[UNFORGIVEABLE screens Saturday October 13th at 7:20 pm and Sunday October 14th at 4:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.
Having just seen a documentary about the legalized system
of corporate bribery that is campaign finance, I no longer have any faith in US
presidential elections or candidates. North
Korea or Cuba
could boast a more “honest” system of choosing a leader than America.
But just suppose, in science-fiction fashion, that Romney or Obama really were
concerned about the issues. Then I would call for one or both of them to take a
courageous stand and demand…the immediate criminalization of marriage.
Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.
The benefits of banning marriage are manifold. Wedding
horrors like that fatal brawl in Philadelphia would be a thing of the past. So
would countless instances of spousal abuse and homicide flooding our crowded penitentiary
system. O.J. Simpson would certainly second me on this. So, I imagine,
conceivably, would Danny DeVito. All those "Bachelor/Bachelorette" stupid reality-TV shows would no longer be viable. And best of all, a Constitutional amendment
making marriage illegal across the boards would GET THE DAMN HOMOSEXUALS TO
STOP WHINING.
Outlawing marriage would also probably have meant a more
tranquil life for the characters in UNFORGIVABLE, a 2011 French drama (whose
original title IMPARDONNABLES would more likely translate as “unforgivable
offenses,” but I guess that name would better apply to TAKEN 2).
Directed by Andre Techine in straight-on neo-realistic fashion, it’s a grownup relationship
drama with a life-really-does-suck-like-this vibe.
Francis (Andre Dussolier) is a big-name French author, of
highfalutin’ “literary” crime fiction (I might hazard a guess at the Belgian Georges
Simenon as a very loose inspiration). But in a creative and financial slump, he
decides to relocate to an Italian island property near Venice,
for fresh inspiration. He hits things off with his real-estate agent, also
French, an icily pretty lady named Judith, who knows his books. Judith is
played by a gracefully aging Carole Bouquet, an actress and model whose sleek
good looks have been on display in the cinema for three decades now. And is it
my imagination or do her characters always throw themselves at rotten men? I
hate movies.
Despite his reputation for heartless womanizing and at
least one wrecked marriage behind him, Francis claims that Judith fascinates
him like nobody else. Soon they’re newlyweds, though Francis is still having
trouble getting a new novel off the ground, and Judith has to work long hours to support
them. Or…does she? Suspicious over her frequent absences – and hints dropped
all over that place that Judith has had lots of affairs before settling down with him (kind of
like the Catherine O’Hara character in the comedy BEST IN SHOW), Francis hires
an Italian woman private investigator, faltering in both her health and
finances, to check out Judith for possible infidelities. Complication: the
openly bisexual P.I. once had an affair with Judith herself. When she recuses
herself from the case, Francis latches onto her grown son, a recently released ex-convict
with a lot of issues, to spy on Judith instead.
There’s also a subplot involving drug-dealing young
Venetian aristocrats, and Francis’ grown daughter, who has fled her own stable
marriage and good, adoring husband (I’m
guessing he ain’t French!) and daughter to be the obsessed sexual plaything of
one of these high-born hoods. SORT OF A SPOILER ALERT IN A CASUAL FRENCH
ART-FILM SORT OF WAY: But suggestions that this will go in a thriller
direction, perhaps film-noir with Judith as a deadly femme fatale, are just red
herrings. If anything, the likable Francis is the
rotter doing the passive-aggressive manipulating. Perhaps he’s even putting his
latest marriage and the stability of those around him at risk just to provide
fodder for his new book manuscript. How well do we really know the people we’re
supposed to love?
At least that’s what I got out of it. That and, don’t
marry a popular novelist. Or the messed-up daughter of a popular novelist. Or a
LGBT female detective. Seems the only healthy pairing in the entire picture is
between one character and his dog, and I must warn you, even that doesn’t end
well for the dog. Mais non!
UNFORGIVABLE is based on a novel itself, but I can’t
claim familiarity with the source material, sorry. Call it a sign of the
even-handedness and maturity of the flick that I won’t even pretend to guess
whether the author was a chick or a dude (or a married couple, brrr). I was
rather amused, though, that, while every character in the piece claims to be
penniless and desperate, they all live like jet-setters in posh, upscale
Mediterranean settings, villas and mansions. If this is the European Union in an
austere recession, what must it be like in boom times? If enough Americans get
an eyeful of that, maybe they’ll also stop their Tea Party hate speech and
cheer Obama into a second term to bring on the EEC-style socialism. Along with
the ban on marriage, of course, so we won’t be distracted from enjoying our
beach-houses. (3 out of 4 stars)
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