What’s the movie of the week, Bor?
‘That is l’evenement, a French drama film based on the novel of the same name by Annie Ernaux. We see very closely what a young student in France in the sixties goes through when she becomes pregnant unintentionally. At that time, abortion was not yet legalized. Pregnancy also meant de facto: stopping studying and no prospects for the future. Anne is the first in the family to go to college and is busy with her social climb to the top. Suddenly she sees all her dreams crippled by that unwanted pregnancy.
‘What struck me is the way in which director Audrey Diwan tells and films Anne’s story. For example, she does not specifically mention that the story takes place in 1963, but lets the viewer discover it slowly. Most of the time, filmmakers take the opportunity to embellish the 1960s on display. Diwan does not, and that means that her film is closer to the present and you feel as a viewer that the time when an abortion was illegal in France is not that long ago. It was striking that when Diwan’s film had its world premiere, the abortion laws in Texas were tightened. In short: this film is very topical.
‘Director Diwan keeps a close eye on the film frame and is constantly on Anne’s skin. That gives the film something rushed, you feel as a viewer the rising tension with everything that happens to her. In addition: we get to see all the misery that Anne experiences. This is not a film where the knitting needles used for a home abortion only appear for a few seconds to give the viewer an idea, no we really see how horrific something like that is. That is not inappropriate; the idea behind this film is precisely to show the consequences of an abortion ban. And how unfair the division of responsibility for such an unwanted pregnancy is: it is young women who suffer, not the men.’
Then you saw the documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World†
‘Yes. In my review I make a comparison with the TV program The prettiest girl in the class, in which we look back on the life of such a ‘most beautiful girl’. To my knowledge there has never been an episode with a ‘prettiest boy’, but if that were the case, Björn Andrésen would easily qualify for that role. Andrésen was the boy cast at fifteen by the great filmmaker Luchino Visconti, who had traveled all over Europe in search of a boy of angelic beauty for his film adaptation of Death in Venice†
‘This documentary tells the real story behind the life of the handsome Swedish boy. Andrésen was hoisted onto the podium almost out of nowhere at the time, he was sort of a trophy boy and had no people around him to protect him. Now, years later, we find Andrésen affected by alcohol and personal suffering in a heavily soiled apartment. He looks like he’s been living on a desert island for years and never seen a hairdresser. The remarkable thing is: he is still acting. In the great horror movie Midsommar from 2019, older people crash from a rock, so one of them is that formerly most beautiful boy in the world.
‘It is a story that fits in with this time, in which more attention is being paid to the extent to which actors are not sufficiently protected on set, especially in the case of child actors. Perhaps the most poignant in the film is that filmmaker Visconti sings the praises of the young Andrésen one moment and sneers a little later during the press presentation: ‘Mwah, he’s not so beautiful anymore and is starting to get older.’ That says a lot, that total lack of involvement. That boy was being exploited.’
What’s your last movie recommendation this week?
‘I want Ennio just to mention, a documentary about one of the greatest film composers ever, Ennio Morricone. He can no longer be separated from what music can mean for cinema. His music has made some movies the masterpieces they are today, such as Once Upon a Time in the West† In case of The Mission his film score has become even more famous than the film. In his review, colleague Kevin Toma is particularly pleased with how Ennio himself talks about his career. As he writes: ‘Look Ennio especially to see the man himself speak, not for the grueling relay race of famous and slightly less famous fans who cough up one superlative after another.’