Lux Aeterna (2019 film)

 

Written and directed by Gaspar Noe, Lux Aeterna is an experimental 51-minute film in which two actresses taking part in a film about witches where things get too real. The film is an unconventional film about a film that is being made about witches where everything goes wrong Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Beatrice Dalle, Abbey Lee Kershaw, and Karl Glusman. Lux Aeterna is a chaotic and eerie film by Gaspar Noe.

The film is about actress Beatrice Dalle trying to make a film about witches starring Charlotte Gainsbourg as she is trying to deal with the chaos in the production while she converses with Gainsbourg about witches. It is a film with a simple premise but there is not much plot as it plays into a production going into total chaos with an ending that is just insane in terms of its visuals. Noe’s script would feature text and quotes from filmmakers Carl Theodor Dreyer, Luis Bunuel, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder as it plays into the idea of film as art and their approach to telling the stories about witchcraft. Noe’s script also plays into Dalle and Gainsbourg’s friendship as it opens with them having a conversation while there are those who want to make sure that Dalle gets ousted from the film as it does play into elements of misogyny from her producer and a cinematographer. Even those acting with Gainsbourg are troubled by the production with Abbey Lee Kershaw feeling exploited by men who want to see her nude while another actor in Karl Glusman tries to get actors to onboard for his own project.

Noe’s direction is stylish where it opens with footage of Dreyer’s 1943 film Day of Wrath as it plays into the idea of witchcraft with text from Dreyer about what film should be as a form of art. It then cuts to a scene where it is shot in split-screen where Dalle and Gainsbourg are having a conversation as it is shot inside a studio set with hand-held cameras following the former as she walks through the sets that included a hand-held camcorder where a young man follows her every move. Notably as it plays into a producer trying to do whatever he can to see her fuck up as it is her own film. While Noe does use some wide shots including for the film’s climax, much of Noe’s direction emphasizes on close-up and medium shots with the hand-held cameras often moving around as tracking shots. Noe also plays to this element of chaos where everything does feel intrusive such as scenes of models including Kershaw getting dressed while they are in the nude as there’s a couple of men outside of the window getting a peep which upsets Kershaw.

The film’s climax relates to a scene that Dalle is trying to create which involves three witches being burned at the stake with Gainsbourg and Kershaw playing the witches. Noe would create this sense of tension that would emerge, and it is where the film’s final 10 minutes would be this moment that is terrifying. Before the film even begins, Noe would post a warning for people with epilepsy relating to what they will see as these final ten minutes are something that people with epilepsy should not watch. What happens is total chaos through flickering colors and images that is intense in its overall presentation. Even as its aftermath has this element of dark humor as it relates to a quote from one of the directors that Noe cites for this film. Overall, Noe crafts a disturbing yet entrancing film about two actresses trying to make a film about witchcraft and witch burnings.

Cinematographer Benoit Debie does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its array of lighting and flickering lights as it adds to the film’s visual look including some natural interior setting for the scenes at a fireplace where Dalle and Gainsbourg are conversing. Editor Jerome Pesnel does excellent work with the editing as it has some straightforward cuts to play into the suspense along with some jump-cuts for a few bits. Set decorator Samantha Benne does amazing work with the look of the sets in all its artificiality to create the mood of a film set. Sound editor Ken Yasumoto does superb work with the sound in playing up the atmosphere of the set where voices can be heard from afar as well as some of the overlapping dialogue. Music supervisors Steve Bouyer and Pascal Mayer do terrific work in creating film soundtrack that features a lot of music played on locations including classical and electronic music.

The film’s wonderful ensemble cast include some notable small roles and appearances from Maxime Ruiz as the cinematographer who hates Dalle, Yannick Bono as the producer who is hoping to sabotage Dalle, Mica Arganarz as a stand-in for Gainsbourg, Felix Maritaud as an actor on set, Karl Glusman as himself trying to pitch a project for anyone interested, Clara 3000 as another actress on set, and Abbey Lee Kershaw as herself as someone starring in the film while also dealing with men leering at her when she’s nude. The performances of Beatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg as fictional versions of themselves are incredible with Dalle as an actress trying to make her first film as a director as she becomes overwhelmed with people trying to sabotage her as well as get her own ideas for her first directorial film. Gainsbourg is the more reserved of the two as someone trying to get ready for the role while also dealing with the chaos on set as well as her family life outside the set.

Lux Aeterna is a remarkable film by Gaspar Noe that features amazing leading performances from Beatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Along with its simple presentation, gorgeous photography, and sense of chaos as it relates to filmmaking and the idea of witchcraft. It is a film that is not for everyone other than anyone interested in the idea of what goes during a film shoot. Anyone who is epileptic however should not see this for the sake of their own health. In the end, Lux Aeterna is a marvelous film by Gaspar Noe.

Gaspar Noe Films: Carne - I Stand Alone - Irreversible - Enter the Void - Love (2015 film) - Climax - Vortex (2021 film)

Related: Day of Wrath - The Auteurs #48: Gaspar Noe

© thevoid99 2024

21 Grams

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga, 21 Grams is the story of three people who are each connected by the death of a person as they each cope with loss and faith. The second part of a trilogy that explores death, the film is a multi-layered story that plays into the lives of three people who don’t know each other but become connected by tragedy. Starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo, Danny Huston, Clea Duvall, Denis O’Hare, and Eddie Marsan. 21 Grams is an ominous yet exhilarating film from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

When a hit-and-run claimed the lives of a man and two little girls, the lives of three different people are affected in drastic ways as the film is about tragedy and its after effects. Much of it involves the life of a critically-ill mathematician who is need of a heart transplant, a grieving widow who also lost her daughters in this tragedy, and a born-again ex-convict whose faith is tested over what had happened. Through Guillermo Arriaga’s complex and multi-layered screenplay, it is told in a non-linear fashion as it plays into not just the tragedy but also the search for meaning as one man tries to find redemption, another man is trying to find answers into why he’s alive, and a woman is caught in the middle over what she had lost. All of which plays into those dealing with mistakes and such as well as several other things where everyone tries to find answers.

For the mathematician Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), he is given a second chance to live but his own marriage to Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) starts to fall apart as he becomes obsessed with the identity of the heart he had received which would lead him to Cristina (Naomi Watts). Cristina would learn about Paul and what he has to do with the death of her family as it has the two come together to track the man who was responsible for changing their lives in the ex-convict Jack Jordan (Benicio del Toro). Yet, there are elements into both Cristina and Jack that are interesting as the former was a former drug addict who was saved by her husband as she found a reason to live as that loss drove her back to drugs and alcohol.

In the latter, here is someone who is trying to redeem himself as he devotes himself towards Christianity and swear off drugs and alcohol but his involvement in this tragedy forces him to question his own faith and being as he has no clue what to do as he carries the guilt. All of which forces all three characters to converge into a heavy confrontation about loss as it is, once again, told in a non-linear fashion. There’s moments that play into the drama where all three have to work together as it becomes clear that none of them have anything to gain in this tragedy that their connected by. Even as they all know that there is nowhere else to go as some try to find redemption while others seek an answer.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s direction is very entrancing not just for how dreary he presents the drama but also into the many layers that the story takes. Much of it is presented with a sense of intimacy as Inarritu’s approach to close-ups and medium shots play into the anguish that occurs throughout the film. Even in scenes where Jack eats dinner with his family as he is trying to be a good father but his approach might seem harsh as it relates to his own children. Much of Inarritu’s approach is shot with hand-held cameras but it’s never overly shaky as he maintains something that is very steady and to the point. Notably as Inarritu would create scenes to tease various storylines coming together such as Mary waiting for Paul as he does surgery as she gets a glimpse of Cristina walking out of the hospital with her family.

Since it is a film told in a non-linear narrative, Inarritu is able to create moments in the film where it allows a scene to be told in very different ways. Even as he would shift moments that is supposed to be in the third act back into the first or second act as it plays into the drama. There’s also moments in the film where things do intensify on an emotional level as it relates to Cristina’s grief and Jack’s own guilt such as the scene of him returning home as he reveals to his wife what he had done. Inarritu’s approach to the compositions in how he frames his actors are also intense such as its climax in the third act as it is about who is where in the frame and such. Overall, Inarritu creates a very brooding yet somber film about death, faith, and understanding.

Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto does amazing work with the film‘s grainy and colorful cinematography where it adds to the very grimy sense of despair that looms in the film with its gritty approach to daytime exteriors to its usage of low-key lights and dark shades for the interior scenes whether it‘s day or night. Editor Stephen Mirrone does brilliant work with the editing with its usage of jump-cuts and other stylish cuts to play into the drama and its offbeat, non-linear narrative. Production designer Brigitte Broch, with set decorator Meg Everist and art director Deborah Riley, does excellent work with the look of the different homes of the three characters to showcase who they are as well as some of the places they go to including the swimming pool center that Cristina goes to.

Costume designer Marlene Stewart does terrific work with the costumes as it‘s mostly casual for the look of the characters to play into their sense of loss. Sound designers Martin Hernandez and Roland N. Thai do fantastic work with the sound to capture the intensity of the emotions as well as some of the chaotic moments of violence and drama that occurs in the film. The film’s music by Gustavo Santaolalla is superb for its very ominous and eerie score with its emphasis on folk guitars and somber electric guitars to play into the drama while music supervisor Lynn Fainchtein brings in a nice soundtrack that features different kinds of music from acts like War, Ozomatli, Ann Sexton, and Dave Matthews.

The casting by Francine Maisler is remarkable as it features notable small roles from Carly Nahon and Claire Pakis as Cristina’s daughters, Paul Calderon as a friend of Jack in Brown who tries to get him work, Denis O’Hare as Paul’s heart surgeon, John Rubenstein as Mary’s gynecologist who tries to help her chances to be pregnant, Clea Duvall as Cristina’s friend Claudia, Danny Huston as Cristina’s husband Michael, and Eddie Marsan as Reverend John who tries to help Jack following the tragedy. Melissa Leo is excellent as Jack’s wife Marianne who tries to cope with what Jack had done as she tries to help him. Charlotte Gainsbourg is superb as Paul’s wife who is eager to start over with him after a separation period as well as taking care of him as she copes with the changes in their life after his surgery.

