Part Of The Picture: A Duet for One
A DUET FOR ONE
OCT 17, 2009 – CAMILLE (EMMANUELLE BÉART) IS AN ARTIST, a violinist. Stéphane (Daniel Auteuil) is a craftsman; he makes and restores violins. She plays to an audience; he’s forever backstage. She basks in applause; very few know he even exists. But she knows the value of a word of praise from him, for he knows the instrument as few others do. In some ways, therefore, they’d be ideally matched – like director and star, two halves, incomplete by themselves but incandescent together. But there’s a small problem. Stéphane’s business partner Maxime (André Dussollier) and Camille are already in love by the time he meets her. (She comes to him because the G on her violin sounds rough. He assures her that the bridge is slightly warped and inspecting the fret should fix the problem.) Nevertheless, a bond is established and the quietest of flirtations is carried out, after which Stéphane withdraws.
Stéphane’s heart, as the title suggests, is frozen. Hélène (Élisabeth Bourgine), one of his few friends, chides, “Not seeing her? Are you proud of yourself?” He asks, “You want me to push things?” She replies, “Playing dead just makes it worse for her.” He says, “You overestimate my powers of attraction.” But Hélène knows him. “No, I don’t; nor do you. When a woman gets that far, she’s unlikely to retreat.” Stéphane extends a feeble excuse. “She hasn’t called again.” Hélène scoffs, “Which means nothing.” And she’s right. Later, when Camille and Maxime saunter into a café, and when they see Stéphane there, they discuss trivialities at first. But when Maxime leaves to make a call, the conversation turns serious. Stéphane says, of Camille’s performance, “Maxime said you were quite pleased.” She replies, “I think so… I’m not sure any more.” He ventures, “Are you all right?”
Camille comes to the point. “Why are you avoiding me?” He skirts the accusation, but she persists, “Was it something I said or did?” He says, “Not at all; I’ve been very busy.” She says, “I thought you cared about my work. Is it because of Maxime? You might have scruples as he’s your friend.” Stéphane’s response startles her. “There’s no friendship between us.” We are surprised too, because the film opened with images of how in-tune Stéphane and Maxime were, as they silently went about repairing a violin. We’ve even heard Stéphane remark, “Maxime and I had known each other so long, we didn’t need words.” But now, he explains, “We’ve been partners for years; we complement each other. It’s to our mutual interest, that’s all.” Camille responds, with a hint of accusation, “He thinks of you as a friend.” Stéphane shrugs. “I can’t prevent that.”
And we wonder: is Stéphane’s heart really that cold, or is the frost simply window dressing, for her benefit? She shares our doubts. “I don’t believe you… Because it’s not something one admits to.” He says, “It’s true. Are you shocked?” She replies, “No, saddened. Misusing words is sad. You devalue them, and everything else. What are you protecting yourself from?” He thinks otherwise. “I seem to be laying myself open.” Camille denies this. “You aren’t like that; nobody is. It’s a pose.” He sighs. “Do you want me to invent reasons, traumas? Unhappy childhood, sexual frustration, career nipped in the bud?” She says, “No, I don’t see it.” He continues, “My brothers and sisters did find me naturally sly and secretive. I admit it freely.” A trace of scorn creeps into her voice. “Offering this unpleasant image of yourself is a bit facile, isn’t it?”
“You act as if emotions didn’t exist. Yet you love music.” He responds with rhetoric. “Music is the stuff of dreams.” Maxime returns on cue. Stéphane rises. “I’m off. See you later.” He walks away. A few days later, after her performance, Camille hops into Stéphane’s car and exclaims, “I’d never played it like that. Yesterday was good, but flat. Today, I felt inspired.” She adds, “I played for you.” He begins to get uncomfortable, as his efforts to stay aloof – or at least, convince her that he wants to stay aloof – have clearly failed. She continues, “I spoke to Maxime. About us. It was hard. He heard me out. I told him what happened. I want you. It’s not like me, but I had to tell you.” Stéphane decides that desperate times warrant desperate measures. He says, “I don’t think I can give you what you’re looking for.”
Camille is too wrapped up in the high of her performance – and also possibly in having unburdened herself to Maxime – to pay serious heed. “You want it, too… I don’t mind about this closed world you built round yourself long ago… You can’t go on living like that…” He replies, “You’re beautiful, you’re going to be a great musician… But you insist on seeing me as you imagined me. I’m not that person.” And right there, he fabricates a falsehood. “I’d decided to seduce you, without loving you, probably to get at Maxime.” Camille still doesn’t take him seriously. “One doesn’t decide,” she starts, but he cuts her off. “You don’t understand. You talk of feelings to which I have no access. I don’t love you.” All this is the stuff of high melodrama, but it’s played at the most minor of keys – albeit with a looping leitmotif. He begins to say something, but it’s now her turn to cut him off. “Don’t talk, please.” She alights from the car. It’s now her turn to walk away.
