2015 Cannes Marathon: CQ

(Played Out of Competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival)

Written and directed by Roman Coppola, CQ is the story of a young filmmaker/editor who is asked by producers to finish a sci-fi film for them as he would fall in love with the film’s leading lady. It’s a film where a young man is given the chance to make a movie while he copes with his own personal life and his own desires to make personal films. Starring Jeremy Davies, Angela Lindvall, Elodie Bouchez, Giancarlo Giannini, Massimo Ghini, Jason Schwartzman, Billy Zane, and Gerard Depardieu. CQ is a stylish yet exuberant film from Roman Coppola.

Set in late 1960s France, the film revolves around a young American filmmaker who is working as an editor/second unit director for a revered filmmaker into sci-fi story until he is eventually asked to take over and finish the film once the original director is fired. There, he becomes fascinated by the film’s leading lady while trying to make his own personal films based on his own confessions about his life as his relationship with his French girlfriend starts to fall apart. It’s a film that sort of spoofs sci-fi films but also plays into the world of 1960s film culture and studio politics as some of it is based on real-life incidents and battles of the film’s writer/director Roman Coppola’s father Francis Ford Coppola.

Coppola’s screenplay plays into the conflicts and desires of its lead Paul Ballard (Jeremy Davies) who is happy in taking the chance to work for the director Andrezej (Gerard Depardieu) on this sci-fi film called Codename: Dragonfly that is starring an American newcomer by the name of Valentine (Angela Lindvall). Yet, when Andrezej is fired from the production by producer Enzo (Giancarlo Giannini), Paul ponders about what to do as the film stock and cameras he borrows to make his own film which is a documentary about himself. Even as he is eventually asked to take over for Andrezej to finish the film as it would be the moment where he is given the chance to make a film. Yet, the script plays into Paul’s conflict about what he wants to do as well as honor the intentions of the man whom he has replaced. Even as he copes with studio politics and his own personal life along with a saboteur who is trying to stop Paul from finishing the film.

Coppola’s direction is quite stylish not just in his varied approach to the films that were being made at the time but also in displaying the idea of what it was like in the world of films in the late 1960s. Notably as he would model much of the ideas of the sci-fi movie based on other film as it does pay tribute to films like Barbarella while Paul’s own film is definitely inspired by the French New Wave. Coppola brings in a lot of unique camera angles and compositions to the film while much of it is shot in Paris with some of it shot on location in Rome. Coppola’s usage of close-ups and medium shots are evident with a few wide shots that is used as he plays into the world of filmmaking as well as a man coming to grips with his own life. Even as his relationship with his stewardess girlfriend Marlene (Elodie Bouchez) is at a crossroads as she would raise questions about the film he’s making. It plays into Paul coming to terms with what he wants as a filmmaker but also as a person as he also deals with the blurring between reality and fantasy. Overall, Coppola creates a very witty yet engaging film about a young man getting the chance to make a film.

Cinematographer Robert Yeoman does amazing work with the film‘s cinematography as it is very colorful for some of the scenes made for the film-within-the-film as well as its usage of lights for some of the interiors and nighttime exterior scenes. Editors Leslie Jones does brilliant work with the editing as it is very stylish with its jump-cuts, slow-motion cuts, and other moments that play into Paul‘s point-of-view as an editor. Production designer Dean Tavoularis, with art directors Luc Chalon and Oshin Yeghiazariantz and set decorator Philippe Tulure, does fantastic work with the design of the Dragonfly character‘s spaceship and the set of the film as well as the apartment Paul and Marlene live in and other sets to play into the world of film.

Costume designer Judy Shrewsbury does excellent work with the costumes to create that look of late 1960s cinema as well as the clothes of the Dragonfly character. Sound designer Richard Beggs and sound editor Michael Kirchberger do superb work with the sound in some of the sound effects created for the film-within-a-film as well as what goes on during a production as well as the sound of old cameras. The film’s music by the French electronic band Mellow is wonderful for its playful and 60s-based score with elements of electronic and pop music in the mix while music supervisor Brian Reitzell brings in a fun soundtrack consisting of Euro-pop songs from Claude Francois, Jacques Dutronc, Paul Piot, Francesco Pennino, and Antonello Paliotti.