Benicio del Toro is brilliant as Jack Jordan as a former convict turned born-again Christian who becomes the catalyst for the tragedy that is shaped in the film as he spends much of the film questioning his faith and ponders if he can be redeemed. Naomi Watts is amazing as Cristina Peck as a recovering addict who falls back into her addition following the loss of her family as Watts display the sense of anguish that looms over her as she searches for answers and satisfaction. Finally, there’s Sean Penn in a marvelous performance as Paul River as a mathematician who was dying until he received a new heart as he ponders whose heart does he have as he tries to find answers while coping with his own mortality and existence.

21 Grams is a phenomenal film from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu that features very strong performances from Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio del Toro. It’s a film that doesn’t explore the severity of death and tragedy but also plays into the world of existence and faith. It’s also a film that doesn’t play by the rules of conventional narrative thanks in part to Guillermo Arriaga’s inventive screenplay. In the end, 21 Grams is a tremendous film from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Films: Amores Perros - The Hire-Powder Keg - 11' 9' 01 September 11-Mexico - Babel - To Each His Own Cinema - Biutiful - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - The Revenant - The Auteurs #45: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

© thevoid99 2014

Nymphomaniac

Written and directed by Lars von Trier, Nymphomaniac is a two-part, five-and-a-half hour film (in its director’s cut) that explores the life of a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who has endured an illustrious yet trouble sexual history as she tells her story to a man who analyzes her story. The third and final part of Lars von Trier’s Depression trilogy, the film is an exploration into the life of a woman who copes with her sexual desires which leads to dangerous territories as her attempts to find normalcy leads to depression and loss as the character of Joe is played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stacy Martin in two different ages. Also starring Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier, Connie Nielsen, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Bell, and Jesper Christensen. Nymphomaniac is a sprawling, provocative, and eerie film from Lars von Trier.

While it may be a film of a simple story involving the life of a nymphomaniac, it’s a film that explores not just the idea of sexuality and love but also how a woman tries to find fulfillment through sex in a life that is very turbulent. Told largely in a narrative where Joe tells her story to this man named Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), it plays into Joe’s life with Seligman analyzing these events through eight chapters. Through the course of the story, Seligman becomes fascinated by her story with some curiosity and disgust while he brings in a lot of strange theories and ideas into the mix that intrigues Joe. There is a unique interplay between the two as Joe is telling her story as it would have this rise-and-fall scenario where the first half of the film is about Joe using her sex drive as a tool and feels liberated by it. Yet, her encounters with the idea of love, loss, and that liberation would eventually play into her downfall as she is desperate to regain her sexual drive only to go into great extremes which would cost her greatly.

Since it’s a two-part film, it plays into many ideas of what Joe would go through as she tell Seligman her story. The first volume plays into the first five chapters as it relates to Joe’s growing awareness of her sexuality and its power while trying to rebel against the concepts of love. Yet, her encounter with love through the man she lost her virginity to in Jerome (Shia LaBeouf) would complicate things as her attempts to maintain her lifestyle would cause trouble such as the disintegration of a couple’s marriage. The loss of her father (Christian Slater) would start the beginning of Joe’s own descent into depression where a reunion with Jerome would have some repercussions on her sex drive. The second volume plays into that further descent where Joe tries to regain that drive to great extremes as an encounter with a sadist named K (Jamie Bell) would destroy aspects of her personal life. Especially as she tries to conform to society to find fulfillment only to realize who she is as she delves into a darker world.

The script would maintain a back-and-forth scenario where Seligman would give his analysis on this as he is someone that is this intellectual that has read many books on all things in the world such as religion, art, and sex. Yet, he is this observer for the audience as he’s baffled by some of Joe’s antics while Joe would refute some of his analysis while being respectful into his views no matter how overly-analytical they are. That’s where many questions into Seligman come into play where many of Joe’s own hypotheses about him prove to be correct. Though there’s moments where Seligman questions Joe’s views and her behavior in the story, he never judges her while also playing to questions about the people in her own life.

Lars von Trier’s direction is definitely stylish as he goes all-out in terms of visual presentation as well as impact in the way he presents sex at its most graphic. While it’s a film that explores the world of sex and a woman’s sexuality, von Trier definitely aims to create something that is intimate in some parts as it relates to the scenes between Joe and Seligman. Yet, he would also create compositions and images that are very entrancing from his usage of computers to drive the camera movements in some scenes such as the moment Seligman finds the beaten Joe. The direction also includes a lot of hand-held shots and some stylized shots where von Trier would also play with aspect ratios in order to convey some of the drama that occurs. Particularly in the sequence in the film’s third chapter where the young Joe deals with a very distraught wife (Uma Thurman) of one of her lovers.

The direction also has von Trier use different film stocks and visual motifs to play into the film where some of the images are grainy while the fourth chapter sequence of Joe meeting her father for the last time is in black-and-white. The use of wide shots and close-ups are quite evident in the way von Trier plays with the idea of loss and despair where some of the images he uses definitely serves as a homage to the films of Andrei Tarkovsky. Some of that sense of beauty plays into von Trier’s portrayal towards sex where some of it is quaint while other moments are confrontational. Notably in the presentation of the sex as it’s very no-hold-barred where anal sex, oral, and all sorts of sexual ideas do come into play yet von Trier uses some very crafty visual effects, with the help of body doubles, into presenting the images of penetration and other graphic sexual scenes. Some of it is shocking as it does get quite intriguing in the first volume yet things do meander during the sixth chapter in the second volume due to some of the dramatic elements in the film while some aspects do get ridiculous. Especially where Seligman would question into the validity of Joe’s story.

The extended cut of von Trier’s version of the film definitely showcases more graphic scenes as it involves close-ups of genitalia and other shocking moments. Most notably a sequence in the film’s seventh chapter that will definitely test people in terms of its mixture of sexual and violent content as the result will either disgust people or bring unintentional laughter. The film does definitely go full circle towards the end as it ends in some respects to the beginning as it’s followed by Seligman trying to comprehend Joe’s story. Especially as it raises questions into the ideas of sex as well as what would happen if a man was in Joe’s position to be a nymphomaniac. Overall, von Trier creates a very disturbing yet evocative film about a woman’s chaotic sexual life.

Cinematographer Manuel Albert Claro does brilliant work with the film‘s very stylized cinematography from the usage of digital polish in the film‘s fourth chapter segment to the use of grainy camera footage for some scenes in the final chapter as well as some unique lighting shade and schemes that add an entrancing look to the film. Editors Molly Marlene Stensgaard, Jacob Secher Schulsinger, and Volume I editor Morten Hojbjerg do amazing work with the editing with its inspiring usage of montages to play into some of Seligman‘s own analyses as well as some stylish jump-cuts to play into the dramatic tone of the film. Production designer Simone Grau, with set decorator Thorsten Sabel and art director Alexander Scherer, does fantastic work with the different sets created such as the apartment that Seligman lives where Joe would tell her story to the different homes she would live in throughout the journey in her life.

Costume designer Manon Rasmussen does excellent work with the costumes from the array of stylish clothes the young Joe wear to the more conservative look she would wear as she gets older. Hair/makeup designer Dennis Knudsen does terrific work with the look of Joe in her assaulted state as well as the hairstyles the younger version would wear along with the deformed right ear of a character Joe would meet late in the film. Visual effects supervisors Peter Hjorth and Yoel Godo do great work with the visual effects from the realistic look of the sexual content and body doubles that is superimposed on the main actors in the graphic scenes of sex plus a few moments to play into the sense of loss that surrounds Joe.

Sound designer Kristian Eidnes Andersen does superb work with the sound to convey some of the darker moments in the film as well as some of the intimate moments in the drama to play into Joe‘s despair. Music supervisor Mikkel Maltha does wonderful work in assembling the film’s soundtrack as it features a diverse array of music from classical pieces from Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Camille Saint-Saens, George Frederic Handel, and Richard Wagner plus music by Steppenwolf, Rammstein, Talking Heads, and Charlotte Gainsbourg doing a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Hey Joe.

The casting by Des Hamilton is incredible as it is a massive ensemble as it features appearances from noted von Trier regulars Udo Kier as a waiter in the sixth chapter, Jean-Marc Barr as debtor in the film’s final chapter, Jesper Christensen as Jerome’s uncle in the second chapter, and Jens Albinus as a train passenger the young Joe gives head to in the film’s first chapter. Other noteworthy small roles include Kate Ashfield and Caroline Goodall as two different therapists Joe meets in the seventh chapter, Tania Carlin as a sex addict Joe meets in the seventh chapter, Shanti Roney as an interpreter in the sixth chapter Joe hires to make a meeting involving two African brothers, Michael Pas as an older version of Jerome, Saskia Reeves as a nurse in the film’s fourth chapter, Felicity Gilbert as a secretary the young Joe worked with in the second chapter, and Hugo Speer as a married lover of Joe whom she tries to push away only to cause a lot of trouble into his marriage.

In the roles of the younger versions of Joe, Maja Arsovic and Ananya Berger are wonderful in their roles to display the sense of innocence and curiosity for the young women. Connie Nielsen is terrific as Joe’s very cold mother who is often very distant yet manages to be quite intriguing as she would shape elements of Joe’s growth. Sophie Kennedy Clark is superb as the young Joe’s friend B who shares her love of sex as she would compete with Joe in a game of who can fuck more men while alienating Joe with talks about love. Mia Goth is fantastic as Joe’s apprentice P in the film’s final chapter whom she takes in as she would show her the ropes of her job late in the film. Uma Thurman is remarkable as the wife of one of Joe’s lover who arrives to her apartment as she is terrifying in displaying a woman coming apart as her family is being destroyed.

Willem Dafoe is brilliant as a crime boss named L who hires her in the final chapter as well as introducing her to P. Jamie Bell is amazing as the very disturbing sadomasochist K who would help Joe regain elements of her sexuality but at a great price as it’s a very troubling yet exhilarating performance from Bell. Shia LaBeouf is excellent as Jerome Morris as the man whom Joe would lose her virginity to as she would encounter him numerous times as she would eventually marry him only for their marriage to disintegrate as LaBeouf displays some restraint into his performance. Christian Slater is great as Joe’s father as a man who loves tree as she is someone whom Joe adores as she copes badly with his death as there’s a sensitivity and warmth to Slater’s performance that is entrancing to watch.