Un Coeur en Hiver (1992, French; aka A Heart in Winter). Directed by Claude Sautet. Starring Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart, André Dussollier.
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One of my favorite movies, with a couple of my favorite actors , good music .What else could one want for ?I had read a long time back that Beart actually learnt to play the instrument for her scenes .Though I was disappointed to learn later that she didn’t actually play in the movie at all and that she learnt it so that she could look more real as a musician.
can’t wait for your review of Blue. check it, i’m sure u’ll have fun.
Bala: Yeah, one of the really great love stories. Except that it being French, all the love is just below the surface. What’s amazing is how much they manage to pack into a mere one-and-a-half hours — so much depth of characterisation, so much incident, so much text and subtext… And with a little “opening out,” these stories are universal enough to work here too, though I guess no one wants to make very downbeat, doomed love stories here (except someone like Bhansali probably, but then his interests lie in melodrama, which is the opposite end of the moviemaking spectrum).
Have you seen “Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud,” which Beart did after this with the same director? Another fantastic film.
unfortunately no, the one time i did lay my hands on a dvd, it refused to play .Still trawling the web for a decent print though.
Daniel Auteuil is a fine actor isn’t he ? This was the first of his movies I saw,(Manon.. ,Jean de Florette , Cache ,La Doublure(saw it recently after ahem ahem a certain hindi film based on it came out ) , came much later ) and watching his other movies does show you how he totally immerses himself into his roles.And I think I saw it first on DD many years back (which also makes it my first foreign lang film seen ), so I guess I have something to thank DD for too
Wish you a Happy Deepavali! Any tamil movies that you would be writing about? Or, is it going to be Between Reviews of Deepavali in Tamil Cinema or Kamal 50 years?
Happy Deepavali, all. I thought this would be just the right occasion to bring over an Arre O Sambar from the archives.
Slightly off-topic – but Daniel Auteuil just doesn’t seem to age, I have seen a few of his films and he looks exactly the same in all of them , wonder if there is a picture somewhere getting old ..:-)
wish u happy diwali..why dont u write an article on those stupid programs they show in Tamil channels, rangin from actress interviews to stupid masala films..not able to stand these
Aw no sambar please – idhukku naan farah khan padame back to back parkaren
Err no review of either of the three movies? :S
Rangan….where art thou?
Baradwaj should be booked under ESMA
That female in the photo resembles Lisa Rat a lot.
Didnt he act in Michael Haneke’s Cache as well? The nose is a dead giveaway
You alright? Resign kesign pannittu knowledge transfer pannitturkeengaLA?
Did you watch Adhavan/Peranmai?
No reviews this week?
Didn’t BR mention earlier that since the paper will not published on Sunday, he would not review film this weekend?
BR: Are you contract-bound by the paper that you can only write on your blog if it is published in the paper first?
Padawan: Not yet. But I hear “Aadhavan” isn’t bad. Maybe the best ticket is “Jaganmohini”
Aditya Pant: No contract. It’s just that when circumstances conspire to let you off reviews for a week, you make the most of the unexpected break
But I might review these if there’s no release this week. Or I may do a “Between Reviews.” So there’s no sense in two write-ups, one for the paper and one for the blog.
Dear BR,
Adhavan isn’t bad…Huh…Its the worst movie I have seen this year and please do not bother even to venture near the theatre which screens the movie. Talk about falling for hype. In fact it made me think about the stark contrast between Kamal-KS Ravikumar and Non-Kamal KS Ravikumar movies.
Adhavan is terrible. On par with kandhasamy. Suryas weakest performance in some time. Avoid it like the plague
I have just been seeing the promos of “Aadhavan” on TV and felt that the song sequences had the same concepts (and choreography) as Surya’s earlier films. It almost seemed deja-vu. Of course, I’m sure HJ’s music also contributes to that effect.
BTW, I was also quite disappointed with Ayan…
As for KSR, I think of him more as a program manager than a director!!
Aadhavan was an irritating movie if not a mokkai, i for 1 would have enjoyed it even if it was d comedy of the un-intentional kind but what he had is something else… blue was a big yawn as well not a single thing that made people in the theatre to react … i guess peraanmai was a decent movie if you accept that teenage girls could handle military weapons or that jayam Ravi is a walking talking encylopedia even for classified matters…
but some say All the best is good too… anyone checked that movie?
