13th Annual EU Film Festival Highlights, Week Two: ‘I Am Love,’ ‘Bluebeard’

Submitted by BrianTT on March 11, 2010 - 4:15pm

CHICAGO – We’re back with week two of the 13th Annual EU Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center, one of the best film events of the year in the Windy City. If you missed part one of our coverage, and want to relive highlights of last week, check it out here. On to week two…

This year’s edition, running from March 5th to April 1st, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Peter Greenaway, Jacques Rivette, Neil Jordan, Catherine Breillat, Amos Gital, Bruno Dumont, Jan Hrebejk and Caroline Link. Moviegoers should take note of the fact that several of these titles won’t be screened outside of the EU festival in Chicago, making their appearance here all the more priceless.

The 13th Annual European Union Film Festival includes 59 feature films, all of which are making their Chicago premiere. If you’ve had your fill with Hollywood, or are simply looking for something off of the beaten path, the EU is the fest for you. Week by week, every Thursday, come back to HollywoodChicago.com for the highlights of the upcoming weekend and following week, along with a synopsis for every other film premiering that week.

Though week one had several highlights, including Sweden’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” Austria’s “The Bone Man” and Italy’s “Mid-Summer Lunch,” week two offers even more cinematic treasures, including one film that is easily the best I’ve seen at the EU festival thus far.

I Am Love
Photo credit: Siskel Film Center

It is “I Am Love,” the spellbindingly romantic drama from Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino. His picture moves with the ebb and flow of a rapturous fever dream, as his characters become intoxicated by the allure of sudden passion. Film buffs will view it as an homage to Visconti’s portrayal of the upper-crust Milanese, mixed with the Sirkian theme of forbidden love between classes. The plot centers on the wealthy Recchi family in Milan, whose elderly patriarch passes on ownership of his industrial company to son Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) and grandson Edoardo Jr. (Flavio Parenti). This gets in the way of Edoardo’s plans to open a restaurant with his friend, gifted chef Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini ).

Bluebeard
Photo credit: Siskel Film Center

The real story crux emerges deep into the picture, when Tancredi’s wife (Tilda Swinton), a Russian immigrant trapped in a passionless marriage, finds herself falling for Antonio. Swinton, whose red hair and pale skin has often drawn comparisons to Conan O’Brien, has never looked more ravishing. She nails her character’s Italian dialect (deftly tinged with a Russian inflection), while capturing her rediscovered eroticism, whether through the sensual stroking of a tree branch, or the savoring of a particularly good meal. Her performance further solidifies that fact that she’s as brilliant and versatile as any actress on the planet.

Perhaps the film has one melodramatic twist too many, but it’s always an utter joy to watch. Cinematographer Yorick Le Saux pulls off various feats of movie magic, as his camera glides effortlessly around the action (there’s an extraordinary moment when the camera follows Swinton down a spiral showcase as she seeks a quick kiss from Antonio). The music by acclaimed composer John Adams is always vibrant and alive, particularly during the delirious final sequence. “I Am Love” is, quite simply, a movie lover’s delight. See it on Sunday, March 14th at 5pm or Monday, March 15th at 7:45pm.

Equally worth catching is France’s “Bluebeard,” the latest work from one of the world’s most exhilaratingly unpredictable filmmakers, Catherine Breillat. She exudes all the mischief and morbid delight of her young character, fittingly named Catherine (Marilou Lopez-Benites), who reads aloud Charles Perrault’s grisly faerie tale, much to the agitation of her unsettled older sister. Their darkly funny storyline is intriguingly interspersed within Breillat’s brooding, hypnotic recreation of the classic tale. Though “Bluebeard” lacks Breillat’s trademark doses of sex and violence, the film is no less psychologically torturous, as the threat of death reverberates within every scene (she also isn’t above focusing her lens on the writhing corpse of a headless duck).

With their deceased father leaving them nothing but debts, two sisters are forced to consider marrying the fearsome aristocrat Bluebeard (played with chilling tenderness by Dominique Thomas), whose wives have all mysteriously disappeared. The younger of the girls, Marie-Catherine (Lola Créton), weds the seemingly tamable beast. Stretching this tale to feature-length allows too much time for viewers to ask questions regarding character motivation, but Breillat keeps the viewer firmly within her grasp. This mesmerizing bit of French faerie tale theatre will play on Saturday, March 13th at 7:30pm, and Thursday, March 18th at 6:15pm.

Father of My Children
Photo credit: Siskel Film Center

Several of this week’s films share the theme of children grappling with the deeds of an absent father. The most moving is Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Father of My Children,” a French drama loosely based on the life and death of film producer Humbert Balsan. This much-admired filmmaker collaborated with notoriously difficult directors, such as Lars von Trier and Bela Tarr, whose work he believed in, despite the fact that they weren’t very profitable. Facing certain bankruptcy, Balsan committed suicide at age 51. His grieving wife, Donna, heroically tried to save her husband’s company, Ognon Pictures. Director Hansen-Løve refuses to sensationalize the material, opting for an observant, restrained tone that is quietly effective.

