"Les Olympiades"; dir Jacques Audiard, 2021 ****
The opening scene just blows you away immediately, where else could you see such towers so high, but with a lot of open space all around? It is Le Corbusiers dream come true, and how is it turning out? Are people living in paradise? Is it a nice neighbourhood to live in? In Paris, the 13ème is an area a bit mysterious for non Asians. I have met many non Asians told me that they have never set foot there, as if its a "harlem" of a sort which is rather puzzling for me, as there is nothing foreboding in the public spaces.
Here we are, in the forest of concrete, the stories of young people of color, and one white girl a bit lost from Bordeaux, she tries to re start her life at a University, coming from the province but not exactly a person without capacity however we are shown a person slightly misaligned in herself and her surroundings, somewhere along the line, she has to resolve some personal issue. She is searching and trying to merge into her new life.
The director is very intelligent in telling all these stories giving a lot of details without telling it straight, he lets us in, with many hints that this or that must have happened by showing the family contexts of these characters.
Emilie, a pretty and young Chinese French girl, who did Science Po, a v important prestigious school, has a crappy job, answering phones for tel companies. She was con-descendent to the anonymous clients calling in, and was soon fired. Then, she worked as waitress in a Chinese restaurant - taking liberty to making short breaks to have casual sex with whoever she pleases. All this time, she takes the lead in choosing who she wants to sleep with, all the time being conscious of what goes over well with her Asian family, her sister, her mother, grandmother responsibilities... at the end, even though she loves a black guy, she knows it wont go over well so she breaks off the relationship but we soon see at the end of the movie, getting ready to go to the grandmothers funeral - she will bring her lover/boyfriend to meet the family, everybody will be there at the funeral of course. Shes in love with her love and he says I love you loudly over the intercom. (End of movie)
The white young woman, wanting to have a new life, at the University goes to a party, she decided to dress up in blond wig, see through mesh top w black bra and skinny shimmering short skirt, etc, which is an outfit of hookers - but we that she doesnt grasp this really, she thought this is what party attire means in Paris because she has not yet mastered informal casual standards of dress codes - no one else at the techno party dressed up like that - her classmates did not recognise her. etc etc We find out soon, that there is a problem that she is running away from and the only friend she now has was the porno service woman who dressed in about the same style as her party outfit, slowly they chatted and became friends. And, she discovered that her love type is actually a woman - we dont know for sure if its specifically this punky styled woman or in general woman, but its not important as she has made a step towards herself - and this discovery overwhelmed her, she collapsed, fainted - like in the old days, girls who meet their ideal love - usually a guy, they faint.
All the other characters have normal natural self assertive behaviours, a lot of nudity, making love scenes. We see that this is what real life is : real life at a cafe, on the telephone, on cell phones messaging, showing huge penis as a direct message, chats online. Race is not so important, but this is a movie which shows smart young people not of the mainstream simply because of their race. The hardships and real hurdles that they face as a minority - you could do very well at school, but once outside of the University, the tough challenges of survival begin.
As i watch the movie running along from one complication, misunderstanding, mental inacceptance, boredom and responsibility to the next, elders, jobs, negotiating how to talk to family members - because as immigrants, or new comers, family is still v important - and matter of fact realities, i think how come these people are sooooooo complicated!! Why cant they just stop fussing why must they always have to have every personal interactions, all these daily details fitted like duck tail joints? As this is almost impossible in human relationships because all these people started from different contexts and reference points do not coincide right from the beginning. These people dont cut themselves or the other any slack.
All the actors are very good, youthful, all with beautiful bodies, all realistic beauty unlike in current Asian films - where all movie stars male and female have only one mould. Each one stands out.
The music is very gd, black and white photography camera work v v gd.
Makes me want to go see the other Jacques Audiard movies!
