Lockdown Throwback

The first few weeks of lockdown and the relative dearth of new films have allowed some delving back into previous decades, in particular the 1960s and 70s for reacquaintance (including the stellar MUBI retrospective of Jean-Pierre Melville including Un Flic, Le Doulos and others as well as Bresson's Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne which I haven't covered here) and new discoveries.

The Last Metro (technically 1980 but hey) which felt like such an appropriate film for the moment - the power of art to survive the worst of circumstances. Powerhouse performances from Deneuve and Depardieu and by the time the swelling romantic music rolls over the credits there's not a dry eye in the house.

The Innocents (1961) Much imitated, rarely if ever fully bettered, this is one of the great psychological horror films. The setting, direction, cinematography and foley are pitched perfectly. The casting seems inspired: Deborah Kerr conveys just the right balance of prim governess with a religious upbringing and genuinely empathetic protector which allows her to share the experience of the possessed. 

The resulting psychological inflammation is tantamount to a fever which can only be resolved by bringing everyone to crisis point. Unlike many of the imitators, The Innocents is rigorously, internally consistent which means that we view proceedings with a genuine investment in the fate of the characters.

Murmur Of The Heart (1971) This is, I think, the jazz version of growing up in the mid 1950s. Jazz is the score and it's also the tempo - with all of the dizzying changes of key and built in improvisation that implies. 

The protagonist has an ostensibly structured, provincial, bourgeois life and family but one that in practice is far from conventional. A distant father barely engages; a doting but also rather exotic mother can hardly stop herself. Finding himself between these poles, pushed away by one and pulled by the other, the son's trajectory through adolescence - or the short section that we see in this film - is both heightened and erratic. 

His sentimental education in this context is shown in a series of droll set pieces which range from the physical comedy of 'spinach tennis' which breaches decorum but little else, to much more emotionally wrought and transgressive behaviour.

The whole is suffused in a warm and safe glow. There is no sense of real peril and the family ends up in the equivalent of a group hug laughing out loud whether from relief, incomprehension or smug self-satisfaction. For all the bad behaviour on display the indulgence does not seem misplaced. This is coming of age more as farce than tragedy.

Images (1972) A largely forgotten curio with a highly committed central performance from Susannah York, Images comes across as having some of the feel of Don't Look Now, some pretensions to the psychological heft of Persona and some clear reference points in the paranoia of Repulsion. Sadly it doesn't really stand comparison with any of these apparent inspirations. 

The major failing is that one never feels remotely involved with the characters. Much of what is seen is happening inside Susannah York's head and her mental illness, schizophrenia or mania is disturbing but also distancing. That said the film does at least have an overall coherence and Altman resists just throwing everything at the wall.

Eva (1962) A Jeanne Moreau masterclass. There's an impeccable, untouchable depth to her amorality which is perfectly suited to punching all of the bruises of someone who simply pretends to amorality but harbours deep self-loathing, vulnerability and guilt and needs someone as bad as they consider themselves to be to give them consolation. Naturally she doesn't.

That Most Important Thing: Love (1975) High emotions in some very low places but 'that most important thing' remains elusive in terms of genuine reciprocity: the performer and the observer seemingly cannot truly connect. Despite the grotesqueries of plot and setting, which doubtless act as a commentary on a world seemingly in inexorable decline, the film is curiously engrossing. This undoubtedly owes a great deal to the luminous Romy Schneider who was probably incapable of being anything other than riveting.

Une Chambre En Ville (1982 yes, OK) A musical about domestic tragedy set during a workers strike in Nantes in the mid 1950s. It shouldn't work. It mostly does. 

So, that's quick survey of some of the films watched during this very strange period in our lives. Do I draw any conclusions from the choice? 

A retreat to the comfort blanket of the past. I have no doubt that for example The Last Metro reflects a sense that however bad it gets there is always resilience and hope. 

A good deal of psychological turmoil being portrayed on screen.

An opportunity to disinter some films that I haven't seen for a very long time and to see whether they still stand up. With gems like Murmur of the Heart, admittedly by one of my all time favourite directors Louis Malle, the answer is undoubtedly, resoundingly, yes. So these films retain their power  to offer some sustenance, however awful the current circumstances.