“Father of My Children” won both a French Lumiere Award and a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It conveys the daily exhaustion of the filmmaking process, while warmly paying tribute to those who fight to keep the art form alive at all costs. It screens Sunday, March 14th at 2:45pm and Wednesday, March 17th at 8pm.

Few documentaries have painted a more indelible portrait of an artwork’s destructive power than “Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss,” which plays on Sunday, March 14th at 5pm, and Wednesday, March 17th at 6pm. It primarily consists of interviews with the family of Veit Harlan, the notorious German director who earned his reputation as the Third Reich’s most successful filmmaker. When Joseph Goebbels saw Harlan’s 1940 melodrama “The Jew Süss,” he was quoted saying, “This will be the anti-Semitic film.” It became an enormously popular hit throughout Germany and was required viewing for SS Officers and policemen.

Directed by Felix Moeller, “Harlan” works as both a rare film analysis (featuring various clips from the director’s work) and a harrowing portrait of a family confronting the inheritance of guilt. One of the most fascinating subjects is Veit’s son Thomas, who spent his life striving to take responsibility for his father’s misdeeds (while appalling some of his siblings in the process). The film raises several provocative questions about the disgraced filmmaker, such as whether he believed in the propaganda he made, or if he was coerced into making it because (to paraphrase one of his Jewish characters), he was simply the faithful servant of his Nazi master.

Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss
Photo credit: Siskel Film Center

These highlights are all well deserving of your time, though they are merely four of several acclaimed films showing this week, which also include Hungary’s “Chameleon,” Lithuania’s “The Collectress,” and Spain’s “Cell 211.” Here is the rest of the line-up for week two, in order of appearance…

“Let It Rain,” France, Agnès Jaoui
Friday, March 12, 6:00 pm
Monday, March 15, 6:00 pm

Synopsis: “Offscreen and onscreen partners Jaoui (director-writer-actor) and Bacri (writer-actor) have brightened recent French cinema with their witty, emotionally complex ensemble pieces (SAME OLD SONG, THE TASTE OF OTHERS, LOOK AT ME). More predominantly comic than their previous collaborations, LET IT RAIN centers on a famous feminist writer (Jaoui) who decides to run for political office. Returning to her hometown for a much-needed reality check, she unwisely agrees to be the subject of a documentary film by a local journalist (Bacri, especially hilarious) whose incompetence is matched only by his staggering self-centeredness. In French with English subtitles. Special advance screening courtesy of IFC Films. 35mm.”

“Chameleon,” Hungary, Krisztina Goda
Friday, March 12, 6:00 pm
Sunday, March 14, 7:15 pm

Synopsis: “Hungary¹s official submission for Academy Awards consideration is a sophisticated comedy with a theme that could be taken straight from any number of news stories. Handsome Gábor is a con man and a gigolo who works as a janitor in an office where he can sort through the trash to identify likely targets, lonely but financially secure women. His latest mark, a lovely ballerina with a leg injury, just happens to be the daughter of a millionaire. His greatest challenge could also prove to be his downfall. In Hungarian with English subtitles. 35mm print courtesy of Bunyik Entertainment.”

“Small Crime,” Cyprus/Germany/Greece, Christos Georgiou
Friday, March 12, 8:00 pm
Monday, March 15, 8:00 pm

Synopsis: “Like a mini-vacation in the Aegean, this winning comedy set on the island of Thirasia delivers sun-drenched days and loads of local color while unreeling an unexpected romance. A bored and restless policeman and the TV talk show hostess who happens to be the island¹s most famous export bond over the investigation of the death of the village wino, but surprising revelations are in store. Director Georgiou (UNDER THE STARS) set his story against the Thirasia¹s vibrant daily life, and the freshness shows. In Greek with English subtitles. 35mm print courtesy of M-appeal.”

The Other Irene
Photo credit: Siskel Film Center

“The Other Irene,” Romania, Andrei Gruzsniczki
Friday, March 12, 8:15 pm
Monday, March 15, 6:00 pm

Synopsis: “When an earnest young security guard, whose ambitious wife has been working in Cairo, is informed that she has committed suicide on the eve of her return, his disbelief translates into dogged action. His amateur investigation efforts meet with the runaround at consulates and ministries, where he is reduced to angrily dismissing allegations of drugs and affairs. When the body finally returns encased in a metal coffin, the mystery only deepens. In Romanian with English subtitles. 35mm print courtesy of Fundatia Arte Vizuale and the Romanian Film Center.”

“Katanga Business,” Belgium/France, Thierry Michel
Saturday, March 13, 5:15 pm
Tuesday, March 16, 7:45 pm

Synopsis: “No fictional tale could come with a more intriguing cast of characters than this exposé on international competition for Africa¹s rich mineral resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Front and center is the charismatic provincial governor Moïse Kutumbi, a populist who swaggers in a black cowboy hat, quelling a labor riot as deftly as he smooth-talks a Chinese entrepreneur or a Canadian CEO. Director Michel (CONGO RIVER) needs no Michael Moore-like stunts to get to the heart of this action, which includes corruption on a global scale, exploitation of the powerless, and dreams of untold wealth forged from copper, cobalt, coltan, and tungsten. In French with English subtitles. DigiBeta video courtesy of Doc & Film International.”

