35 Rums
I have heard of Claire Denis’ “Beau Travail” several times, but until today, I never actually saw any of her films. “35 Rums” caught my eye because screenshots showed me that none of the main characters are white (at least father and daughter are not) yet the film was supposed to be an homage to Ozu. I mean… Ozu, really? Surprisingly enough, I can see where it’s coming from. There may be no kimonos, no still Ozu-style shots and not a single “douzo”, but besides the basic storyline, the homage is indeed very obvious. All the characters are rather bourgeois and middle class, and I thought it was especially notable how they spoke very clear and proper French. Furthermore, they care for each other and act respectful around one another. Not only they feel a certain nostalgy towards their past together, it is hard for any of them to accept that the future brings change. It is a certain backwards melancholy, coupled with the fact that nobody is truly able to speak their minds, that makes this film so inherently Ozu-like. Denis pays a lot of attention to detail and lets the characters converse through looks. It is only on the surface that the characters and style look different, but actually “35 Rums” is as close to Ozu’s “Late Spring” as “Brick” is to “Out of the Past”.
The biggest difference, however, is that Ozu would never make a scene in which characters mostly look at each other longingly, accompanied by kitsch music; in fact, Ozu’s characters never seem to be motivated by jealousy (that is too simple, really). One could say that Denis took something great and made something better out of it. Her stuff is not really better than Ozu’s though, so it is safer to say that Denis deviated from Ozu according to her own style, and that is fine with me.
Speaking of style, I was completely in love with Josephine’s wedding dress at the very end. How simple and stylish is that? I am in love. What she needed was a Jackie Kennedy-like hat to go with it, and it would have been perfect.
It took me a little while to get into the film, and perhaps there is something artificial about it (how realistic is the relationship between father and daughter within the context of modern France really?) but the film is beautiful. It is a somewhat invisible beauty somewhere hidden in those moments the characters share, and by the end of the film it left me with a strange feeling of peace. This is a mood film done right.