Stellan Skarsgard is phenomenal as Seligman as a book-smart intellectual who listens and analyzes Joe’s story as he displays some humor and humility to his performance as it’s also full of charm as it’s one of Skarsgard’s best performances. Stacy Martin is sensational as the young Joe as this woman who is quite wild and full of energy as she seeks to find fulfillment in her sexuality as she later copes with the aspects of loss and growing up into adulthood. Finally, there’s Charlotte Gainsbourg in a tremendous performance as the older Joe as a woman desperate to regain her sexual drive only to deal with depression and loneliness as Gainsbourg does great work in her narration as well as play into Joe’s sense of indifference and viewpoints about the ways of the world with such coldness as it’s one of her finest performances.

Nymphomaniac is an astonishing yet harrowing film from Lars von Trier that features great performances from Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stacy Martin, and Stellan Skarsgard. While it’s definitely a bold and ambitious that is flawed at times, it is still very compelling for the way it explores a woman and her sexuality as well as her descent into depression. It’s also a film that is willing to ask some very big questions about women and their idea of sexuality where it will definitely raise discussions about the concept of nymphomania. In the end, Nymphomaniac is a rapturous and spectacular film from Lars von Trier.

The Element of Crime - Epidemic - Medea - Europa - The Kingdom I - Breaking the Waves - The Kingdom II - Dogme #2-Idioterne - Dancer in the Dark - The Five Obstructions - Dogville - Manderlay - The Boss of It All - Antichrist - Dimension (2010 short) - Melancholia - The House That Jack Built - The Kingdom: Exodus - (Etudes)

Related: The Auteurs #7: Lars von Trier

© thevoid99 2014

The Science of Sleep

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 9/30/06 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.

Written and directed by Michel Gondry, The Science of Sleep tells the story of a young Mexican who moves to France after the death of his father to live with his French mother. Taking a mundane job, he escapes into his often fanatical, dream world filled with his own ideas. Once he meets a new neighbor, he falls in love as his own world of reality and fiction collide. Starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Emma de Caunes, Alain Chabat, and Miou-Miou. The Science of Sleep is a marvel of a film that is true to the visual style of Michel Gondry.

The film explores the world of reality and imagination as a young Mexican man named Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) moves to France following his father's death to live with his French mother (Miou-Miou) who got him a job cutting and pasting borders for calenders. It's a job that he doesn't like as he retreats to his dreams where he hosts a TV shows that mixes dreams and such. When he meets an artist named Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her friend Zoe (Emma de Caunes), he falls for Stephanie as the two are attracted by their own creative pursuits as the world of reality and fiction starts to collide as it would play into Stephane's refusal to accept reality.

Reality and fiction is a great conflict that many people can relate to. For Michel Gondry, it's the perfect theme for his visual style of filmmaking. The film is really about a young man who wants to get the girl of his dreams while dealing with his own reality which starts to collide with his fantasy. The character of Stephane is like a child since he has troubles dealing with his emotions as he reacts to things like a child, especially with Stephanie. Still, Gondry creates a fantastic story that is a bit more angst-driven than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind while both films have the same amount of heart in creating a whimsical love story.

Gondry's directing definitely mixes the world of reality and fiction where for some audiences, it can be very confusing. Still, Gondry's visual presentation that includes things like cardboard cars, stop-motion animation, big hands, moveable special effects is very childlike in its imagination. In many ways, it's Gondry's most innocent film since it's about a man who is still a child that has trouble growing up to a woman who shares his imagination yet is grounded in the real world. While the film isn't as strong or as evocative as Eternal, this film does prove that Michel Gondry is indeed a brilliant director with wonderful, imaginative ideas.

Helping Gondry in his vision is cinematographer Jean-Louis Bompoint who brings a wonderful shade to the film's exterior and interior settings while using a lot of colors for some of the film's cosmic paint sequences that explores the emotions of Stephane. Production designers Ann Chakravety, Pierre Pell, and Stephane Rosenbaum are the real stars of the film's technical achievements. With their interior locations in Gondry's old apartment, the design of Stephane TV's studio filled with cardboard, cotton, and all sorts of arty material is very magical. With the help of some special effects team that included Lauri Faggioni who created the horse and sculptor Bruno Guillemet, the film is a masterpiece in production design as everything from big hands, cardboard cars, and moving towns is filled with life and wonder.

Sound designers Dominique Gaborieau, Guillaume Le Bras, and Guillaume Sciama do great work in playing the sound to some of the film's gadgets and such. Editor Juliette Welfling also plays to the film's eccentric feel with some nice jump-cut and backwards editing to convey the madness of Stephane's mind. Costume designer Florence Fontaine also does great work in the costumes to the animal clothing Stephane, Serge, and Guy wore to play a song for Stephanie to some of Stephanie's clothing as it brings a lot of innocence. Composer Jean-Michel Bernard brings a largely acoustic, keyboard-driven score to the film while composing his own original ballad that conveys the emotions of Stephane while he makes a cameo as a piano-playing policeman.

The film contains a wonderful cast mostly filled with French actors as they all spoke French with a bit of English and broken Spanish. Small performances from Yvette Petit as Christine's friend and Alain de Moyencourt as her magician boyfriend Gerard are wonderful while Miou-Miou is great as Stephane's concerned mother Christine who has a great scene in one of the film's fantasy sequences. Pierre Vaneck is good as the snotty boss Mr. Pouchet who is very funny in another of Stephane's dream while Aurelia Petit and Sacha Bourdo are great as Stephane's co-workers who end up becoming part of the fantasy with their own stuffy attitudes. Emma de Caunes is excellent as Stephanie's flirtatious friend Zoe who tries to get Stephanie to be super-cool while being nice to Stephane. The best supporting performance goes to Alain Chabat as the perverse yet experienced Guy who tries to give Stephane advice about women while stealing the showing a punk-rock leather jacket in a scene where he is getting a lot of women.

Charlotte Gainsbourg gives one of her best and more charming performances as fellow dreamer and artist Stephanie who shares in Stephane's quirky and eccentric dreams yet is grounded into the real world. Gainsbourg has a beauty reminiscent of her famed mother Jane Birkin while combining some of the grittiness that she displayed in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarratu's 21 Grams. This is another great performance from the multi-talented Gainsbourg. Gael Garcia Bernal continues to display his talents as one of the best actors of his generation. Bringing a childlike innocence to the character, it's truly his most energetic and whimsical performance to date as Bernal brings a lot of humor and drama to the character. Bernal has great chemistry with Gainsbourg while his performance is also filled with sadness in the fact that he's trying to find answers from his late father where Bernal brings real depth to a young man who doesn't know how to grow up. It's probably the best performance he's ever given.

The Science of Sleep is a sprawling yet whimsical film from Michel Gondry. Thanks to the performances of Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg, the film has something to offer for those who love the conflict of reality and fiction as well as a strange love story. Conventional film audiences might not get the film but art house audiences and fans of Gondry will indeed enjoy this film. In the end, for a film that has a lot of heart and imagination, The Science of Sleep is the film to see.

Michel Gondry Films: Human Nature - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Dave Chappelle's Block Party - Be Kind Rewind - Tokyo!: Interior Design - (The Thorn in the Heart) - The Green Hornet - The We & the I - Mood Indigo - (Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?) - (Microbe & Gasoline)

© thevoid99 2013

Melancholia

Written and directed by Lars von Trier, Melancholia is the story of a young woman’s wedding ceremony is threatened by a planet that is set to collide with Earth as the bride goes into a deep depression while her sister begins to worry about the planet. The film is the second part of an unofficial trilogy that explores depression that was preceded by von Trier’s 2009 film Antichrist. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgard, Brady Corbet, Udo Kier, Cameron Spurr, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling, Jesper Christensen, and Stellan Skarsgard. Melancholia is an extraordinary yet intoxicating film from Lars von Trier.

Arriving late to their own wedding reception, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) arrive at the castle as they meet their guests. While Justine’s boss/Michael’s best man Jack (Stellan Skarsgard) and Justine’s father make grand speeches, Justine’s mother Gaby (Charlotte Rampling) shows her distaste towards weddings. The mood changes as Justine suddenly falls into a deep depression as her older sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) notices as she tries to get Justine to lighten her mood as Claire’s husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) also tries to get her to improve her mood. Still, Justine feels out of it as Jack sends his new assistant Tim (Brady Corbet) to get a tag line from her for an ad. With the party winding down, things begin to unravel as Justine’s depression worsens as the night ends in disaster.

Going horseback riding with Claire, Justine notices that a star she had seen the night before is gone as they see a large planet emerge. Claire becomes worried about the planet while Justine’s depression worsens though she is drawn to the planet as is Claire’s son Leo (Cameron Spurr). Though John claims that the planet will just pass by, Claire doesn’t think so as Justine’s mood becomes erratic and un-natural due to the presence of the planet. Notably as she claims that life on Earth is evil as the family watches the planet at night where John believes it’s moving away. Later that morning, the inevitable starts to appear as the two sisters react differently to what is going to happen.

What happens when a planet is set to collide with Earth and all of its existence cease to exist? How will anyone react to this situation? Well, Lars von Trier doesn’t really give any answers although he does bring some suggestions about how would a person react to a situation like this where all it would eventually lead to is death. The film is split into two different parts representing the two sisters and their own reactions to everything around them. The first half is about Justine and her own descent towards depression. The second half is about Claire and her anxiety about the fact that the world is going to end. Of course, the ending is very obvious as there’s no deux ex machina or anything to twist things up. Instead, it’s all about how one reacts to the inevitable.

The script that von Trier creates is truly ambitious but also very accessible in the way he studies anxiety and depression. Something the director has known to deal with throughout his entire career, notably in recent years as he was open about the way he dealt with his on-going depression and anxieties. He uses both subjects as a way to react to the idea that the world is going to end in his narrative structure. The first half is about a young woman at her own wedding suddenly falling into her own depression. There, she begins to feel detached to the people around her while wandering around all by herself unsure of what to do. In the second half, she begins to behave erratically while all of the things that happens to a depressed person starts to unveil such as the way people taste food or reacting to things in a certain way.

While both depression and anxiety are evident in both halves of the film, the anxiety portion of the film in the older sister becomes more evident in the second half. There, we have this woman starting to become frightened about the idea that the world is going to end and there won’t be any life after that. She would eventually fall apart and become worried about the people around her while her own depressed sister would realize that since everyone is going to die. The best thing to do is just accept it and get it over with. It’s the way von Trier handled these themes into a grand situation like this that is very engaging and also very realistic to the way people would react to something like the end of the world.