“The Collectress,” Lithuania, Kristina Buozyte
Saturday, March 13, 5:30 pm
Thursday, March 18, 8:00 pm

Synopsis: “Winner of Lithuania’s Silver Crane award for best feature film of the year, this provocative psychological drama explores a theme previously probed in VIDEODROME: in a media-shaped modern world, we may live more fully in images than in the flesh. After her father’s death, speech therapist Gaile finds herself numbed to the point that she can experience emotions only when she is watching herself on film. She hires a videographer to film her in staged situations, beginning with pranks (e.g., passionately kissing a groom in front of his astonished bride) and progressing to ever more transgressive acts. In Lithuanian with English subtitles. 35mm print courtesy of UAB Tremora.”

“Guidance,” Sweden, Johan Jonason
Saturday, March 13, 7:30 pm
Tuesday, March 16, 6:00 pm

Synopsis: “Overweight and overcome by inertia, Roy (Andresson) has been on sick leave for over a year when his fed-up wife ships him off to a motivational camp. There he discovers that he is the only customer, and that the eccentric young trainer enforces an X-treme regimen that promises to either kill or cure. Filmed in a restless, energetic style, GUIDANCE offers a provocative, at times blackly comic take on middle-class malaise. In Swedish with English subtitles. 35mm print courtesy of the Swedish Film Institute.”

“A Call Girl,” Slovenia/Croatia/Germany/Serbia, Damjan Kozole
Saturday, March 13, 9:15 pm
Thursday, March 18, 6:00 pm

Synopsis: “Aleksandra, a sultry college girl with tastes well beyond her means, hits on part-time prostitution as her get-rich-quick scheme of choice, and soon that lovely little condo is hers. When a prominent trick drops dead of a heart attack on her watch, every aspect of her double life begins to fall apart. Director Kozole (SPARE PARTS) is primarily interested in what¹s going on inside Aleksandra¹s beautiful dark head, letting sex and sleaze fall where they may. In Slovenian with English subtitles. Special advance screening courtesy of M-appeal and Film Movement. 35mm widescreen.”

Cell 211
Photo credit: Siskel Film Center

“Cell 211,” Spain/France, Daniel Monzon
Saturday, March 13, 9:15 pm
Thursday, March 18, 7:45 pm

Synopsis: “This tough-as-nails prison thriller was a smash hit in Spain, where its 16 Goya Award nominations easily led the competition for the country’s top movie prize. On his first day on the job, eager-beaver prison guard Juan (Ammann) hasn’t even started work when he is caught in the middle of a massive riot. Using his wits, he poses as a new inmate, forming a bond with the convicts’ ruthless leader “Bad Mother” (Tosar of MIAMI VICE in a charismatic performance). Trapped between callous officials and bloodthirsty prisoners, Juan finds his former identity crumbling as the standoff moves toward a devastating climax. In Spanish with English subtitles. Special advance screening courtesy of IFC Films. 35mm.”

“Kont Diga,” Malta, Mark Dingli
Sunday, March 14, 3:00 pm
Wednesday, March 17, 8:00 pm

Synopsis: “This first-ever indigenous independent feature from Malta follows the ambivalent return of native son Karl (Consiglia), an artist, to the island after a long absence. Attempting to revisit the past with mixed results, Karl is spurned by a former girlfriend and soon hooks up with Anna, an actress, who brings him on a weekend holiday with friends on the nearby island of Gozo (Calypso in Homer¹s Odyssey), where the laid-back camaraderie only serves to deepen his unease. Director Dingli imbues KONT DIGA with an airy sense of beauty, evoking a modern lifestyle in an ancient milieu. In Maltese with English subtitles. DigiBeta video courtesy of Sekwenza Productions.”

“Shameless,” Czech Republic, Jan Hrebejk
Sunday, March 14, 7:30 pm
Wednesday, March 17, 6:15 pm

Synopsis: “The sudden onset of TV weatherman¹s mid-life crisis, triggered by a newfound aversion to the size of his wife¹s nose, is just the start of a rollicking comedy of divorce and romantic regrouping that director Hrebejk (I¹M ALL GOOD, BEAUTY IN TROUBLE) based on Tales of a Marriage and Sex by best-selling Czech writer Michal Viewegh. Oskar makes good his escape from the marital bed and tries younger (the squeezable au pair), and older (an earthy ] veteran pop star) but finds himself on the outside looking in when ex-wife Zuzana threatens to settle down happily with a tree surgeon. In Czech with English subtitles. Special advance screening courtesy of Menemsha Films, Inc. 35mm widescreen.”