K, I watched Bad Education a whole week ago, and my memory is starting to run low. At the same time, there is a lot that I remember, but I feel like I make most of my useful comments in class, and that I'm just repeating myself on here. That said, I did watch an excellent movie last night for my French class, called Indochine. It's in French, with English subtitles, and the movie was extra-extra long. It was narrated by Eliane, a French sort of aristocrat during the French occupation of Vietnam. She lived in Vietnam, and was friends with the king and queen of Annam. The king and queen died in a plane crash, and she adopted their daughter Camille, a princess.
Camille and Eliane are inseparable, but Eliane tries to protect Camille from her past, a history full of torrid love affairs. One of these such affairs involves Jean Baptiste, a French naval officer. A twist ensues when Jean Baptiste saves Camille's life, and Camille innocently falls in love with him. Eliane discovers this, and not so much out of revenge as to protect Camille, Eliane uses her sway to have Jean Baptiste transferred to a remote island in some forgotten bay. Camille passively accepts her arranged marriage to Tanh, the son of a rich merchant family. This is only because Camille has already made up her mind to find Jean Baptiste, and Tanh, with other motives in mind, willing allows her, even helps her, to go.
Camille does find him, and at their reunion, a scuffle ensues, in which she kills another naval officer. Camille and Jean must be hidden. A communist group parading as an acting troupe take them in. Camille says that if Jean leaves now, he will be pardoned. She says if he is gone when she wakes up in the morning, she'll understand. Of course Jean doesn't leave, and Camille becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a healthy boy. They're a happy family. One day, however, Jean takes the baby to the river to baptize him, and after he names the baby Etienne Marie Baptiste, he is captured by the French. Camille has no choice but to passively watch Jean and her baby be taken away.
The baby is given to Eliane, and Jean is in prison. Camille is imprisoned shortly after. Jean is granted one day of freedom, and he comes to see Eliane and Etienne before he leaves for trial. That night, he is killed, but the gun is in his hand, so it is passed off as suicide. Eliane is powerless to free Camille from prison. When Etienne is 5, however, Eliane gets one final meeting with Camille. Camille is part of the communist party now, and she is not coming home. She cannot relive the past.
We learn that Eliane is narrating this story to Etienne on the day before Vietnam is freed from its status as a territory of France. He is about 18, and his mother will be in a hotel tomorrow where he can meet her, if he wishes. Etienne goes, but doesn't say anything to Camille, then returns to Eliane, and says, "You are my mother now." Screen fades to black.
It was interesting, watching it. I guess I pretty much just narrated it, instead of including any thoughts or sentiments, but maybe if I get time, I will include make another entry pertaining to that. In any case, it was an enjoyable movie, long though it was.

in the mood for love. what was that? they weren't really in the mood for love, is how i feel. i mean, had they been in the mood for love, they would have actually consumated it. although, according to neil, they actually do in one of the deleted scenes. i guess that would have changed the context of the movie quite a bit, but having not actually seen it, i can't fully judge.

it was weird. there was all this desire going around, but they never seemed to do anything about it. why not? i don't understand. maybe i'm not as good at controlling my impulses as they are, but what's the point of controlling your impulses to the point where you become divorced from being human?

why, in the first place, were they even following the rules? you know, the rules of not cheating on your husband and wife? in my personal opinion, if your spouse has blatantly and unapologetically broken that contract, then you're not obligated to uphold your side of the bargain. i mean, maybe it's an honor thing, but why not save your honor for someone who actually cares about you? also, there would not have been that much social stigma attached, if they'd decided to actually get together. sure, their landlord families would not have approved, but they could have easily left, and they did. they just didn't get together afterwards.

it seemed like they were in control of what happened next, and by making the choices they did, they were unnecessarily complicating their lives. i think they just wanted to be unhappy. especially mrs. chan. i'm convinced that she was a die-hard masochist. and at the point that i find masochists is the point i give up on analysis, because i don't think that pain is the point of life.

so, i was going to post 2 blogs, one for each of the movies we'd watched. then on friday, when i didn't want to do any homework for any of my killer classes, and decided i was only motivated to get my film stuff done, there was a blog error. oh well, c'est la vie. so i think i'm just going to put out my thoughts for both movies in one blog.

the first one, Talk to Her, a.k.a. Habla con Ella, i believe, was one i'd actually seen before. i saw it at the arts array in my hometown, where they show a new artsy-type film 4x weekly. it's neat, to get some culture.

watching it again was a way to delve deeper. the movie seemed to be very oriented in psychology; at least, i was pulling a lot of info from my psychology readings to analyze what was going on. it seemed like mr. nurse (sorry, i'm so bad with names) definitely had a diagnosable social disorder. he suffered a lot of isolation during his childhood, and he didn't seem to have an appropriate understanding of social situations, and the personal rights and feelings of others. he had good intentions, though, and so even though his actions were despicable, you felt sorry for him when he was incarcerated, and when he committed suicide. it cast his circumstances in shades of gray, instead of delivering a clear-cut, black-and-white verdict.

marco (i think that is his name) seemed to have an overwhelming sense of responsibility. he was so altruistic, and really seemed to do nothing for himself. his actions were always motivated by others. it seemed to me that the people in his relationships were more his charges, than friends or girlfriends. it seemed lopsided, what he gave and was given. i'm not sure of my final interpretation of him; whether his selflessness was a good thing or ultimately a way of escaping his own thoughts.

on to Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary. i have to admit, silent films aren't my favorite. i'm a sucker for good dialogue, especially when there's irony involved. black and white-- also not my fave. i like the modern style, the quick montage and the stylized mise-en-scene, as well as the slick music and where everything's catchy. ocean's eleven is a perfect example of the style i'm so fond of.

nonetheless, there were some interesting elements. i liked that dracula was asian; it cast a more original light on the movie-- everything wasn't quite so standardized. i have to admit that, since i don't know the story of dracula, and since there were no words, i had a fair amount of trouble following the plot. it was interesting, though, to see the added emphasis on facial expression, lighting, tinting, and music to convey meaning. i also was a fan of the stylized use of colorful blood and money. it gave them a special significance. dracula, with his careless mastery of the fairer sex, made me pretty angry. the women seemed subject to his whim, his every beck and call. it was blatant, and that caused a little resentment. needless to say, i felt triumphant when mina (again, i hope the name's correct) tricked him at the end.

there are endless things i could say about these movies, but that's a good start for now, i feel. i'm looking forward to what comes next.

p.s. i never capitalize anything. at least when it comes to instant messages, informal emails, and blogs.