The direction of von Trier is definitely more fluid and hypnotic than anything he had done in his career. While he utilizes some of the visual tricks he cultivated with Antichrist, it’s done in a more refined manner to emphasize the way Justine and Claire react to Melancholia. The film opens with this amazing eight-minute sequence of images of characters reacting to the end of the world as the planet Melancholia is about to collide with Earth. Everything is presented in slow motion and into these beautiful that is inter-cut with the planet setting to collide and destroy Earth. Then the film returns to its main narrative which is split into two parts as von Trier allows the camera to observe everything that is happening.

While there is bits of humor prevalent throughout the film such as the way the wedding planner (Udo Kier) responds to the bride or the way the butler (Jesper Christensen) reacts to everything that is going on. The direction is always engaged to situations while maintaining a straightforward approach to the presentation with hand-held cameras for the wedding and other scenes. For all the scenes involving Melancholia, it’s all about the minimal amount of visual effects used to emphasize that a planet is coming to end everything. While von Trier has stated that this film has no happy ending, he’s right though depending on how a viewer will react to that is different. Overall, von Trier creates what is truly a solid film that is probably his most accessible work to date.

Cinematographer Manuel Alberto Caro does an excellent job with the film‘s photography by emphasizing the use of blue to display Melancholia from above as well as to create a mood that surrounds Justine. There is also a more heightened look as the colors look a little brighter for some of the daytime scenes while using yellow lights for some of the interior and exterior nighttime settings to display more haunting shots during the film‘s first half. Editor Molly Malene Stensgaard does a great job with the editing in maintaining a straightforward style for the main narrative of the film while utilizing some jump-cuts in some places while the opening sequence is presented in a slow but elegant approach to emphasize the dread that is to occur.

Production designer Jette Lehman and art director Simone Grau Roney do a fantastic job with the set pieces created for many of the interiors while all the exteriors are shot at the Tjoloholm Castle in Halland, Sweden. Costume designer Manon Rasmussen does a nice job with the costume design for the look of the wedding gown that Justine wears to the dress that Claire wears for the wedding while the rest of the clothes is more casual. Visual effects supervisor Peter Hjorth does an amazing job with the visual effects created such as the planet Melancholia and the scenes in space which is truly gorgeous to look at.

Sound designer Kristian Eidnes Andersen does a superb job with the sound work to create an intimacy and liveliness for the wedding reception as well as something sparse for some of the exteriors. The film’s soundtrack features a lot of music that is played on the wedding while the rest of the music is largely dominated by excerpts of Richard Wagner’s Tristan une Isolde to play up the dramatic moments of the film for both Justine and Claire.

The cast that is created for the film is brilliant as it features appearances from a few regulars of von Trier in Udo Kier as a flamboyant wedding organizer, Stellan Skarsgard as Justine’s slimy boss Jack, and John Hurt as Justine’s fun-going father. Other notable small roles include Brady Corbet as Jack’s young trainee, Jesper Christensen in a low-key role as a butler, and Charlotte Rampling as Justine’s bitter mother. Cameron Spurr is very good as Claire’s young son Leo who is amazed by the planet while being the only person that can comfort Justine. Alexander Skarsgard is also good as Justine’s new husband Michael who tries to deal with her sudden melancholic state while trying to cheer her up. Kiefer Sutherland is excellent as John, Claire’s logical husband who tries to tell everyone that Melancholia will pass by only to realize that there is no logical conclusion to the end of the world.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is great as Claire, Justine’s older sister who tries to help her younger sister while dealing with Melancholia that brings her a lot of anxieties. While it’s a less frantic role than the one Gainsbourg played previously in Antichrist, it is still a mesmerizing performance for the way she reacts while having some great rapport with Sutherland and Kirsten Dunst. Finally, there’s Kirsten Dunst who definitely gives the best performance of her career. Dunst’s performance is very entrancing from the way she reacts at a very nonchalant, numbing state of mind. Definitely inspired by her well-publicized depression in 2008, Dunst uses that experience to create something that is very real and direct about how one deals with depression as there’s a fearlessness in Dunst that is very hypnotic as she is definitely a major highlight of the film.

Melancholia is a powerful yet enthralling film from Lars von Trier that features radiant performances from Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. While it may not be as extreme as its predecessor Antichrist, it is a film that truly studies the idea of the way people might react to situations such as the end of the world. For fans of von Trier, the film is definitely his most richest work to date as well as something that people new to von Trier might be intrigued by for the way he presents the ideas of depression and anxiety in such an accessible way. In the end, Lars von Trier creates another outstanding film with Melancholia.

Lars von Trier Films: The Element of Crime - Epidemic - Medea - Europa - The Kingdom I - Breaking the Waves - The Kingdom II - Dogme #2-Idioterne - Dancer in the Dark - The Five Obstructions - Dogville - Manderlay - The Boss of It All - Antichrist - Dimension (2010 short) - Nymphomaniac - The House That Jack Built - The Kingdom: Exodus - (Etudes)

Related: The Auteurs #7: Lars von Trier

© thevoid99 2011

2011 Cannes Marathon: Antichrist

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 11/7/09 w/ Additional Edits & Additional Content.

(Best Actress Prize to Charlotte Gainsbourg at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival)

Throughout his career in filmmaking, Lars von Trier has been an individual interested in pushing the envelope whether it's on filmmaking techniques or in themes. From his melodramatic depiction of women in his Golden Hearts trilogy of films like Breaking the Waves, Idioterne, and Dancer in the Dark to troubled world of Europe in his Europa trilogy. The Danish-born director is considered to be one of the finest directors of his generation and in the international film scene. Then came 2003's Dogville that was the first of a three-part trilogy about America, a place that von Trier hasn't visited due to his phobias of traveling. The film was set during the depression as it discussed themes about American foreign policy that received mixed reviews. The follow-up film Manderlay released two years later received similar controversy but both films didn't do well commercially.

In 2006, following the disappointing reception of Dogville and Manderlay that forced the third film Wasington to be shelved along with the lukewarm response to the von Trier-scribed film Dear Wendy by Thomas Vinterberg. Lars von Trier went ahead and did a small film in the Danish comedy The Boss of It All to a degree of acclaim but was relegated to limited screening in art house theaters. During this time, von Trier was working on a project that was different from his other films but was dealing with depression during development and pre-production for the project. Yet, a period of psychoanalysis and work during filming despite some problems finally got von Trier to release what is probably his most controversial film to date entitled Antichrist.

Written and directed by Lars von Trier, Antichrist tells the story of a couple in mourning following the tragic death of their child. Retreating to the woods, the couple encounter strange occurrences where the husband tries to delve into his troubled wife's state of mind as she is working on a thesis about gynocide. Inspired by the films of the late, great Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky whom he dedicated the film to.  The film is definitely von Trier's most confrontational film to date. Starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Antichrist is a shocking, mesmerizing, and haunting film from Lars von Trier.

Following the death of their infant child, a man (Willem Dafoe) and a woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg) are grieving as the woman is in a state of shock as she feels guilty over what had happened. After a month in the hospital, the woman returns home still feeling guilty as she tries to destroy herself as her husband, a therapist, tries to deal with her troubled behavior. Even as he gets her to reveal her deepest fears which turns out to be the forest of Eden where she had previously spent her summer with the baby while working on a thesis on gynocide. The couple goes to Eden to continue the therapy as the man encounters a deer while the wife is haunted by everything that is going on in the forest.

After arriving into the cabin, the therapy continues as the woman remains troubled as he gets her to confront her fears of the forest by walking on the grass that she claims burn her feet. Yet, the environment proves to be troubling as the man encounters a fox who says the words "chaos reigns". While the wife is seemingly better, the man is troubled by what he had encountered while he finds material of his wife's thesis on gynocide that troubles him. An autopsy report from the man's coat was found as some revelations over the baby was revealed. Even photographs of the child showed further proof as the woman becomes troubled to the point of a manic state where she attacks him. Things become more troubled as the man finds a crow in a hole as the woman claims that it was her fault their baby died as the two await for the three beggars to arrive for someone to die.

The film is about a lot of things that swirl around the mind of Lars von Trier. Particularly the theme of death as it revolves around two people dealing with the death of their baby. Yet, the film also explores the idea of psychotherapy, misogyny, witchcraft, and all sorts of things as it is all taken into the dark mind of von Trier. The film is structured into four chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue is about the tragedy of what happened during which the couple is having passionate sex in graphic detail. Then the story happens for the next four chapters that are titled Grief, Pain (Chaos Reigns), Despair (Gynocide), and The Three Beggars.

While it is known that von Trier is a prankster, he's also a man that will delve into his own phobias and troubled mind into a story. In the two characters he created, there's a man trying to get into his wife's mind and help her despite the fact that she's not a fan of psychotherapy. Yet, what he finds out isn't just the fact that his wife is troubled but he himself, is someone that might have taken on a role where he's gone too far. The woman is an extremely grief-stricken person who feels responsible for the death of their child as well as the belief from her thesis that all women are evil that has caused her to become psychotic.

While it is a known fact that the death of a child will drive emotions wild, when someone feels responsible for causing the death. It can lead to reactions that are shocking. When the story develops as it turns into a surreal, psychological horror film with some graphic depictions of sexual images. It becomes something way intense in terms of its presentation and thematic tones. While people might question on whether von Trier is a misogynist, it only diminishes what von Trier is trying to say about sexuality, gender, and gynocide. During the scenes in the third chapter of Despair (Gynocide), the man is shocked to what his wife's thesis is saying about the witch burnings and such of the past. There's a lot of things audience might disagree with von Trier is saying on the film but how it works for the story is unquestionably mesmerizing.

The direction of von Trier shows him breaking the rules of his previous Dogme 95 style of no artificial lighting, no visual effects, and no genre. For this film, he goes for a entrancing visual style where the film's prologue and epilogue are in black-and-white, in slow-motion, and to the aria/score piece of Lascia ch'io piagna from Handel's opera Rinaldo. For the rest of the film, it's done in color with scenes shot in a fog, swirling camera images, and striking compositions to reveal the mysterious world of Eden. While some of it is presented in a hand-held style, the zoom shots and visual effects scenes are quite enchanting in its beauty amidst this ugliness that is surrounding the characters.