BR is making hay while the sun shines
I’d take the week off too if I had to sit through Blue, All the Best and Main Aur Mrs. Khanna.
Has anyone seen Pazhassi Raja?
Aadhavan was thankfully. Shortened version of kandasamy. Not sure who’s the genius promoting the hyper fast editing in Tam movies. This is the second movie I am coming out of with a real headache.
Thank God for Vadivelu.
Rangan…I thought your allegiances were split with the paper and the blog – how could you leave us hanging!! Just kiddin – any plans of catching up on those flicks?
Downbeat,doomed love stories..visit Gods own cocunut country for plenty!!-I think Malyalam cinema still offers a space for stories delving into the complexity of human emotions.Besides “oree kadal”,films like “Megsh malar” also go down this avenue.
I thought the Film “Before sunrise” with ethan hawke and a french actress was a refreshing take on the love story genre..the whole film is a conversation between two people.
And pazhassi raja is one of those films that flops despite having a stellar cast and crew.The direction is flawed and the film lacks the power of a historical epic.But sarath kumar and priyamani were excellent
happy diwali and stay away from the cinemas this week!
a
Shankar: Okay, I quite enjoyed “Ayan”
Harish S Ram: With films like “Peraanmai” I’m torn between two sides. On the one hand, audiences need to encourage movies that try to do something different. But on the other, films of this type (Hollywood-ish action thriller, say) almost always end up disappointing because the “Indian style” of filmmaking gets in the way — you know, the need to spoonfeed the audience and so on.
Even with “Blue,” I’ve been thinking: Who exactly is the target audience? (I haven’t seen it yet.) The Hollywood-weaned set will not be satisfied with this sort of cross-breed, and for those who seek “Indian” entertainment, this is so not the ticket.
kamil: Paper pays me money, dude. Blog doesn’t. Easy to decide allegiance, no?
Baddy, I know we’ve had this conversation before about “Ayan”. Where I was coming from this time was the songs, choreography, Surya’s acting etc. HJ’s music was a culprit there too. I feel Surya is going down a similar path too. Even if the chase/fight sequences borrowed quite a bit from Bourne/Bond, the film did have a good pace. However, I’m also getting slightly irritated with Tamannah. Every film that I’ve seen after “Kalloori” has her over emoting.
a, Pazhassi Raja – Priyamani? really?
yes… while the script had its suggestive, derivative style many a times its more of a lecture as to what it what… but then again this movie was intended to be like that in the sense its about a ST person who even after improving his standards of living is treated badly by upper caste people in the under-developed area and also his commitment and diligent effort to do his duty and play an active part in the well being of the nation (but for that just 1 rocket will make India the world leader is too much to swallow)with the help of 5 misdirected teenage girls ( and they being so bold -more than the Bhalachandar’s idea of a girl is hard to digest) … yet the background theme is what that movie is all about – how someone above you uses you all the time and gets all credits … vadivelu has one such dialogue “you people better stop giving away all the food that you prepare to outside people and start feeding your people first” referring to hungry farmers or labourers who doesnt move up the ladder of society but feeds others or makes some1else rich.
and again like you said you need to spoonfed the audience – but here i feel it has worked because the things he has said is relatively new for most of the people or at least the apt manner in which it was conveyed and that naive aspect keeps the person engaged while watching the movie – but if i think of the movie now i feel did it do anything else other than just speaking few hi-fi concepts of economy and suppressed people’s problems and just capture our imagination for that instant alone … then again if some scenes looked like a lecture its countered with a spine chilling encounter and if some looked like too silly some where very beautifully written… this movie had a mixture of good and bad i feel.. and the is not because the director wanted to spoon-feed but only because he wanted the movie to have commercial elements in it…
and for Blue lets not consider it the toned down version of a hollywood under water thriller – or even a tale of using up people to achieve your goal … its just an akshay kumar film told in a grand manner where instead of the side artist who just onlook the happenings here the sharks swim around and look at the leads do silly things
oh i wish i could correct those grammatical errors
Guys, one tip. If anyone somehow by a quirk of fate ends up watching Aadhavun there’s a brilliant way to pass time. Try to identify the scenes where the ‘Prabhu’ tattoo is visible on Nayanthara arm. We had great fun doing it.
shankar- yes priya mani is desi version of ninja warrior…nice to see a kalripayattu trained tribal woman take on baddies!!
though she jus disappears somewhere towards the end of screenplay..!!
though my own leanings are very much with sarath kumar!!!
cheers,a
a, I think you are referring to Padmapriya…
Rangan: I too enjoyed Ayan. Solid timepass movie. I like Surya. I prefer him to monkey SRK.
shankar..oops you got me there!!-padmapriya it is!!