In the UK this film is to my knowledge unknown, or avoided. It is a hymn to life during the appalling pandemic that hit the world in 2020. This film shows how a group pf actors who practically live in the theatre where they are rehearing ' Guermantes ' a play based on part of Marcel Proust's ' In Search of Lost Time. ' During two hours and twenty minutes we see them rehearse, relax, sleep and love each other despite the fact that the play could not be put on due to lockdown. Their devotion to each other is incredible to watch, and there is a scene where an elderly woman is dying in bed which surpassed for me a similar scene in Ingmar Bergman's ' Cries and Whispers.' Both homosexuality and heterosexuality intermingle as they should in ' real ' life and at one point there is an astute comparison with the pandemic of the 1980's where so many died of another world wide pandemic. There are scenes of a semi-deserted Paris that for me was heart breaking to see. I urgently feel that this film deserves the distribution it should have beyond the confines of France and perhaps other countries with less indifference to Christophe Honore's work and arguably his most committed film.
2 Reviews
Sign Of The Times
alanh200046 September 2024
Every Christophe Honoré movie promises something singular, something intelligent, and something fantastic. Guermantes is no exception. This film arose from Covid's effects on Paris and his current production, an adaptation of Proust's Le Côté de Guermantes. The play was shut down because of Covid restrictions--Paris followed the rest of the world with its closures and curfews--after one or two performances (I believe).
Honoré and his cast were left with the choice of waiting until the climate changed and restrictions were removed so they might again perform or they could make art from the ruins. Honoré always moves between media--from novel to play to opera to film--so making a movie was easy. Guermantes tells this story by contrasting the theatre repertoire members' lives with the tales of Proust. Guermantes is a mirror into various tales during the modern-day plague eventually to post-confinement while Proust proudly smiles over everything.
There are no perfect endings, but happiness hangs above everything else here. Original and earmarked by Honoré's signature wit and talent.
The previous review mentions that the UK avoided Guermantes, but the truth is that the movie was never distributed outside of France. There was never a digital release, and Honoré kept it as a television movie, as respected as it is. I was fortunate enough to contact a streaming service who added it to their menu with English subtitles, and I was lucky to watch it several times. I am uncertain how other parts of the world can access Guermantes.
Honoré and his cast were left with the choice of waiting until the climate changed and restrictions were removed so they might again perform or they could make art from the ruins. Honoré always moves between media--from novel to play to opera to film--so making a movie was easy. Guermantes tells this story by contrasting the theatre repertoire members' lives with the tales of Proust. Guermantes is a mirror into various tales during the modern-day plague eventually to post-confinement while Proust proudly smiles over everything.
There are no perfect endings, but happiness hangs above everything else here. Original and earmarked by Honoré's signature wit and talent.
The previous review mentions that the UK avoided Guermantes, but the truth is that the movie was never distributed outside of France. There was never a digital release, and Honoré kept it as a television movie, as respected as it is. I was fortunate enough to contact a streaming service who added it to their menu with English subtitles, and I was lucky to watch it several times. I am uncertain how other parts of the world can access Guermantes.
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