Skip to main content

Filmmaking and the Familial Powder Keg of The Beloved

The long opening scene of The Beloved plays out almost exactly like a similar early scene in Sentimental Value. An acclaimed and accomplished film director is meeting for lunch with his estranged daughter, who is an actress, hoping to persuade her to star in his next movie. There is even a beat where he compliments her recent television work whilst dismissing the medium itself. They are practically the same scene. But director Rodrigo Sorogoyen has different intentions than Joachim Trier -he lets the scene drag out longer, shoots it only in close-up parallel shots of the actors partly obscured by the head of whoever the shoulder angle is attached to. And it is bristling with a very different kind of tension, more hostile than wounded in the trauma of the relationship. Sentimental Value, as its title implied, was deeply heartfelt and emotional. There is no sentiment to The Beloved.
Where Trier set his drama in the world of filmmaking as a way of commenting on and emphasizing the artistry of his characters, Sorogoyen seems to do so because it is what he knows. Specifically he is familiar with the tensions of a set and how they can be exacerbated by preexisting baggage between collaborators. He is not moved by the prospect of reconciliation but energized by fiery personalities in subtle conflict with each other, and in the hands of strong actors that are the core appeal of his film.
Javier Bardem is one of them, playing the director Esteban Martínez, a two-time Oscar winner returning to Spain after a sojourn in Hollywood. His next movie is a period piece set in Spanish colonial Morocco, to be shot in Fuerteventura, and for the lead part he has only his daughter in mind, whom he hasn't seen in many years after leaving her and her mother. Relations are predictably curt between them. But Emilia (Victoria Luengo), looking to break out of mundane parts and into something more challenging, accepts. And so begins a filmmaking process beset by this awkward relationship and the expectations placed on Emilia for her connection to her father, many of them by her father himself who in a crude way desires a reconciliation in their relationship that she is not amenable to.
It is a recurring theme of the film -Esteban trying to arrange moments with Emilia while she keeps her distance, sticking to strict boundaries of theirs being a professional relationship only; something made difficult by press and other cast and crew often making note of their relationship, and even a (not unfounded) suggestion of nepotism behind her playing this part over other more successful young Spanish actresses. She is evasive when posed with questions about working with her father while he acts a little more openly enthusiastic to the same prompts. Esteban’s reputation haunts Emilia through the production. Spending more of her time off-set with the below-level crew members, there is one point where they debate the best film of Esteban’s career -the popular favourite being his first film Siroco, in which Emilia’s mother appeared. The conversation is palpably uncomfortable for her. In contrast, she comes alive when telling stories of her own experiences in university and her early acting career -from afar, Esteban witnesses this and you feel his prideful longing.
Esteban’s desires for a reignited relationship seem largely motivated out of misplaced pride and motivation. Perhaps nostalgia plays a part as well -while shooting this film he is also recording a director’s commentary for Siroco and possibly feeling a yearning  for the sensations of that time in his life. Earlier, during their dinner he reflected fondly on a time when he took Emilia to a movie and what the apparent tranquility of the experience meant for him only for her to throw cold water over what it was actually like for her, and details of his commitments and vices that he had cleansed from the memory himself.
Bardem hints early at this volatile personality in Esteban, even if he may be no longer as disruptive as he once was. There is still a lot of resentment and entitlement there masked by cordiality. It is a terrific performance, driven largely on subtlety, and conveying a base sympathy for his wants though never indicating his is the only valid perspective. Indeed, Esteban's blindness both in recollection and present interpretation is noteworthy and significant. He can't read for example the discomfort it causes Emilia to meet his current wife -seemingly just a few years older than her- and his young sons. It is not a family unit she has any desire of connection to, especially when her own mother is still so disregarded by Esteban. Luengo goes toe to toe with these nuances, but is also more direct when the need arises. She is in perhaps more of a complex conundrum in that we do see there is a chemistry between Emilia and her father when her guards are let down. They can laugh and commiserate on certain topics together, they can be friendly -but she has to resist his draw, perhaps even a suppressed desire for the same thing as her father because his past sins have wounded her too much. That delicate push and pull is key to their relationship and it is a unique dynamic to see expressed this way.
And of course much of the film is spent anticipating when it will spill over onto the set and what the repercussions of that will be. The manner in which it comes about is perhaps unexpected, but the uncomfortable atmosphere is not -and to his credit, Sorogoyen illustrates it very appropriately and realistically with regards to the response of the cast and crew, and Emilia especially. The filmmaking sequences already make for a refreshingly honest depiction of a difficult film set, and Bardem does well at accentuating that volatility of a man desperate for a specific emotional connection erupting when it is denied him, or when he perceives it is being mocked.
There are plenty of movies about the estranged adulthood of a parent and child that work towards some form of reconciliation -Sentimental Value is a notably great one. There are less movies about those kind of relationships that can't be fixed, however one or both parties may want to try. It's a story that offers less catharsis but is just as important to understand. Connecting this to the artifice, the responsibilities and professionalism of a film set working relationship is a choice that breeds its own list of additional tensions. The Beloved stays true to its principles to the end, reveling in the steadfast surety of Emilia and the dangerous vulnerability of Esteban, showcased superbly by both actors. One of the great recent movies to encapsulate the lesson that forgiveness and reconciliation are earned, not given -only then can a relationship be truly beloved again.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Strange History of the American Spoof Movie