The way von Trier presents his camera in more intimate scenes is that he goes deep into the fragile relationship of the characters inside this small cabin. Yet, there's a lot of graphic sex scenes in which there is one shot of penetration that is performed by body doubles. Yet, a lot of it isn't exactly for fun but rather in a disturbing context as it revolves into the emotional troubles of the couple. There's also some graphic, violent material that involves genitalia that pushes the extremes of what is obscene. While it may not reach into the world of American torture-porn horror films, it's presentation and what it does to serve the story is extreme in itself. What von Trier does with this film isn't just this haunting, metaphysical tale of death, horror, violence, and gynocide. It's a film that reaches into the dark soul of humanity as von Trier creates in what is probably his most extreme and provocative film of his career.

Longtime von Trier collaborator Anthony Dod Mantle does amazing work in the film's cinematography. Mantle's photography for the prologue and epilogue scenes are beautiful in its black and white look with elements of gray as it is very striking and powerful. For the rest of the film, the color is a mixture of grey, green, and blue to emphasize on the film's bleak, dreamy tone as it also features wonderful hand-held work as a lot of the forest scenes were shot in Germany. Mantle, who had just won an Oscar for his work in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, truly brings a haunting yet surreal visual style to the film that outdoes all of his previous work with Boyle and von Trier.

Editor Anders Refn and co-editor Asa Mossberg does excellent work with the film's rhythmic, stylized editing with the use of slow-motion speeds and jump-cuts to create an atmosphere for the film. Production designer Karl Juliusson and art director Tim Pannen do fine work with the look of the cabin and apartment that the couple lives in while finding some great locations around the woods of Germany. Sound editor Kristian Eidnes Andersen does great work in the sound of winds, falling acorns, and such to create a chilling, stark atmosphere of Eden as it surrounds the characters. The visual effects by editor Anders Refn and Peter Hjorth is phenomenal in the look for Eden plus the visual face of the fox and other images in the film as it works for the dark tone of the film.

The performances of Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg is truly powerful in their individual roles while the two together, are one hell of a combo as they have great chemistry and tension with one another. While Dafoe is mostly calm throughout the film as he plays the role of a therapist, his facial expressions of a man haunted by his surroundings and his grief-stricken wife is definitely one of his finest roles to date. Yet, it's Charlotte Gainsbourg that is the real heart and soul of the film as troubled woman becoming unraveled by guilt as she becomes psychotic and violent. While it's a showy, over-the-top role that has her nude for nearly half of the film. It's definitely a performance for the ages as Charlotte Gainsbourg definitely creates an unforgettable impression.

***Additional DVD Content Written From 4/26/11-5/7/11***

The 2010 Region 1 2-disc DVD (1 disc on Blu-Ray) from the Criterion Collection presents Antichrist in its theatrical aspect ratio of 2:35:1 for widescreen television plus 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound as it’s approved by its writer/director Lars von Trier and supervised by its cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. The look of the film is richer in its ethereal presentation from Mantle’s camera work while Kristian Eidnes Andersen’s sound design is broader for its mix on the DVD.

The first disc of the DVD includes the film in its entirety along with a couple of special features. The first special feature are three theatrical trailers all of which play to the film’s chaos while the third from IFC Films feature quotes from critics who saw the film at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. The other big special feature in the first disc of the DVD is a feature-length audio commentary track from writer/director Lars von Trier and film scholar Murray Smith.

The commentary has von Trier and Smith talking about the film in its entirety as von Trier talks about his inspiration for the film and such. Some of which dealt with his own state of depression he was going through before the film was going to be made. The director also talked about how working was able to get him to deal with it though at times, it was a huge struggle. When the subject of Andrei Tarkovsky was discussed, von Trier admits that there’s a lot of his influence prevalent in several of the compositions along with some of the dramatic elements of the film. Notably Solaris and The Mirror, the latter of which is von Trier’s favorite, as von Trier reveals that some the images were definitely taken from Tarkovsky.

Smith also talks about von Trier about some of the explicit elements in the film such as the violence as he mentioned von Trier about the horror sub-genre known as “torture porn” which found von Trier amused. Smith also talks about some of the criticism the film received though von Trier was really indifferent to it as both mused on the performances of Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Overall, it’s an entertaining and often humorous commentary from Lars von Trier and Murray Smith.

The second disc of the DVD is filled with loads of special feature relating to the production film, its notorious screening at the Cannes Film Festival, and interviews with Lars von Trier, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Willem Dafoe. The first section are the interviews starting with Lars von Trier’s five-minute interview about anxiety. Featuring a brief interview with visual effects supervisor Peter Hjorth and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, von Trier talks about the anxieties he’s had all of his life as he uses it as inspiration for Antichrist along with his years being in therapy. Even as von Trier talked about his own state of depression in the years before he was to make the film.

Charlotte Gainsbourg’s 44-minute interview has the actress talking about wanting to work with von Trier and getting the chance when another actress dropped out of the production. She talked about meeting the director despite not knowing what he looked like as they chatted that led to her being cast. Even as she knew what was to expect in the film which she did though she didn’t mind that porno actors were to do a lot of the explicit content in the film. Gainsbourg also talked about von Trier and his directing style where she compared him to Michel Gondry in terms of letting things go while having the actors be in character.

Gainsbourg also talks about the premiere at Cannes where she prepared herself in case she was to be skewered at the festival. Instead, she was relieved by the reception it got as well as winning the Best Actress prize that year. Gainsbourg also talks about working with Willem Dafoe where at first, she was intimidated only to be relieved that he was new to what von Trier was doing as far as directing actors were concerned. Gainsbourg also talks about the film’s themes and the accusation of misogyny that were raised about the film. Gainsbourg reveals her answers along with her thoughts on the character as it’s a very profound interview with the actress.

Willem Dafoe’s 18-minute interview has the actor talking about why he likes to work with Lars von Trier and other directors because he wants to be a contributor to their art. Dafoe recalls his experience working on Manderlay with von Trier that he liked and hadn’t heard from him since as he called him up and asked him what he’s up to. He hears about von Trier’s depression and the struggle to get Antichrist being made as Dafoe asked for a copy of the script as he decided to do it. Dafoe also talks about the difficulty of the production largely due to von Trier’s state of mind at the time as the director struggled to be on set all the time.

Dafoe talked about the fact that all these rumors about von Trier being tough and such were true only because of how he wanted things. Dafoe admits there were times he found von Trier to be very difficult yet there were times when von Trier was fine throughout the production. Dafoe also revealed that there was a feeling that the film might not be finished as some wondered about von Trier’s state of mind. Yet, when it finally premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Dafoe talks about the criticism the film received while he does admit that the film would’ve had greater difficulty being shown to a wide audience in the U.S.. Dafoe says he loves those films though does understand why American audiences wouldn’t be so keen into seeing something like this.

The second big feature is a seven-part video series from Zentropa Entertainment about the film’s production that totals to nearly an hour. The first part is a six-and-a-half minute piece about test shots made for the film where the camera was controlled by a computer to see how shots are tracked along with the famous slow-motion falling acorns shot is made as they’re presented with different actors. The second part is a fifteen-and-a-half minute piece about the visual style of the film as von Trier, cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, visual effects supervisor Peter Hjorth, and producer Meta Louise Foldager. Mantle discusses the look of the film as well as the varied camera styles used throughout the film including ones he had never done before.

Foldager talks about the visual compositions that were partially created by Hjorth whose job was to create the visual effects as Hjorth brought ideas to the film as he was also Lars’ right-hand man during the pre-production. Mantle also talks about Hjorth’s ideas in terms of presenting visual effects to make it look real but not in a highly-stylized manner with a lot of films as test shots were created in 2007. Even as the piece reveals how the layers of visual effects were created along with the falling acorns scene was created at 1000 frame-speed per second. Mantle discusses the camera movements where he did a fair portion of the camera operating though von Trier was unable to do it because of his own issues despite the fact that he loved to operate the camera.

The third part is a 13-minute segment about the sound and music used in the film as sound designer Kristian Eidnes Andersen discusses the sound work in the film. Andersen discusses the sound work as he revealed that von Trier wanted organic sounds created in an organic way. Andersen and von Trier used everything from grass, rocks, and voices to create sounds as Andersen would sample and loop them into the sound textures heard in the film. For the operatic piece Rinaldo by Handel, trying to find a recording was hard as they found the notes which they finally recorded in January of 2009. While it was a complicated piece, the music director Bjarte Eike was able to conduct it for the musicians needed to record the piece with Tuva Semmingsen singing the piece. Semmingsen also contributed additional vocals for many of the sound textures Andersen created.

The fourth part is a short, five-minute piece about the art direction as von Trier, Foldager, and production designer Karl “Kalli” Juliusson talks about the house in the fictional world of Eden that was shot in a forest in German which wasn’t easy to find. Particularly as they had to find someone where they couldn’t shoot in certain areas because of a stork that was nesting there. Juliusson revealed that he created part of the big tree next to the house while taking a smaller house next to the main one in the film. The fifth part is an eight-minute segment about the makeup effects and props created for the film as Morten Jacobsen and Thomas Foldberg reveal the creation of the wheel that was stuck on Willem’s leg. Even as they created a fake leg for one crucial scene while they created another wheel that Willem had to strap his leg to for those scenes.

Jacobsen and Foldberg also talk about the deer giving birth to a baby deer as they revealed that created the baby deer to make it real as possible though it did scare the real deer carrying the fake one. For the prologue scene with the baby, they created a doll for many of the wide shots used in the film as they wanted to make it look real but not to real. The final makeup effects created is the famous genital mutilation shot as they reveal to create prop scissors and a prop area with the help of a body double to create it. Jacobsen reveals that it’s not easy to watch the final version not because of the reaction but rather thinking what mistakes are made and such.

The sixth part is an eight-minute segment about the three beggars as animal trainer Ota Bares talks about the animals he trains. With the raven, it was quite easy though Willem Dafoe revealed he had hard time working with that raven. For the deer, Bares worked with visual effects supervisor Peter Hjorth about the look of the deer as they used a real one who didn’t enjoy having the fake deer on her. Hjorth revealed that in order to make the animals comfortable, a second unit crew was used to film around them since it is a smaller crew. For the fox, they had to wrap a bit of meat around the body for one of its famous shots as von Trier found the animals easy to work with.

