La vocation suspendue

I found "La Vocation suspendue"/Suspended Vocation (1978), the earliest feature from Raoul Ruiz that I've seen thus far, very, very difficult and at times completely incomprehensible -- I really think one has to have some background in or knowledge of Catholicism to fully appreciate it, and clearly though the visual aspects of the film are important, the religious themes are at the heart of it; it is unquestionably a film about something, a film that is dealing intellectually with a subject, but in an oblique enough way that if you start out more or less at ground zero (as I did) it will be hard to take anything away. The black and white photography elements (courtesy of one of the world's greatest cinematographers, Sacha Vierny, in his first collaboration with Ruiz) were quite striking though, and at times it gave off a very Bressonian feel.

This was Ruiz' second French feature and the first of two films based on novels by Pierre Klossowski, the other being "Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting." Probably worth a 6/10 for interest, and I suspect that I'll get more out of it on a second viewing after doing some homework. It appears on an indispensable Blaq Out 2-disc set with the much more accessible and entertaining "Hypothesis" and "Three Crowns of the Sailor." DVD rental

I liked Ruiz' Three Crowns of the Sailor enough so I checked this one out. I only watched The Suspended Vocation (and only glanced at the other film after being disappointed with this one). There was really nothing to interest me here. It's a bit like Bresson but with nothing of note visually. The entire movie is just an abstract discussion of religion. The alternation of actors and color/b&w (somewhat like a Bunuel film) meant nothing to me - perhaps there was a deeper meaning to it but I really didn't care. Another film this reminded me somewhat of was The Trial due to the endless soporific dialogue (none of the imagery though - oh no, none of that). Yes, I'd call this one pretentious.