Jasper-12

Lars Von Trier and his Dogma95 crowd could learn a few things from the work of Eric Rohmer. This film also boasts a largely improvised script, is shot using available natural light, and has no post-dubbed score. I would imagine it cost a good deal less to make than Thomas Vinterberg's 'Festen', with its huge cast and 64 hours of rough footage to be edited down. But Rohmer's emphasis is on naturalism rather than a forced faux-naif, and the cinematography, though simplistic, makes good use of the natural beauty of the Ardeche landscape and its clear blue skies. There is also a story here, some beautiful performances, a slight whimsical humour rather than an ironic smirk, and warm, well-rounded characterisation. It is a sedately paced film, with no major themes, revelations or insights, but a bold and realistic portrayal of a host of characters who are seldom depicted on the cinema screen; the middle-aged rural bourgeoisie. Those whose cinematic demands consist of an endless barrage of sensual stimulation will be disappointed, but for a soporific Sunday afternoon viewing, it is very hard to resist its charms. Rohmer has been making films like these for decades (Pauline a la Plage, La Raie Verte), so the film is less conceived as a fist in the face to contemporary cinema than as another quietly confident offering from an established auteur of a truly alternative cinema with nothing more to prove.

My sources tell me that this biopic of the one of the few influential female artists of the time has sacrificed a lot of historical veracity in the name of dramatic license. The film focuses on the earlier part of her life, specifically the relationship with her tutor Tassi, ignoring her rise to prominence later which is revealed in a pre-credit titles coda at the end of the film. Given that Artemisia Gentileschi is hardly a household name, even in the art world, I for one was looking forward to at least some degree of enlightenment towards the subject. That Tassi murdered his wife and child and had an incestuous relationship with sister is ignored by the film, instead playing him as straightforward love interest of little other dimension. The featured painting of 'Judith and Holofernes' was also painted some eight years after the events portrayed. Some concessions to cinematic narrative structure are understandable, but to totally disregard key facts is unforgivable. As for Artemisia herself, there is little surviving information other than a basic outline of her life, but dramatically director Merlet doesn't seem to know which way to play this. Little insight is provided for her as a person, nor for her motivation as an artist, other than that as a martyr to the patriarchal order of the day archetype. As such, she is never truly convincing as the child prodigy artist. Instead her relevance is reduced to that of a cipher in a bog-standard romantic tragedy, and the overwhelming thought as one leaves the cinema is 'So what?' On a visual level, the film is colourful, if a little conservative, at its best when taking in the rigorous working methods and assorted paraphernalia of the artists practising at the time. Unfortunately this is the sum of the informative merit in what amounts to no more than another polished yet undistinguished costume drama with the odd dash of titillatory nudity. For all that, Artemisia herself (Valentina Cervi) is certainly a little cutie and the film is never a chore to watch, but at the end of the day it merely whetted my appetite for more knowledge on the subject.

Mimi, singer in a prefabricated Spice Girls-styled trio by the name of 'Cham', announces her ambition to leave the band to pursue a career as an actress. Her initial role of a one-line part in a daytime soap is unpromising, until she is coerced by her avaricious manager to move further away from her original squeaky clean image. She is soon doing nude photo-spreads and agrees to play a graphic rape scene in a new film. At the same time, someone is documenting her every move on the 'Mimis Place' internet fan page in the guise of her personal diary, and various people in her surrounding life are being brutally murdered. As her image becomes more and more manipulated by those guiding her career, the lines between her personal, public and imaginary identity become increasingly confused as she is tormented by a delusionary manifestation of her former pop persona.

For a straightforward Psycho-thriller, 'Perfect Blue' already stands head and shoulders above much of the genre. It may lack the self-knowing humour and big-name US soap stars of the likes of 'Scream' and its current gamut of emulators, but in terms of intelligence and focus it is far more effective. It's hallucinogenic spiralling descent into madness is perfectly paced and gives an obvious nod towards Polanski's 'Repulsion'. Even more remarkable then, is that it has been realised as a anime/manga film (such as 'Akira' or 'Legend of the Overfiend'). I'm no great expert on Japanese animation, but here the expressionistic editing style seems distinctly more cinematic than that of standard animation techniques, and the non-fantastical nature of the script is a departure from the usual genre material. As such, the atmosphere created is unique and otherworldly, whilst at the same time providing more graphic nudity and bloodshed than would be allowed if it were all real. 'Perfect Blue' was an exclusive presentation by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in the UK, so whether it gets any wider video release remains to be seen. If it does then I shall certainly be tracking down a copy.