The casting by Blythe Cappello, Beatrice Kruger, and Juliette Menager is great as it features small appearances from Romain Duris as a young filmmaker, production designer Dean Tavoularis as a viewer of the unfinished film Andrezej is making, Sofia Coppola as Enzo’s mistress in Rome, L.M. Kit Carson as a fantasy critic observing what Paul is making, Natalia Vodianova as a model-girlfriend of filmmaker Felix de Marco, Silvio Muccino as an editor friend of Paul in Pippo, and Dean Stockwell in a terrific one-scene performance as Paul’s father who visits him at an airport where he talks about a dream that would relate to a possible doppelganger of Paul. John Phillip Law is wonderful as a corporate figurehead in the movie as he would hire Dragonfly to retrieve a weapon while Billy Zane is superb as that movie’s antagonist Mr. E as a revolutionary trying to bring peace and love back to the world.

Jason Schwartzman is hilarious as the kitsch filmmaker Felix de Marco as he is a character that is sort of based on Roger Corman as a young filmmaker who makes cheesy B-movies. Massimo Ghini is excellent as the producer Fabrizio who is convinced that Paul can save the movie as he is the more reasonable producer who knows talent. Giancarlo Giannini is fantastic as the producer Enzo who is not happy with Andrezej’s initial rough cut as he is full of life as he is based on the producer Dino De Laurentiis. Gerard Depardieu is amazing as the filmmaker Andrezej who believes that his film will be revolutionary until his ideas of how he wants to end it has him fired as some of his antics is based on other filmmakers including Roman Coppola’s father Francis Ford Coppola.

Elodie Bouchez is brilliant as Paul’s girlfriend Marlene who copes with Paul’s obsession with his own film as well as feeling neglected due to Paul’s work. Angela Lindvall is radiant as the actress Valentine who plays the lead role of Dragonfly in the film as she has a striking sensuality for the role while showing someone who is really just a normal American woman. Finally, there’s Jeremy Davies in a remarkable performance as Paul Ballard as a young filmmaker trying to make his own personal film while given the chance to become a filmmaker in finishing this sci-fi film as he copes with his own personal issues and desires as Davies brings a quiet humility into his role.

CQ is a phenomenal film from Roman Coppola that features a great cast led by Jeremy Davies and an ode to the world of 60s cinema. It’s a film that isn’t just exciting and full of humor but it’s also a film that showcases cinema at a crucial time as it goes from the world of studio-based films to the more personal work that would occur in the 1970s. In the end, CQ is a spectacular film from Roman Coppola.

© thevoid99 2015

The Dreamlife of Angels

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 5/16/08 w/ Additional Edits.

Directed by Erick Zonca, La Vie Revee des Anges (The Dreamlife of Angels) tells the story of two young, working class women in a small French town dealing with their harsh realities and a young comatose girl. Along the way, their friendship starts to diverge with different points of views as well as relationships in their lives. Written by Zonca and Roger Bohbot, the film explores the fragile friendship between two young women in a world that has few prospects and a slimmer future. Starring Elodie Bouchez, Natacha Regnier, Gregoire Colin, Patrick Mercado, and Jo Prestia. La Vie Revee des Agnes is a harrowing yet touching story of friendship from Erick Zonka.

In the north French town of Lille, a young woman named Isa (Elodie Bouchez) is trying to find work and shelter while wearing a large backpack. After meeting a Yugoslav boss (Zivko Niklevski), she finds a job sewing on a machine where she meets another young woman named Marie (Natacha Regnier) who is living in a flat that belongs to a woman and her daughter who are both in a coma after an accident. Isa asks if she can crash as the two become friends after they get into trouble with their boss at the sewing factory. The two women walk around town as they meet a couple of big bouncers name Charlie (Patrick Mercado) and Fredo (Jo Prestia). They befriend the big men as Marie finds herself enjoying the company of the big, burly Charlie as they continue to seek work around town.

While trying to get jobs including one at a club where they auditioned to be their favorite stars, they later go to a mall where they encounter a young man whose car they threw a rock at. He's later revealed to be the owner of the club Charlie and Fredo work at as Marie finds herself attracted to the man named Chris (Gregoire Colin). Isa meanwhile, learns about the owners of the flat as she reads the diary of the girl Sandrine (Louise Motte). She decides to see her at the hospital where she learned about her mother as Sandrine remains comatose. Feeling that the girl at least should know what's going on in her home, she writes a diary to tell her that she's in a coma as she reads the diaries to communicate with her. When Isa learns she got a job at the club passing out fliers in a silly costume and on roller skates, Marie refuses to do it as she wanders around into the bar where Chris' father owns as she begins an affair.