The seventh and final part of the making-of series is an eight-minute piece that revolves around the text about women and gynocide as von Trier, Foldager, and researcher Heidi Laura talk about the material that was needed. Laura revealed that in order to do this kind of research, the best place to start is modern ideas of gynocide that allows the research to go backwards to earlier times. Featuring quotes from Nietzsche, Tertullian, and many others about the evils of women, it reveals the fear about women as von Trier admits to find a lot of the writing to be ridiculous though interesting.

The third big special feature are three video clips about the film’s premiere at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival plus interviews with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The first video entitled Chaos Reigns at the Cannes Film Festival is a seven-and-a-half minute clip about the day of the festival’s premiere from the photo calls, interviews and to the infamous press conference where von Trier declared himself to be the best filmmaker in the world. It concludes with the film’s infamous premiere where it received a mixed reception. Charlotte Gainsbourg’s six-minute interview has her talking about the film and von Trier’s direction as she reveals how helpful von Trier was to directing her.

Dafoe’s eight-minute interview has him talking about working with von Trier as well as the reaction from the press about the film. He reveals a lot about von Trier’s idea of filmmaking while saying that this is not a film for everyone.

From the booklet included in the DVD is an essay by film scholar Ian Christie entitled All Those Things that Are to Die. Christie’s essay talks about his own experience in seeing the film as well as what drove von Trier into making the film following his own depression along with a period of films that didn’t meet expectations. Christie also talks about the controversy that Antichrist drew as well as the accusations of misogyny in the film as Christie draws to other von Trier movies like Breaking the Waves and most notably, Medea. Christie also revels in the film’s subject of gynocide in relation to the violence that plays out late in the film. Christie’s essay is truly mesmerizing to read as it brings some sort of understanding about the film. The overall DVD content for Antichrist is spectacular as it lives to the film’s infamy.

***End of DVD Content***

When it premiered in May of 2009 at the Cannes Film Festival, it divided and shocked audiences of its imagery and graphic violent and sexual content. The film was considered to be the most controversial film of von Trier's career as well as the history of the festival. Critics accused von Trier of lots of things as he declared himself the greatest filmmaker in the world. While it won some anti-prizes and lots of anger, the film walked away with the best actress prize to Charlotte Gainsbourg. Yet, the controversy over the film is still in the minds of audiences and critics as it is considered a film that people either loved or hated.

To say Antichrist is a great film would only baffle people who would believe that it is the exact opposite of that. Well, that is true. It is a disgusting film. It is obscene, it's horrific, it's downright pretentious, it's blasphemous, it's evil. Yet, it is also beautiful, enchanting, haunting, and downright provocative. Only a Lars von Trier film can do that in creating two sides that are split with opinions while there's even room for a middle ground for those unsure of what they just saw. It's not a film for conservative filmgoers or mainstream audiences. It's not a film for fans of horror films. It's a film that is for those interested in a challenge and are willing to see something that is unlike anything. In the end, Antichrist is a hell of a fucking film from Lars von Trier who not only puts himself in the list of the greatest filmmakers of all-time. He also raises the bar of what is shocking and what is obscene as Antichrist is a film that lives up to its name and shock value.

Lars von Trier Films: The Element of Crime - Epidemic - Medea - Europa - The Kingdom I - Breaking the Waves - The Kingdom II - Dogme #2-Idioterne - Dancer in the Dark - Dogville - The Five Obstructions - Manderlay - The Boss of It All - Dimension (2010 short) - Melancholia - Nymphomaniac - The House That Jack Built - The Kingdom: Exodus - (Etudes)

Related: The Auteurs #7: Lars von Trier

© thevoid99 2011

I'm Not There

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 12/5/07 w/ Additional Edits.

Bob Dylan is known to the world as a poet, a folk singer, a voice for a generation, a rebel, an innovator, an icon, and everything else he's been called. Since his debut in the early 1960s, Dylan wrote and sang anthems about changing the world early in his career only to evolve by going electric, singing about whatever is on his mind and putting on a different persona. By 2007, he remains an icon revered by the world as his last album in 2006, Modern Times debuted at #1 in the Billboard 200 album charts proving his staying power through changing musical trends and the harsh world of the music industry. The story of Dylan is a journey that is sprawling and if it was made into a film, how would it be told? Iconic indie-auteur Todd Haynes has that answer in his new film about Bob Dylan named after one of his most bootlegged songs entitled I'm Not There.

Directed by Todd Haynes based on his screen story with a script he co-wrote with Oren Moverman, I'm Not There tells the story of the life of Bob Dylan through exaggerations, truths, legends, and other tales through seven periods of his life. In the role of Bob Dylan, Haynes devised a plan to hire not one but six individuals to play Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan through the different periods of his life. In those six include his Velvet Goldmine star Christian Bale along with Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, and Marcus Carl Franklin. Also starring Haynes' regular Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Cross, and Bruce Greenwood. I'm Not There is a whimsical, original, and inspiring masterpiece from Todd Haynes and company.

A young boy calling himself Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin) arrives on a train singing songs he claimed were his own as he talks about protests and such. Yet, as he jams with other musicians and hangs out with poor people, a woman tells him that he's singing songs from a different time as it is 1959. After getting kicked out of a train and being found by a rich couple, he is revealed to be a runaway juvenile as Woody is in search of his identity. A few years later at the Greenwich folk music scene, a new singer-songwriter named Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) became the wunderkind of the scene. With help of a folk singer named Alice (Julianne Moore), Rollins became a reluctant folk star.

With Rollins' fame rising, an actor named Robbie Clark (Heath Ledger) plays the folk singer as he falls for a Frenchwoman named Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) as they have a blissful relationship. Yet, as Clark's fame rise, he struggles with it as it would eventually take a toll on his marriage to Claire. With Rollins disappearing, a singer named Jude Quinn (Cate Blanchett) shocks an audience at a New England music festival by playing electric instruments and angering the crowd. During a tour in England, Jude gets the Beatles high on dope, evades the attention of movie star Coco Rivington (Michelle Williams) and talks to a journalist (Bruce Greenwood) during a huge interview for the BBC. With Jude changing gears on his music, he is facing a lot of heat from fans who claimed that he's betrayed the folk music scene while a man named Arthur (Ben Whishaw) is interviewed about why he isn’t singing protest music. Arthur instead, rambles on about what is going on while not giving a straight answer.

While Robbie's marriage to Claire is disintegrating and Jack Rollins disappears, a reclusive man named Billy (Richard Gere) is hiding in the woods unaware that a man named Pat Garrett (Bruce Greenwood) is hunting for him. While Billy is looking at the Western town in the middle of the woods, he wonder why he left the world and what happened to this gift he once had. Meanwhile, Jack Rollins returns as Pastor John who then sings nothing but Christian music.

Whenever a film biography of a musician or an artist is made. There's a traditional structure. Musician comes from humble beginnings, struggles to make it. Gets discovered, sign to a record deal. Becomes a huge success, gets involved with all the trappings of stardom. Then comes the decline and eventual resurrection and comeback. Yet, with someone as unique as Bob Dylan, that's a structure that is too easy to tell and at the same, the idea of one person playing Bob Dylan couldn't work. Why? It's because Bob Dylan was an individual who evolved through whatever moment he's in. In many ways, Dylan is just trying to be himself through whatever phase he's in his peculiar, unique life.

This is something Todd Haynes understood since a film about the life of Bob Dylan isn't going to work through conventional means because it's too predictable and it's been told so many times through the traditional medium of what music bio-pics are going through. It's a genre that at the moment is becoming not just stale but also parody, which is the case of the upcoming film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. So, what is there to do? If a movie is going to be made about Bob Dylan, certain periods of his life has to be shown which includes his early folk years in the early 60s, his controversial move going to electric, his personal life, his own rambling interviews, his reclusive period in the early 70s, and his Christianity phase in the late 70s. One actor couldn't do all of those periods as well as play up to the different personas of Dylan. That's why Todd Haynes has chosen to employ six different actors for the film. Two British actors, one Welsh and the other English. Two Australian actors, man and woman. Two American actors, a 50-year old white man and a 13-year old African-American child.

While the idea of using multiple actors for one role isn't an entirely original idea. The approach Haynes and co-writer Oren Moverman chose works to show each persona and period of Dylan's life. While the entire film is told in non-linear fashion in tradition to Dylan's narrative style of writing. Each period and persona is very different not just look but in performance. While the stories move back and forth, it unveils each period to where the character is at and how they're reacting at the moment. The story of Woody is based on Dylan's exaggerations from Dylan to journalists and people during folk scene in Greenwich as the look of the boy with his hat is a reference to hat Dylan wore on his first album. Jack Rollins' story is about Dylan in his early rise to fame from the folk scene and his moment of controversy during a Civil Rights Award.

The story of Jude is partially based on the D.A. Pennebaker film Dont Look Back but mostly insprired by the rarely seen documentary Eat The Document about Dylan's tour of the U.K. while making references to his friendship with Allen Ginsberg (David Cross) and his rumored affair with Edie Sedgwick. Robbie's story is about Dylan's personal life in his relationship with Claire who is a fictional character based on his 1960s girlfriend Suze Rotolo and wife Sara Lownds with a subtle reference to his 1975 album Blood on the Tracks. The character of Arthur has only one scene which is about Dylan interrogated about his evolution as the character rambles about his life and view of things. The story of Billy is a reference to Dylan's country music exploration as well as the film Dylan starred in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

Haynes and Moverman understood what those periods and phases in Dylan's life meant and they certainly couldn't move on after Dylan's period when became a Christian. Dylan in the 80s would be boring and too predictable while the story of Dylan now doesn't seem that interesting and it's best for only Dylan himself to tell that part of the story. Haynes understands that while the film's plot is Dylan through the periods of his own life. The plot couldn't be very simple as it's presented on screen. Haynes' direction is superb and extremely unconventional. With the black-and-white footage on the characters of Arthur, Jude, and parts of Jack and the rest of the story on color. While mainstream audiences might feel baffled and confused by the approach, it's only because this is how Dylan lived his life.

Haynes' look for the Woody/Billy worlds really gets the film in full circle as Woody is a boy finding his identity with Billy running away from that world only to rediscover it. Billy's world is essentially a fantasy world in the way he sees things as if he is Billy the Kid. With everyone wearing clown makeup and a giraffe appears, it's all because it's part of Billy's fantasy only to be aware that Pat Garrett is coming to get him. The Jude sequence which is based on the Pennebaker documentary includes a moment of fantasy as if Jude is living a dream world while the world of Robbie shows a scene of the man dealing with his fame.

