because you can't have too much entertainment... October 2001

What America Can't Do

Together Dir: Lukas Moodyson.
Starring: Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist, Ola Norell. Jessica Liedberg & Emma Samuelsson.
Under the Sand Dir. Francois Ozon. Starring: the incomparable Charlotte Rampling.

Though it may seem tasteless in this day of rightful healing and appropriate flag waving to say so, there are things America can't do. We are great nation in so many respects that it seems silly to nitpick. But there are a few things about the movies that we just can't get the hang of. Even the best examples of major filmmaking in this country often have a distinct whiff of "product" rather than art about them. Even the most original American screenplays don't seem to venture into atypical areas. Instead, they offer us fresh insight or subversive spins on popular myths. Terrific artistic services of course -but par for the course in their own way. Whenever I'm discouraged by Hollywood's output, I head to the more adventurous theaters to see something from across the ocean. This past month I thankfully caught two films that would never have been made in America.

Together
This endearing comedic drama (known as "Tillsammans" in Sweden) is an ensemble film set in the Stockholm of the 70s. It skims the surface of counterculture politics at the time and dives deep into the pros and cons of communal living. The plot, such as it is, deals with the integration of two families in one communal home. The first family is a group of bohemians rejecting traditional society roles and conveniences. They're vegetarians, sexually adventurous, politically inclined, and deeply interested in community as opposed to the standard nuclear family arrangement. The second family is a mom and her two kids, fleeing an abusive husband and neglectful father...who realizes quite quickly how much he's lost...

The resolutions of the intertwining characters' storylines will strike some as pat or predictable. It is true that the film rarely surprises, but what it does it does winningly. The film is consistently and even vigorously amusing for its entire running time. That doesn't happen every day in the movies. There's nary a dull moment in this comedy and the dramatic resonance that emerges is especially lovely for having arrived so pleasantly. But perhaps most impressively, it does what very few movies even attempt to do: It paints a vivid and compassionate picture of lives filled with ideas and nuance. By the end of the film you feel you know these people. They may aggravate or annoy you but you understand them. And, despite the unruly living arrangements you may want to move in yourself to argue, love, and share your life with a group. In "Together" the great mistake of life seems to be allowing loneliness to occur.

The first thing I noticed leaving the theater after seeing this fine Swedish export is how good I felt. It wasn't the typical and fleeting "feelgood" effect that Hollywood continually strives for, but a real and genuine pleasure at having spent two hours of my life with the characters in the film... That's always something to treasure when you leave a theater.

Under the Sand
The infamous French director Francois Ozon excels at mood and his latest film "Sous Le Sable" has an abundance of it. At the beginning of the film, Ozon leisurely establishes the day to day existence of a happily married older couple. It feels lived in, comfortable, very routine. Even boring. Boredom of course is a cardinal sin in American film. But bear with the director here because it's all just a set up. It won't be long until the film's nightmarish premise snaps to life.

If you follow foreign films at all you've probably heard that it's about a woman whose husband mysteriously dissappears... The couple is enjoying a casual day at the beach when the husband vanishes. Did he drown? Did he abandon his wife? This stirring mystery is what the plot hinges on, but it's really just the first third of the film. From there, the journey begins and the film takes you slowly and confidently (some may feel laboriously) to the labyrinth of denial that often accompanies horrific loss. Most of the adulation for this movie is based on Charlotte Rampling's performance as the grieving, confused, and possibly widowed Marie. Rampling is indeed superb. You're never entirely certain as to which side of sanity she's on and whether or not she's better off that way. It's a fine performance and it's giving younger audiences a terrific introduction to a longtime international sensation.

The thing that Under the Sand made me feel most, though, was entirely outside of the viewing experience. I kept thinking, "American actresses in their 60s never get to play a real person!" Marie is a complex and full character. Rampling's American peers only get to be someone's grandmother or mom. And if by some rare chance the movie is about them -then its always about aging... like, oh, say The Trip to Bountiful or On Golden Pond... as if senior citizens only have this one life experience -no variations. (The only recent American counterpart in terms of complexity is Ellen Burstyn's Sarah Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream) America's senior citizens certainly don't get to have vital sex lives onscreen like Rampling has here. The marvelously choreographed masturbation sequence alone is worth the price of admission. So some advice to all young actresses out there. If this is what you want to do with your life -acting I mean, and not stardom- learn a second language or two and venture outside America when the roles stop pouring in. You may just find the role of your career. Many filmgoers feel that Charlotte Rampling found just that here in this quiet unnerving film.

Both Together and Under the Sand deal with welcome subject matter that you won't find in a typical American film. They represent pure artistic undertakings to these weary eyes. They feel neither test marketed nor excessively planned. They feel instead, deeply felt and unconcerned with the bottom line. They are what they are. Two small but distinct portraits: One on community, the other on isolation. They told me two stories I would never have heard from my home country. I'm glad I got the chance to see them...and I hope you give them a chance if they find their way to a theater near you.

-Nathaniel 

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Related info on this website: See the Box Office page for the takes on Under the Sand and Together. Happily they're both hits (relatively speaking) at the art house...

-Nathaniel

Missed some reviews or commentary? Go here