Parody movies have been around for a lot longer than we tend to think of them. Even from the earliest days of Hollywood there were movies meant to satirize a particular subject or genre. In the silent era, Buster Keaton was responsible for a few. And in the early sound era, almost as soon as the monster pictures took off did you see comic versions of them -Abbott and Costello hosting a few. But parody movies tended to be subtle for most of cinema history, or parody came in conjunction with another goal of the comedy. It really wasn’t until the 1980s and 90s that it took off and became popularly understood. And there is perhaps a line to be drawn to the counterculture comedy explosion that began in the 1970s through avenues like  Saturday Night Live , which frequently parodied from even its earliest years popular movies and cultural properties of the time. But that is still a way’s back. To my generation though, ‘parody movie’ is perhaps a less known term than the more blunt ‘s...
1 comment
Read more

A Stylish and Charmingly Reinvented David Copperfield

The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)  is the most important book Charles Dickens ever wrote. It is not the most famous or influential by any means (that would of course be A Christmas Carol ), but it is the book that is the purest expression of the authors’ style, identity, and worldview. It is his most personal work, semi-autobiographical in its story of the chronology from infancy to adulthood of a character who overcomes great loss and hardships to find a fulfilling life as a writer. To read David Copperfield  is to understand Dickens himself. Armando Iannucci knew this when he decided to make a new adaptation of the novel for a twenty-first century audience. He also knew that Dickens adaptations are ubiquitous at this point. Films are a bit rarer, but every few years a new television adaptation rears its head to keep the authors’ unique world an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Notes on the Title Cards of The Lord of the Rings

It might be sacrilege for one who both considers The Lord of the Rings  trilogy to be one of the greatest triumphs of cinema and has been an avid lover of the films since adolescence, to declare that the original theatrical cuts of the films are better than the much beloved extended editions. Easily it’s my most controversial opinion regarding these movies. Don’t get me wrong, I do like the extended editions quite a lot, especially as someone who just enjoys spending time in that universe. They flesh it out more, add extra flavour, and in increasing the length by about an hour really emphasize the epic quality of these films. But I find that the original cuts are generally more cleanly paced, more seamlessly edited, and much more accessible to audiences. All the stuff there is to love about The Lord of the Rings  is there in the original versions, the plethora of new and extended scenes merely add to that for fans. And of those, they fall into three camps for me: 1....
14 comments
Read more