Wednesday, August 28, 2013

MOOD INDIGO - MIFF 2013




Michel Gondry, the king of whimsy, is back with his latest film “Mood Indigo” and he has brought with him the queen of cute, Audrey Tautou, along for the ride.  While I am quite a fan of Tautou, I find Gondry’s output to be quite inconsistent.  There is no doubt that his “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” is something of a masterpiece, but everything he has done since then is just a bit too hit and miss for me.  Gondry is at his best when he is at his most inventive, which is something the trailer for “Mood Indigo” promises, but with Audrey Tautou on board as well, I must admit that I was worried that “Mood Indigo” was going to be far too cure and whimsical for its own good, and be nothing more than mere fluff; something which I have reacted strongly against in recent times.

When all of his friends start falling in love, Colin decides it is time to find a girl for himself and settle down.  He is set up with Chloe at a party he attends with his friends and the two immediately fall in love.  The young couple prance around a beautiful and quirky version of Paris, riding on cloud cars controlled by giant cranes from above, while sipping cocktails made by a fancy piano.  The whimsical world is representative of the couples blossoming love, however soon after Colin and Chloe get married, Chloe starts to become ill and is diagnosed with a rare medical condition: she has a water lily growing in one of her lungs.  Suddenly the world, that was so bright and full of fun and colour, starts to decay around Colin at the same time Chloe’s condition deteriorates.

As I was sitting in the cinema watching “Mood Indigo” I was aware of how much I was enjoying the film and yet I found the above synopsis incredibly hard to write because I had forgotten so many of the film’s details.  I do not know if this is an indictment on “Mood Indigo” itself or if it is just a case of mid-festival fatigue, but sadly my memories of this film falter.  What I do remember is just how visually inventive the whole film was.  Gondry is really at the top of his game here creating an alternate Paris that looks super fun to live in or just visit.  However I was worried that the film was headed towards a fate of being too cute, as the first half of the film is just that, but just as I was thinking that, Chloe is diagnosed with her illness and “Mood Indigo” heads down a much darker path than I was expecting.  Visually the film becomes darker too, as suddenly all the fun things that were so evident in the opening half, when the couple was falling in love, start to disappear and are replaced with a visual representation of despair.  Open spaces that once felt so large, begin to feel cramped, as though the walls are closing in on everyone, sunlight seems not to exist anymore, with the bright colours of the opening half becoming muted, and characters seem to age years in a matter of days, as Chloe’s illness takes a lot out of Colin and his friends.

Much has been made recently about the fact that those who have not read the book the film is based on, are destined to find the film confusing.  At the time I watched “Mood Indigo” I was actually blissfully unaware that it was based on Boris Vian’s 1947 novel “L’Ecume Des Jours” (which has the gorgeous English title “Froth On The Daydream”), and the majority of the film I believe I had no trouble in understanding.  There is a subplot about one of Colin’s friends, Chick, who is obsessed with a certain author’s work, Jean-Sol Partre, and his attempt to collect every word the man has written to the point that it ends up souring his relationship with his girlfriend.  To me this section felt superfluous to the rest of the film, but it may be this section of the film that makes more sense if you have read the book; I do not know, but it may give it more meaning.  Either way, word has just come out that when “Mood Indigo” is released outside of France, it will be a shorter “international” version, running 36 minutes shorter than the version that played at MIFF (the film will be released in Australia on September 12, and it has already been confirmed that it will be the shortened version).  I cannot fathom how a film that has that much cut out of it can hope to offer the same experience gotten from viewing the original version, but I am just thankful I took the chance to see the “French” version when I had the chance.

In regards to performances, I thought both Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou were nice in their roles of Colin and Chloe respectively.  Both presented the required smiles, giggles and a general sense of fun during the stages of them falling in love, and then both convince when the film changes to a more serious manner and the outcome appears tragic.  The person who stood out for me though was Omar Sy who plays Nicolas, a friend of the couple who is actually a lawyer but feels more at home in the kitchen spending time trying out recipes from his favourite chef than he does in court.  Sy is just so charismatic in the role; you cannot take your eyes off of him when he is on screen.  He just elevates the mood and quality of the film too, and the scene when he and Colin practice dancing in the kitchen is an absolute classic.

Overall, I sadly have to admit that my memory of “Mood Indigo” is tainted – it just hasn’t stayed with me, therefore I do not know whether the recollections I have of the film are indeed accurate.  What I do remember though, was that in the moment I thoroughly enjoyed “Mood Indigo” and found it both visually exciting and inventive.  It has a magic within it that a lot of films do not have anymore.  Audrey Tautou plays her cute card again and does it well, but she also equips herself mightily when the film took a much darker tone which impressed me.  Personally I would recommend “Mood Indigo” but under the proviso that it is known that my memory of the film is slightly tainted.


3.5 Stars.

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