While Marie tries to secretly hide the affair from Charlie, Isa knows what's going on and she doesn't like it nor Chris whom she sees as a jerk who likes to be with a lot of women. The affair gets more intense and more self-destructive as one night when the two girls working at the club Charlie and Fredo work at, Marie leaves early as she sees Chris as the affair gets more troubling. Charlie knows what's going on as he talks to Isa where they both share their feelings about the affair. With Isa now coming to see Sandrine more, she learns that her uncle (Christian Cailleret) is planning to sell the flat. With the two women now forced to find new places to live, Isa confronts Marie about her affair after learning what Chris had told her. When Isa learns that Sandrine is sick, she decides to be closer to her while confronting about Marie's troubling state of mind as the two women deal with the loneliness that surrounds them.

Films about friendship often feature men that are sometimes buddy movies and such. Yet, there's not many movies about female friendship which in some ways are more interesting to tell. The script by Erick Zonca and Roger Bohbot with contributions by Virginie Wagon and Pierre Chosson, the film is essentially a study of isolation and how two different young women deal with loneliness. The story of two poor, penniless women dealing with trying to find jobs and companionship while leaning towards each only to be diverged by their different personalities. Isa, is a young woman who pretty lives by on whatever happens, happens while trying to maintain a sense of optimism through harsh realities. Marie is a young woman desperate for companionship while not wanting to fall in the same trap as her mother (Frederique Hazard) is doing with her father.

The script filled with wonderful development in character and in plot is told wonderfully through Zonca's observant yet wondrous direction is shot with great intimacy and style as he lets the camera follow the lives of these two young women. With some hand-held camera to show their lives, Zonca shows the girls in their similar struggles and the differences between them as they each live separate lives. The way Zonca captures the good times and later, the bad times that lead to an emotional climax for both women where the ending reveals a wide sense of where the two young women are going. The result is a film that is engrossing from start to finish to deal what young people had to go through to achieve happiness through harsh environments both physical and emotional.

Cinematographer Agnes Godard does superb work with the photography with no flashy lighting but a sense of realism in a verite style where the morning look in the interior settings are purely white and real. With a bit of grain to add to the look of realism, Godard's work is truly superb in the way she captures the dark look of the interiors to the vast location in Lille, France. Editor Yannick Kergoat does excellent work with the film's leisurely pacing while adding rhythmic jump cuts to give the film a sense of style. Production designer Jimmy Vansteenkiste does a great job with the look of the clubs and the flat that Isa and Marie live in to show a contrast of the environments they live and work at. Costume designer Francoise Clavel does a great job in the look of the costumes where the girls have a drab, loose look, Charlie and Fredo have a biker look, and Chris, a posh look.

Sound editor Muriel Moreau and engineer Jean-Luc Audy do an excellent job with the film's sound to capture the feel of the atmosphere and music clubs that the women work at that is true to the style of cinema verite. The film has no existing score except for a song right in the end by Yann Tiersen that is played around the film's final credits.

The casting by Antoine Carrard is superb as smaller performances by Frederique Hazard, Christian Cailleret, and Zivko Niklevski are memorable as is the performance of Louise Motte as the comatose Sandrine. Jo Prestia is good as the mean-looking Fredo who seems annoyed at the company of the two young women only to find a good time with them despite his mean personality. Patrick Mercado is excellent as Charlie, a big man with a big heart who treats the two girls, especially Marie kindness while helping them out with money and such. Gregoire Colin is good as the slimy, philandering Chris who likes to have rough sex with Marie and treat her horribly while humiliating her with other women only to show his true side to Isa.

The film's best performances truly goes to the duo of Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier. Bouchez, who some might know her from her work on the TV show Alias is superb as the upbeat yet determined Isa, who is trying to find work and happiness while dealing with a dose of reality in Marie's self-destructive behavior and the comatose girl Sandrine. Bouchez also adds a sense of emotion through her minimalist performance in scenes that require huge drama but Bouchez's understated approach is just superb. Regnier delivers a brilliant performance as the troubled Marie who is desperate for companionship as she delves into an intense bout with loneliness and humiliation. Regnier's performance is certainly the most challenging as she brings a lot of angst and depth to the character. Yet, Bouchez and Regnier are extraordinary in their performances as the shine in the film which is why they both received the 1998 Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

La Vie Revee des Agnes is a truly superb, touching, and powerful film from Erick Zonca led by the amazing performances of Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier. Fans of female-led films will no doubt consider this a great film about female friendship while it's also one of the best European films of the 1990s. While the film isn't easy to watch, the story itself is universal as well as what the film is saying about young people that is still relevant to this day. In the end, La Vie Revee des Agnes is a must-see film for anyone who wants a real compelling story about friendship and loneliness.

(C) thevoid99 2012