your intention?
CH: Yes of course. As a director you always try to deliver a piece of work that isn't predigested, that has something more to say. In "Dans Paris", there are some contradictions between appearances and underlining themes. An example would be the two main characters, sure one is depressed, but the other one could be as well, just not in an obvious way. The character played by Garrel might have something deep down inside him that is not so secure.
MPF: You mentioned before you were an author in France. Any plans to release your books in the U.S. in English because I don't want to have to translate them all online...
CH: (laughs) Unfortunately besides some of my children's books, it's not happening yet in English. The books are available in other languages though- German, Italian and Spanish.
MPF: A lot of foreign filmmakers are making the jump to American cinema. Michael Haneke and Wong Kar Wai , among many others. Do you have a desire do a film here?
CH: Yes of course. It would be very tempting. I'm a cinephile though, it almost makes me want to question French cinema permanently. In doing so, I'd be confronted with cinema from other countries...the whole thing would be very interesting. I'm more of an art director, so I'm not sure there would be demand from American producers for my style of filmmaking. But I love American cinema. I'm a huge user of the internet. In some research for my movies, I'll find myself reading some amusing blogs that are made in America. I have absolutely no prejudice against American culture though. I'm a big fan of film directors Tim Burton, Gus Van Sant and Wes Anderson. I liked "Spider-Man 3" as well. I also enjoy many TV series like "The West Wing". I definitely have an open mindedness of American culture.
MPF: What's the status of "Les Chansons D'Amour?" ("Love Songs?") I've been hyping it on my website and am dying to see it. Do you have an American distributor as of yet?.
CH: We hope so. There are some discussions happening but nothing is confirmed yet.
MPF: The soundtrack is wonderful, I've been listening non-stop.
CH: That's nice to hear. Do you understand it?
MPF: Some of it, but mostly I just like the music and the beats.
CH: That's a good start.
MPF: There's one shot I'm obsessed with that occurs during the begininng part of "Les Chansons D'Amour" which was released over here. It involves actress Ludivine Sagnier moving down an alleyway but her feet aren't moving. I feel like I've seen it before.
CH: Yes, it's a special trick- in English I think it's called 'traveling', I'm not completely sure. It was invented by Cocteau then used by Demy. So yes, it's intended as this film is very much playing with the ghost of the new wave, in particular Demy's cinema. It's also embodied by the character of Sagnier in the film. Thank you for noticing this.
Je n'aime que toi (2:43)
Louis Garrel (Ismaël) & Ludivine Sagnier (Julie) & Clotilde Hesme (Alice)
Les Chansons D'Amour
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoTcfsk09Ak[/youtube]
Check out the 'traveling' technique in this scene from the Honoré' flick "Les Chansons D'Amour"
MPF: Perhaps this will get people interested in those films again or for those who haven't seen them, they could discover them for the first time-
CH: Indeed. These movies are related to each other as well. Someone like Demy had references to Cocteau and you can watch Coppola movies- he evokes other directors. There is always this inheritance in the world of cinema, directors inventing directors. It's like a big family tree, you make movies because you saw some previous one you like. So obviously it's related and transmitted to the next generation of filmmakers.
Final Impression:
I was particularly inspired by Honoré's final words in my time talking to him. Filmmakers doing tributes to other filmmakers has always resonated in cinema, but now more than ever with younger filmmakers like Tarantino and Wes Anderson taking notes from the old pros in their works. I expect once Honoré's newest creation "Les Chansons D'Amour" hits cinemas over here, he will garner many new fans as it is being described as his 'most mainstream film yet'.
For those that want to see Honoré's previous films, I recommend his first, "17 fois Cécile Cassard" and his latest, "Dans Paris" which are my favorites of his so far. As all of you know already, I'm dying for "Les Chansons D'Amour". "Dans Paris" is out now. See it. Thanks to Honoré for agreeing to do the phone chat.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version