The result of the whole film is extremely avant-garde and whimsical yet it works to convey the sense of evolution in Dylan's life. Through the wide lenses, super 8 films, grainy footage, and everything else. It's an understanding of where Bob Dylan was and is in his life as he goes from one world to another. Haynes' direction through each different look is distinctive and imaginative as like the in the script and in what Dylan has said in the film's trailer. All I Can Do Is Be Me. Whoever That Is. That is what the film is about and its shows that before David Bowie, before Cher, before Elvis Costello, and before Madonna. Bob Dylan was the godfather of reinvention and with Todd Haynes' direction, it reveals on who this legendary man is.

Cinematographer Edward Lachman creates a look that is unique to each period of the film with Arthur's segment shot in grainy, 16mm black-and-white footage as if he's part of an interrogation, Jude shot in gorgeous black-and-white to emphasis the documentary style of Dont Look Back, and the TV, black-and-white footage of Jack Rollins that is shot in grainy color as if the whole segment is a documentary. For the rest of the film, the Robbie story is mostly shot with tinted blue palettes and sepia-toned colors to convey the world he was in as well as his troubled mood. Lachman's photography is given higher palettes of sepia for the dream-like look of both the Billy and Woody segments while the Pastor Jack sequence is more in the look of 70s style TV. Lachman's photography is extremely superb and truly one of the year's best.

Editor Jay Rabinowitz, who took over for the late James Lyon (whom the film was dedicated to), plays to the similar style of the film with use of jump-cuts for the Jude sequence, more traditional cuts in other parts while playing to the film's non-linear tone as his editing overall is amazing. Production designer Judy Becker does amazing work in creating the different look and times of the film from the delapitated world of Billy to the 70s like world of paintings and furniture in Robbie's world and the whimsical, stylish world of swinging 60s in Jude's world. Becker's production design is extraordinarily brilliant. Costume designer John A. Dunn does great work with the different looks of the film that mimic all the album covers, clothes, and shoes that Dylan was wearing those different periods. Jean-Jacques Dion does great work with the film's hair with some of the actors sporting Dylan-like hairdo while Christian Bale gets to sport a Jew-fro as Pastor John that looks hilarious.

Sound editor Robert Jackson does amazing work in capturing the atmosphere of each period through the waves of boos and music through the scene of Jude playing electric at a folk music show. Special effects supervisor Louis Craig and visual effects supervisor Louis Morin does great work in creating the weird, whimsical world for both Jude and Billy's own fantasies. The film's soundtrack supervised by Jim Dunbar and Randall Poster features an amazing soundtrack featuring original cuts by Dylan including the unreleased title track plus various covers performed by Sonic Youth, Cat Power, John Doe, Stephen Malkmus, Mason Jennings, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Calexio, Willie Nelson, and many more. Each song is used to convey the period and world of Dylan's life as it emphasizes his evolution with Doe, Malkmus, and Jennings singing the songs during the period of Jude and Jack Rollins with Marcus Carl Franklin doing his own singing while jamming with Richie Havens.

Finally, we have the film's cast that is wonderfully assembled by Laura Rosenthal. Featuring appearances from Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth as a folk singer discussing Jack Rollins, Craig Thomas as Hewey Newton and Benz Antoine as Bobby Seale of the Black Panther party who listen to Dylan's song while being massaged, Jane Wheeler as a TV host doing a profile on Rollins, Allison Folland as a journalist interviewing Robbie, Don Francks and Roc LaFortune as Hobos Woody meets, Richie Havens as a musician Woody jams with, Kim Roberts as the woman who gives Woody advice on what he should sing, Gabrielle Marcoux and Jessey LaFlamme as Robbie & Claire's daughters, Mark Camacho as Jude's manager Norman, and Kris Kristofferson as the narrator for film's opening sequence.

Yolonda Ross gives a brief but fine performance as Angela, based on Mary Alice Artes, who introduced Jack to Christianity and made him Pastor John while Julianne Moore plays a Joan Baez-like persona as a woman nurtured Jack's talents only to feel betrayed by him. David Cross is funny as Allen Ginsberg who has a great scene about Jude's possible selling out claiming he sold out to God in a reference to a Dylan concert in Berkeley 1965. Bruce Greenwood is great in a dual role as a British journalist who is the supposed inspiration to the song Ballad of The Thin Man while also playing the aging Pat Garrett in the Billy sequence. Michelle Williams is wonderfully sexy as Coco Rivington, an Edie Sedgwick-like actress who teases Jude while acting like a diva. The film's best non-Dylan performance is truly Charlotte Gainsbourg as Claire, the mix of Suze Rotolo and Sarah Lownds who loved Robbie but couldn't face with him not at home or his attraction to other women as she would become the muse for Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. Gainsbourg's performance is just amazing showing her evolution as the woman who was Robbie's soulmate to the unhappy housewife dealing with his fame.

Marcus Carl Franklin gives a superb, upbeat performance as Woody, a young Dylan who is trying to find his own identity, tell false stories and such while jamming along with other musicians and for other people. Franklin's performance is a real breakthrough as he proves he can sing and play while grabbing the attention early in the film. Ben Whishaw is excellent as Arthur, the Dylan who is interviewed as he rambles on incoherently while not giving any straight answers. Though Whishaw is only in one entire segment, he does the most to make himself memorable. Christian Bale is brilliant as the shy, evasive Jack Rollins as he performs while trying to be controversial at the same time. Bale's performance is the one that mimics Dylan the most in voice while he shows great humor in sporting a Jew-fro as Pastor John while his performance in inspirational proving that Dylan's Christianity phase isn’t something to make fun of.

Richard Gere gives a very laconic, subtle performance as Billy as he wanders around riding a horse, looking for his dog, and trying to see what is going on. Gere doesn't do any traditional, Hollywood style of acting as he is a man who does his best work when he's quiet while pondering his own existence as the veteran actor gives a masterful performance. Heath Ledger is great as the conflicted Robbie, an actor who is tempted by women and fame as he struggles with being a family man. Ledger's performance is extremely memorable while mimicking Dylan's voice in a unique way that proves his performance in Brokeback Mountain by Ang Lee was no fluke.

The film's best performance and certainly the most entertaining of all is Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn. Wearing a sock that she put in her pants to walk and act like a man, Blanchett brings a lot of humor, angst, and attitude to the character as tries to evade Coco, hang out with Allen Ginsberg, and do all sorts of stuff. Blanchett's performance is truly a marvel to watch as she brings Dylan to life whether he's playing electric or watching news reels saying "I can't take anymore of this man" and saying some nasty things including comments about Coco's... you know. Blanchett is just fun to watch from start to finish and it's truly one of the best performances ever shown on cinema.

***Updated 6/6/08 for DVD Info & Special Features***

The Region 1 2-disc Collector's Edition DVD of I'm Not There presents the film in its original aspect theatrical ratio and in the widescreen format. With the film sound in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound in English for the film and the second disc in Stereo Surround Sound. The DVD also include English and Spanish subtitle for the film as well as English for the hearing impaired in both discs. The first disc is the actual feature film itself along with a slew of special features. First is a series of text introductions to the film. The first entitled Who's Not There: Six Faces of Dylan from Rolling Stone magazine reveals the six actors who play the personalities of Bob Dylan. The second entitled Tangled Up In Clues by Los Angeles Times music writer Ann Powers who explores the film through its various sources on its characters, look, costumes, and such. The first two text came from a CD-booklet of sorts that accompanied the film from its theatrical release. The third text entitled Encoding An Entertaining Enigma is pretty much a summary of the film and its characters.

The fourth and final piece of text introduction comes from famed music critic Greil Marcus. The writer who is also an avid fan of Dylan and wrote a book about The Basement Tapes recordings in a book entitled Invisible Republic writes down notes on this film. Entitled A Dream That Doesn't Demand Explanation is essentially Marcus explaining what Haynes wanted to do for the film as well as the mystery of Dylan itself through the various persona and characters being played on film. Marcus also touches on the film's title, which is an unreleased bootleg made during The Basement Tapes recordings. Now officially available in the film’s soundtrack, Marcus reveals the song's sense of mystery while though it's incomplete with Dylan just singing what he can come up with in his head. Marcus' notes are truly extraordinary for what the audience needed for the film.

The feature-length audio commentary by Todd Haynes is truly one of the most informative and enjoyable commentaries ever heard. Haynes discusses about the many mysteries and references of Dylan that's shown throughout the film. He also discusses Dylan's cultural impact in the 1960s and what he think that Dylan's motorcycle crash in 1966 really represented in relation to what was going on at the time. He also reveals why he didn't cover Dylan in the 1980s, 1990s, and so forth. What he revealed is that because of Dylan's 1966 crash, Dylan retreated away from the public and the media to live a private life and when the character of Billy hops on that train at the end of the film just as it began with Woody on the train. It shows that Dylan from 1962-1966 was definitely a high-water mark in pop culture and by the time he crashed, he stopped being this phenomenon and lived in his own terms as he's doing now in his Never-Ending Tour.

Haynes also reveals some of the film's technical tidbits while complementing the talents of his collaborators like producer Christine Vachon, cinematographer Edward Lachman, production designer Judy Becker, and editor Jay Rabinowitz among others. He also revealed the various influences he had for the film that included Federico Fellini and Jean-Luc Godard for its different look. He also talks about the actors he got for the film. Of the most professional, Christian Bale was the most serious about playing Dylan where during his scenes with Julianne Moore for the pictures, Moore ended up laughing through most of it as Haynes jokingly said she was very unprofessional.

Haynes also talked about Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw, whom he both auditioned and enjoyed working with while with Richard Gere, he hired him not just because of his talent but of his filmography, notably Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. With Gere, Haynes told Gere to think of those early years while Gere helped him in finding a look for the town of Riddle in those segments. Haynes' discussion on Cate Blanchett were fun to hear as he talked about Blanchett's performance with such delight while revealing that she's the closest thing to looking like Dylan. Some of her performance, Haynes, revealed was improvised including her dance with David Cross as Allen Ginsberg.

