La villa

How to ruin a movie with artificial theatrical dialogues generously sprinkled from start to end. Guédiguian and Valletti apparently found the way. What a nightmare it must have been for these actors, most of them talented, to go through these ridiculous scenes. On top of that, there is nothing really original in the plot itself and the camera work, similarly bland, does nothing to at least make it esthetically beautiful. To top it up, none of the overly stereotyped characters is developed enough to summon even a little bit of empathy or give some much-needed relief. Same impression about the silly social and political commentaries randomly thrown out of the blue, that are supposedly spicing up this tasteless salad. For a Mediterranean dish, it is a quite a spectacular failure.

In a cove not far from Marseille, the actress Angèle joins her two brothers in their birthplace, where following a drama, she has not set foot for 20 years. All three are gathered around their father, diminished by a stroke. An opportunity for them to take stock of their lives, the evolution of society and what remains of their ideals and commitments.

As melancholy and twilight as Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", from which the script is very freely adapted, "The Villa" sings the sad lament of lost illusions . « The Villa » is no longer about a cherry orchard but revolves around a quality restaurant at moderate prices nestled in the hollow of a southern cove. Two brothers and their sister (an actress who returns to her childhood home for the first time in twenty years) meet up with their father who has suffered a stroke. It is an opportunity for them to take stock of their lives, of the evolution of the world and what remains of their ideals. The outcome is not a happy one: just like the father's restaurant, still held at arm's length by one of the two sons, is threatened, their constituent values (humanism, solidarity, the fight for justice) are are questioned by a society that is now gangrenous with ultra-liberalism.... Robert Guédiguian's spokespersons are none other than his three fetish actors, Ariane Ascaride (all in thwarted tenderness), Jean-Pierre Darroussin (and his weary irony) and Gérard Meylan (a figure of uncompromising fidelity to his initial ideals), who have evolved alongside him over three decades. A good idea of the director is to include in the 2016 film an excerpt from "Ki lo sa", shot in 1986, featuring our three musketeers still fresh and naïve. It is both touching and striking. In the end, a disenchanted film, but not as radical as Chekhov's play. In this damaged world, there are still a few positive points left, the superb Calanque de Méjean, the gentle smile of Bérangère (radiant Anaïs Demoustier), a fisherman in love with theater, a moving reconciliation and even, in the last part, the revelation of a new battle to be fought. Bitterness certainly, but neither sourness nor boredom

The ability of the director drives the film through a quiet ebb that does not know hampers or falls. A family reunion redimes the past and opens up a future with recovered principles. Splendid in their subdued tones, as always, Guediguian's actors, and delicious the idea of recovering some of an ancient movies with the same but young people in it.

My only other viewing of a Guédiguian film is Une histoire de fou (A history of madness) released with the incongruous and ludicrous English title Don't tell me the boy was mad. It deals with Armenian expats in France and then those who wage war against an unforgivable past.

In La villa (The house by the sea) the director uses Ariane Ascaride again as the central character. After a twenty years absence owing to trauma Angéle returns to the villa of her ailing father. Unlike Une histoire de fou, La villa doesn't rely on a fast moving plot. There are secrets, there is suspense, there are unexpected developments, but it's gentle and 'slice of life' cinema not blockbuster.

I've noticed on reviewer giving it one star and calling it boring. One has to live this movie. It's akin to a Chekhov play and all the characters (with the possible exception of the children) unfold softly and with immense understanding. There are shades of The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya. Not in circumstance, but in the inner lives of the characters. Angéle can easily be a mixture of Nina, Irina Arkadina and Jeljéna. Her brothers Armand and Joseph are also reminiscent of the Russian master's works. So are the neighbours, their son (Yvan) and the smitten fisherman.

There are no emotional or real summer thunderstorms or winter blizzards. La villa contains real people with day to day needs and wants and at the same time unfulfilled dreams and passions.

The four young visitors who are only seen in two brief scenes could be a jarring note, but then again they portray those with sheer hedonistic goals as opposed to the inhabitants of the villa and their lifelong neighbours.

Yet the family is not totally cut off from the world. Political intrigue also touches their lives but in a humane and personal way.

This is slow cinema at its best with excellent script, editing, direction and acting. The lack of underscoring music is also refreshing. However: La Villa is not for those who can only think in sound bytes.

Guédiguian's movies are highly charged with social, political, philosophical and emotional subjects. He uses the same actors, and almost all his films are filmed in his birthplace Marseille. In his 2017 'The House by the Sea' he expresses the same social subjects, using the same actors, and the filming location in Marseille. This establishes a continuity with his other films, not unlike a painter using the same color palette.

Particularly strong here is the subject of the roots that people maintain to a place, usually their birthplace. While some characters in the movie have left town, they do return, even though only for special occasions.

The film's characters are damaged demoralized and full of grief. Angèle, who returns to see her incapacitated father after 20 years, must reconnect with her daughter's death, Bérangère who is in an impossible relationship with Joseph and is about to leave him and Benjamin who is hopelessly in love with a woman twice his age or more.

A sense of moral devotion is clearly expressed by all the characters.