La Sapienza

La Sapienza (2014) is a French movie, written and directed by Eugène Green. (Note that Green, despite the accent over the e in his name, is American, not French.)

This movie doesn't fit into a pattern. It's about alienation between husband and wife, it's about Italian Baroque architecture, and it's about love. The problem in reviewing the film is that all these matters are presented to us in very unusual ways.

The person who introduced the movie pointed out the influence of Bresson on Green's work. I thought that it was closer to Antonioni or possibly Ozu. Actually, it's not that close to any other director whose films I've seen.

Fabrizio Rongione portrays Alexandre Schmidt, an architect at the height of success. However, he's burned out, especially because his plan for a model housing unit in a rural village is met with a counter proposal to cement everything over and just put in windowsills with flower pots on them.

His wife, Aliénor (Christelle Prot Landman) says she's a "psychologist, psychoanalyst, and sociologist." She appears to work for a nonprofit organization (I think) that cares about community well being. (There's a short scene where she's describing the wretched circumstances in an--I believe--Algerian neighborhood, and she's met with rude humor rather than understanding.)

It's had to tell whether Alexandre and Aliénor still love one another. In their scenes together, they stare at the camera, not at each other, and barely talk.

Alexandre decides to travel to Italy to revive his interest in the Baroque Italian architect Borromini. Aliénor travels with him. In Italy, they meet a brother and sister: Goffredo (Ludovico Succio) and Lavinia (Arianna Nastro). Goffredo wants to become an architect. Lavinia suffers from a "neuologic disorder." (Never specified, and not clear from the plot.)

In a surprise turn of events, Aliénor stays behind to be with Lavinia, and Alexandre travels with Goffredo to Rome to observe Borromini's work.

I can't reveal more of the plot. What I can do is say that this is a quiet film, but never boring. There's no violence, no sex, and no bizarre occurrences. One scene appears to flow into the next almost seamlessly. It's not a good movie if you want action, but it will work if you relax and watch the plot of the film unfold.

I was particularly impressed by the acting of Christelle Prot Landman, an actress whose work I've never seen before. She has a quiet presence that fits the part perfectly. She reminds me of Fannie Ardant in the movie Colonel Chabert. When asked what she is like, the answer is "Superb."

We saw this movie at the wonderful Dryden Theatre in Rochester's George Eastman Museum. It won't work as well on a small screen--because of the architecture--but it's worth seeing in any way you can. It's different, and it's fascinating.

People will call it pretentious, boring, and pointless. Of course they will. Of course. I fully understand this. The film is clearly not for everyone, but I loved it! The stunning imagery of architecture is breathtaking, it really is!

The stunning imagery had sold me to this film right away, but the rest of the film is great, as well. Although the film is very light on plot, the dialogue is quite interesting and intelligent (even though it isn't particularly realistic and natural). The characters talk and talk about their pasts, their lives, and their professions. The film went by very quickly, and felt shorter than it's 104 minute running time.

Overall, this is one of the best films of 2015 so far, by far.

The guy in this (crain graze) was about to learn: you can't run your finger along a burger during courtship and say 'i eat because i have to.' On a seperate note. Watch out if you're going to try kirks castle soap. Nearly skinned myself alive with it. Last thing. There was a nice car, a stuben. Crain wanted that car badly, needed it like he was possessed. They show him laying in bed thinking with his hands and legs strapped down.

This is an excellent film. I look forward to seeing it a second time as there is so much to absorb/think about. What is unique is that the director chose to not develop the plot in a traditional manner. It is somewhat of a cross between a drama and a documentary. The present day characters serve to help us understand what the director wants to convey. The rogerebert.com review and an article and review on the New York Times site are useful to read before watching the film.

La Sapienza is a film about having knowledge about the past and the present, about people and relationships, and places to achieve a better, satisfying life. It is not accident that it is about knowledge as the Italian word Sapienza derives from the Italian verb sapere, to know.

Extremely different reactions to "La Sapienza" reflect differences in temperament. Negative criticism tends to remark the film's arty pretension, lack of plot, and pointlessness. It is easy to see why someone might react in this way, because Eugene Green's movies are different from everything else on offer, including so-called art-house films. To say that his characters do not talk as real people talk is exactly right, given that Green's characters speak in the declamatory Baroque style, a style which he has been teaching these past forty years. This mode of speech is so far removed from our daily discourse that it sounds like it comes from Mars. And that's the intention. It forces one to pay attention. It takes time and patience to get used to such talk, but after a little, the unusual diction begins to make sense: it fits Green's symmetrical compositions of objects in space and the stillness that permeates all his films.

As to pretentiousness, no. Green is, if anything, modest in his insistence that there is another way, albeit one that appears wildly impractical in our materialistic present. True, his characters incarnate types that reflect ideas which he has been developing, especially since 2001, in print and on film. True, to embody an idea is to be a bit odd. Certainly this approach takes us off the beaten track. However, for those of a particular temperament, that's all to the good.

It is not the fault of an English-speaking audience, when they are unfamiliar with Green's ideas. He writes in French, as did Julian Green and Samuel Beckett. However, unlike these latter two, his books have yet to be translated from French into English.

Meanwhile, Green's movies aim for evocation. There are no car chases, no shootouts, no femme fatales, no sound-bite dialogues, no CGI, no enhanced sounds, all of which can be entertaining. Instead, there is a universe of the imagination and a particular sensibility that would have us put down our smart phones for a long moment, take a deep breath, look around, and 'regard' (recall that this word comes from French and there lies its meaning) the person sitting across from us. That is to say, to be in the moment, not becoming, but being. After all, 'becoming' will take care of itself. Being, on the other hand, is sometimes missed altogether.