Haynes complemented the work of Charlotte Gainsbourg for her performance of Claire who he felt did everything that a great actor, actress does in the tradition of Meryl Streep. Someone who doesn't know what to do when they're about to play a character as if they don't know how to act to begin with. Then there's Heath Ledger in whom, Haynes sadly spoke about since his untimely, tragic death back in January of 2008. Haynes talked about Ledger's plan to create a bio-pic on Nick Drake that he wanted to direct but didn't want to delve into the same type of structure that often hinders most bio-pics. Ledger, originally was supposed to take a break from acting to do the Drake project but once he worked with Haynes on this film. Ledger felt it would help him create the idea on his Drake project. Haynes talked about the close friendship he had with Ledger while watching those scenes as he admits to being very sad about his death.

The second disc includes a huge amounts of special features separated into four different sections. The first one is an entire collection of trailers featuring the two theatrical trailers for the film as well as unreleased trailers. The unreleased trailers involve all the six actors playing Dylan carrying large flash cards to the classic song Subterranean Homesick Blues in the same presentation that its seminal video did for D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back. There's eight versions of that trailer, six of them showing each individual actor carrying and throwing cardboard signs and two versions, short and long, with all the actors involved from their footage. It's a great trailer to emphasize the spirit of Dylan.

The second section entitled From the Edit Room features a slew of deleted scenes, alternate takes, extended sequences, and many more. The first segment is two audition tapes for Ben Whishaw and Marcus Carl Franklin. Franklin's audition with one of the casting people showed Franklin's charismatic, charming performance as he clearly plays the role of Woody with such ease as if he was a total natural. Whishaw's audition, taped at a restaurant, showed the British actor doing a passable American accent while giving the presence that was needed for his character. Two deleted scenes emerge in the film totally less than five minutes. First is a scene from Jude Quinn's segment as Jude, burned out and sick from pills is surrounded by two men arguing as they seem to recognize the singer. The second deleted scene from Billy the Kid's segment involves Billy running into a family with a dead pony and talking to a woman asking if she'a seen his dog, who ran from him.

Next is the extended/alternate scenes that are essentially the full-length performances of the songs performed in the film like Tombstone Blues with Ritchie Haven and Marcus Carl Franklin, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll by Christian Bale miming the voice of Mason Jennings, Bale as Pastor John for Pressing On as he's miming the voice of John Doe, and Goin' To Acapulco in the Billy the Kid segment sung by Jim James of My Morning Jacket backed by Calexico.

These extended scenes and performances each do serve as great music videos as the songs themselves prove to be just as powerful as the scenes themselves. The four-minute outtakes segment is essentially a gag reel that shows all the mistakes and such that happens on the film through most of the production that included director Todd Haynes in the shot they were supposed to be shooting, a horse relieving and defecating, and other funny hijinks.

The fifth and final part of the post-production section is a touching tribute to Heath Ledger in tune to Bob Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time. It opens with a deleted scene of Ledger playing the Robbie Clark character in a museum taking shots at the place with Charlotte Gainsbourg and then loads of footage and outtakes involving Ledger that proves to be extremely touching and a fitting tribute to the recently departed actor.

The third section entitled Look Back consists of three segments including the film's red carpet premiere in New York City, the making of the soundtrack, and a conversation with Todd Haynes. First is the three-minute red carpet premiere in NYC on November 13, 2007 that features brief interviews with Todd Haynes, actors Richard Gere, Julianne Moore, and Heath Ledger, and musician John Doe of X as they all talk about the film and Dylan. The twenty-one minute making-of soundtrack segment featuring Haynes, actor Marcus Carl Franklin, and the soundtrack’s producers Joe Henry, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, and Calexico's Joey Burns. Haynes discusses the plan to create a soundtrack for the film where Joe Henry said that the soundtrack was in the works at the time the film was in production. With Henry focusing on the Woody segment, Ranaldo on the Jude segment, and Burns on the Billy the Kid segment. Each producer were given the task of reinventing or reinterpreting the songs they’re given as they also try to capture each period.

Henry worked closely with Marcus Carl Franklin on the music they were making as Franklin, who is a musician himself, wanted to be faithful to Dylan's music and found himself more influenced by Dylan than ever. During filming, they contacted Richie Havens for Tombstone Blues with Franklin that ended up being an improvised jam with Havens later recording his own version for the film's soundtrack. Ranaldo wanted to update the songs he was given as he called on Eddie Vedder to sing All Along the Watchtowers and brought in Tom Verlaine for Cold Irons Bound while he along with several musicians including Verlaine and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley formed the Million Dollar Bashers. For the singing voice of Jude, they called in Stephen Malkamus of Pavement to sing just so he can capture that style of Dylan's vocals at the time.

Joey Burns of Calexico aimed for an Old World feel for the music that is more in the tradition of Americana as he called in Jim James of My Morning Jacket to cover Goin' To Acapulco, a song that isn't considered to be a major Dylan song among fans. Yet, its reinterpretation made it a surprise as did another obscure Dylan song, Pressing On from his Christian period. Ranaldo, who is an admitted super-Dylan freak, admits to not being grabbed on by that song in its original form but when heard John Doe's version, he was blown away and rediscovered the original song. Haynes said that the reinterpretation of these songs is great for even the hardcore Dylan fan to rediscover proving that they can be done in so many different ways.

The forty-three minute conversation with Todd Haynes segment is a collection of interviews with the director talking about Bob Dylan, the film, and how he made it. He revealed that in 2000, after living in New York City for 15 years. He decided to move to Portland, Oregon and went on a cross-country road trip where he brought a bunch of Bob Dylan music on the road. It was at that time, he was about to work on Far from Heaven as he began to re-discover Bob Dylan and also went through various bootlegs including the complete Basement Tapes recordings. After getting a collection of American folk music and early Americana, Haynes got the idea to create a Dylan film.

Yet, he and producer Christine Vachon were very careful about approaching an idea on making a film about Dylan. After going through troubling experiences with getting the music rights since Haynes' 1987 cult-short Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is no longer being seen in public because of Richard Carpenter's refusal to let the music be used in the short and such. Haynes also went through similar trouble with Velvet Goldmine back in 1998 when David Bowie refused to give him rights for the music. Haynes contacted Dylan's eldest son Jesse, who is also a film director, and Dylan's manager Jeff Rosen about the idea. He gave them a description and then he had to write an idea about the project with some specific instructions as Rosen and Jesse Dylan gave the idea to Bob Dylan, who approved.

The film, shot in Montreal, was not easy to make because of a limited budget and shooting schedule while Haynes revealed that the actors knew they were in for a challenge in playing the Dylan parts. Haynes revealed that writing the script with Oren Moverman wasn't easy to do because Haynes wanted to tell so much of Dylan's story from the 1960s while not leaning towards the traditional bio-pic. He also revealed that Moverman, who is Israeli, really got into Dylan's Christian period and had some understanding into why Dylan became a Christian for a brief period. The only actor Haynes wrote in mind for one of the characters was Charlotte Gainsbourg in the role of Claire, as Haynes admits, she almost wanted to turn him straight. With everyone else, it was through the casting process as it proved to be a challenge but also fruitful in terms of its collaboration. It's a wonderful interview that doesn't get boring as Haynes is talking through film festival conferences, promotional interviews, and such.

The fourth section of the special features is Dylanography, a collection of text and articles exploring Dylan and notes of the film. The first is a sixty-six page article from New York Times magazine writer Robert Sullivan entitled This is Not a Bob Dylan Movie about the process Todd Haynes had to go through in making the film as well as his own filmography. It's an informative article that explored how much Haynes took into making this film about Bob Dylan while trying not to make into a conventional bio-pic. The next article is Haynes' one-page proposal to Bob Dylan on his project that was original titled I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan that shows the plans that he was going to do along with the text that he used where originally, there was seven characters. The character that never made it to the final cut was Charlie, a Greenwich kid that was supposed to be a link between the Woody Guthrie and Jack Rollins character. Next is a chronology on Bob Dylan that explores the time line and events of his life from his birth in 1943 to the release of his last studio album Modern Times in 2006.

The next three sections on Dylan are a collection of his work in music, film, and literature. The discography of Dylan explores every album he did up till 2006 including live albums, box sets, and the bootleg series. The filmography section explores the different section of Dylan on film including the documentaries like D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, the rarely-seen Eat the Document, and Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary No Direction Home, concert films like The Last Waltz by Scorsese and two Dylan concert videos like Bob Dylan in Concert from 1986 and the 30th Anniversary concert in 1992. Plus listed are the film's he's acted like Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, 1978's Renaldo & Clara that he directed, Hearts of Fire from 1987, 1990's Catchfire, 1999's Paradise Cove, and 2003's Masked & Anonymous by comedian Larry David.

The bibliography section includes the five books Dylan wrote like Tarantula, Writings & Drawings, Lyrics, 1962-2001, Chronicles Vol. 1, and Drawn Blank plus thirty books about Bob Dylan himself and it's a big collection. The filmmaker's notes is a collection of drawings and story boards about the compositions and shot set-ups about the film. Finally, there's a stills gallery in six separate segments to represent each of the six personalities that play Bob Dylan. Shown in black and white and a bit in color, it's a wonderful collection of the photos of the actors and on-set production that goes on. The overall special features content of the DVD is truly amazing for not just people who enjoy the film. It's also a must-have for Dylan fans while paying tribute to the late Heath Ledger.

***End of DVD Tidbits***

With the music bio-pic genre starting to run out of ideas, I'm Not There is an amazing, superb, and truly original film from Todd Haynes and company. With a great cast led by Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, and Marcus Carl Franklin as Bob Dylan, it's a film experience that has to be seen on the big screen. While mainstream audiences might be baffled by the film's unconventional tone, anyone who understands Bob Dylan and his music will get it very easily while seeing things like Pete Seeger attempting to cut the wires with an ax (which wasn't true but a great legend) happen. While it's a film that subverts expectations, the result overall is truly amazing. For a film that defies conventions and tradition in the same way Bob Dylan lived his life in those times, I'm Not There is the film to go see.

Todd Haynes Films: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story - Poison - Dottie Gets Spanked - Safe - Velvet Goldmine - Far from Heaven - Mildred Pierce (TV miniseries) - Carol - Wonderstruck - Dark Waters (2019 film) - The Velvet Underground - The Auteurs #3: Todd Haynes

Related: Dont Look Back - No Direction Home - I'm Not There OST - Trouble No More

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