Film Review
Frequently cited as Philippe Garrel's masterpiece,
J'entends plus la guitare is a
frustratingly slow but nonetheless captivating film that offers the
most poignant meditation on the transience of love and youth, whilst
reflecting on the futility of dreams and the anguish of a life scarred
with failed illusions. It is as much a memorial to the crushed
hopes of May 68 as it is a homage to its author's long-term
relationship with Nico, the Velvet Underground singer who appeared in
several of his films. Nico's sudden death at the age of 49 in
1988 had an immense impact on Garrel and prompted him to make this
film, his most personal - an elegiac tribute to a love affair that was
the centrepiece of both his life and his art. The film was
honoured with the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1991 and
is arguably Garrel's finest achievement. The central actors
in the drama, Gérard and Marianne (interpreted with a blistering
authenticity by Benoît Régent and Johanna ter Steege) are
clearly intended as stand-ins for Garrel and Nico.
Garrel's distinctive penchant for lingering close-ups and long takes
gives the film the feel of a drug-induced torpor, but once you have
fallen under its spell it is riveting and you cannot fail to be
impressed by the perceptiveness of the film's author and the skill of
his actors in conveying what constitutes the main characters' ambiguous
relationship, a typically 1960s notion of free love, without hang-ups
or boundaries. How easily the taking of drugs can be read as a
metaphor for succumbing to the illusions of May '68, an aberration of
youth which was sure to end in broken dreams and a life tainted with
regrets. It is with exquisite subtlety that
J'entends plus la guitare expresses
the quiet sorrow we are all bound to feel when we look back and realise
how foolishly squadered were those precious years of youth. When
the guitar stops playing, that is the time to weep.
© James Travers 2015
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Next Philippe Garrel film:
La Naissance de l'amour (1993)
Film Synopsis
Marianne and Gérard are a couple enjoying a languorous holiday
at a villa in the Italian coastal town of Positano. Gérard
spends many lazy hours drinking or smoking hashish with his friend
Martin, whose own partner Lola has just left for Rome to appear in a
film. With Gérard so frequently absent, Marianne finds it
easy to leave him for another man. Gérard then begins a
new relationship with Linda, in the hope that Marianne will return to
him. Back together, Marianne and Gérard become addicted to
heroine, but this has a destructive effect on their relationship and
they end up separating again. Some time later, Gérard
learns that Marianne has died in a tragic accident and he is left to
contemplate the passing of his youth...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.