There is always that one movie in Cannes. It’s the “child molester movie” or the “father daughter incest movie” or the “Middle=aged women buying favors from impoverished sex workers .” Now we have the “brother and sister incest fairy tale.” That’s really sums it up pretty well, only bookend it with a young woman telling that story to a room full of intently focused children in an orphanage.
Good, now that we’ve got that part out of the way we can talk about the movie itself. Author Jean Gruault wrote a screenplay for Francois Truffaut called History of Julien & Marguerite, the true story of a brother and sister who were executed for adultery and incest. Truffaut had planned to make it a sweeping epic in the 1970s.
Decades later, director Valérie Donzelli took up the project. The film will be released in France and perhaps in the US, though I suspect it will have a somewhat more difficult time stateside. It must be said that Donzelli is a already a brilliant director. If anyone says women aren’t visual and that’s why they don’t make great films, check out this movie. It is magnificent in many ways but most especially in how it looks.
The brother and sister generate palpable sexual tension and do a good job depicting intense, unbeatable, unrestrainable love. They are soulmates. Their love defies all convention. There is no point in trying to fight it nor destroy it by separating them. Death would be the only separation. Donzelli makes a few crucial choices, though, that probably doom the film for critics (in my screening there were many walk-outs and a few boos at the ending).
The first thing she does is make it a children’s story. That is problematic since when we think about fairy tales we don’t think about incest, particularly. Surely back in the times of the French aristocracy it wasn’t so rare. Anne Boleyn was accused by Henry VIII of sleeping with her brother (probably falsely). Today, of course, it’s a different matter entirely but most especially where impressionable young ears can hear.
The second thing Donzelli does is really go there with the sexual tension. There probably won’t be a more erotic film playing at this year’s Cannes film fest than this one. Probably some of the walk-outs were due to people feeling turned on by something they shouldn’t. Marguerite and Julien tease each other by sucking on toes, necks and ears. They stare longingly into one another’s eyes. They whisper “toujours” to each other. While some might find this offensive, no doubt others were intrigued.
She plays with the frame reminiscent of the way Martin Scorsese has done, with several out of joint flourishes that also could throw people off since they happen at random and not consistently. In those moments, where she allows herself and her camera to step out of the traditional filmmaking, she really shows us what she can do.
There is an especially interesting moment when the siblings are caught. She films their capture in millennial paparazzi style stills, all of their romantic illusions stripped away, made to look like deviants. She throws a helicopter in there too just to make sure you know this is a movie you’re watching and not real life. All the same, the humor is too intermittent to make it as stylized as, say, A Clockwork Orange or Trainspotting, which would have suited the material a bit better than a period romance.
Even given the film’s missteps, it’s impossible to ignore how talented Donzelli is. Her visuals are arresting, both in terms of how she captures moments on faces, and how she captures atmosphere. Here’s hoping this film makes money and that she continues working.
Anaïs Demoustier and Jérémie Elkaïm are both excellent as the doomed lovers who can’t live without each other. The cinematography by Céline Bozon is exquisite as are the costumes by Elisabeth Mehu. Other than a co-writing credit by Elkaim and co-producing credit for Edouard Weil this film is written, directed, produced and filmed by women.
Marguerite & Julien hints at what this director is capable of creating. While this outing didn’t soar she’s worth keeping an eye on. It reminded me of the latest film to show here by Maiwenn, Mon Roi. Both films are about relationships. Both films showcase talented directors whose films were enjoyable and entertaining even if not perfect.
At a festival where the majority of the best films have been centered on women, where women are competing for the Palme d’or, times, at least here in Cannes, could be changing. Here’s hoping.