Pulse of Sex — Come Undone

Why would she do it? Why get involved with another man when her domestic life with husband Alessio is secure, loving, tender, full of support and comfort?

DEPTH 5

ACTING 5

PLOT 5

ORIGINALITY 4

PRODUCTION 5

ENTERTAINMENT 3
Don't watch this to see gratuitous sex or to escape from a long day.

AESTHETIC/VISUAL 5

DEMAND ON VIEWER Moderate

OVERALL Selectively Recommended. 

Mature theme, don't watch if you don't want to open the can of worms called "affairs."

This film is a fine example of the material offered by

Film Movement. Check them out!

This 2010 film directed by Silvio Soldini, Come Undone examines an affair between two people already in committed relationships. Anna, in faithful cohabitation, and Domenico, married with children, meet by chance and immediately begin courting each other. Soldini sensitively dramatizes all the smallest, mundane details of what transpires when one begins an affair of this sort, and the relationship is beautifully unfolded.

"At least there are no vampires here," says Domenico, when they enter the hotel room. (Which they can book for four hours at a time—this European invention is an acknowledgment of the need for a neutral location.)

Vampires indeed—is precisely what they are there to do, the red-lit ambiance giving expression not only to their passion but to the devouring lust at work.

At this point each viewer will read his or her own judgment and history onto the film. But if we can stand back from that, we are led to ask, How do we deal with our bodily chemistry, our emotional pull toward the passion and vitality that can so easily go missing from our secure domesticated arrangements?

What do we do, in other words, when the pulse of sex takes over, and the "logical" parts of brain begin to shut off? When the pre-frontal cortex of brains, the "reasonable" side of ourselves, is revealed for what it is—something of a piece with the lower brain, something that arises out of the unconscious, something that is only a small aspect of our person, not the whole—what are we to do? We don't have as much "choice" in the matter as we might want to believe.

According to one perspective from Slant, this film, while balanced, has its share of cliché moments and characters. I disagree. In fact, it is astonishing to me that the questions asked by this film are regarded as cliché, when the fundamental problem posed is at once so powerful and so intractable, and when I rarely see them handled as sensitively as they are in this film.

If anything, the cliché is not this story but in our conception that romance should only happen between two single people. Escapist romantic comedies abound of that sort. If any of those stories added in the element that one or both parties are married or in a committed relationship, they would at once become heightened with artistic tension. 

What I like most about this film is that these are two of the most ordinary-looking people you will ever see on screen. Their ordinariness makes the story convincing, and it lends an especially poignant and even breathtaking quality to their lovemaking. This film is anti-porn, the opposite of the blitzed-up pseudo-world of internet sex, with ordinary people breathing and moving together instead of showing off moves for the camera.

I also like that the momentum of the affair is led in the first place by the woman. She recognizes something in herself that needs expression, but also that the personalities around her in her family are never going to recognize it. She quite bravely pursues her own path (though it must be said that lying about it was not courageous). Eventually she realizes she will not choose to continue the affair. But her choice comes from experience, not from theorizing or moralizing.

The worst part about an affair is the deception. Lying is a kind of poison that slowly worms its way into each relationship affected by an affair, and to Silvio Soldini's credit, he does not spare the characters the emotional consequences of lying.

Guiseppi Battiston does a marvelous job as the "straight man" to Anna's deviancy. His genuine all-around good-guy-ness, as boring as it is, nevertheless is good for her, and she knows it. Without his character as a foil, Anna's would not stand out so starkly. His grace in handling everything is commendable. Would that we all could get a dose of it.

***

Be sure to see other work from Come Undone actors. Stay tuned, reviews of a few of these films coming soon at Deeper Film!
Alba Rohrwacher
Pierfrancesco Favino
Guiseppi Battiston (gotta love these names)

Just Get Up! — Part Time Fabulous, at the Julien Dubuque Int'l Film Festival

"JUST GET UP!" Is brute shouting going to help? We know in our gut that it won't. 

DEPTH: 5
ACTING: 4
PLOT: 5
ORIGINALITY: 5
PRODUCTION: 5

DEMAND ON VIEWER: Moderate-High (mature/difficult theme)
OVERALL: Highly Recommended

Part Time Fabulous Trailer

Director Alethea Root's film is a penetrating, honest, and hopeful exploration of clinical depression. This is a solid, well-told story that feels like looking into a neighbor's window, and yet has a poetic rhythm that moves very deeply and stays with the viewer long afterward.

One cannot find any hope or cure of depression with a superficial, artificial, or surfacy treatment of it. And that is the challenge for anyone who loves a depressed person, because the level of commitment and empathy and calm discipline required will not come easy and may just as likely destroy a relationship.

Mel (Jules Bruff) is a charming, beautiful, intelligent woman, with many obvious prospects for love and happiness in life. As is always the case with depression, subjectively it does not seem that way to her. Ms. Bruff gives a very vulnerable portrayal of the fragility we all feel when interviewing or auditioning (she practices saying "Unique New York" over and over in the car in a futile effort to improve herself at the last minute). Mel has post-vacation blues, post-audition blues, post-father-figure-problem blues. These are things everyone goes through, so it is tempting to brush off depression with well-meaning advice and overly chirpy questions.

As anyone with any exposure to depression knows the real problem is at root genetic. But rather than stop at making this clinical distinction, the film goes on to explore Mel's character flaws, if not as causes of her depression, then certainly as blocks to recovering from it. 

For example, Mel promises to take medication, go running, or get up in the morning. But she seems trapped in a loop where she simply cannot follow through. This drives Don (Bjørn Johnson) mad, understandably. Even her choice of Don, with his own (borderline?) addictive behaviors, is a mirroring and a projection of a self that Mel will have to move beyond if she is to recover. 

Eventually Mel is able to call forth within herself what is required to change. But what was the trigger? How did Mel click on, after the preceding series of excruciating events? The film leaves the viewer to ponder this question.

A seminal moment in the film comes when Dr. Carr (Blake Robbins) asks Mel, "Is worry love?" She is shocked by the question and realizes she has never really distinguished between the two. Dr. Carr represents a cleaner and more lucid world for her. We are left with the impression, though unresolved, that Mel will find herself with him or someone quite like him.

Another highly effective device is the use of real-life interviews with people who are themselves clinically depressed. This broadens the scope and impact of the film, and makes it almost feel like a documentary. A risky thing to try as it might have made the narrative choppy, but it seems to work well here.

So why the title, "Part Time Fabulous"? We are all in some sense double-mask people. We have one persona at home and another in public, one mask with our lover or spouse, another with our boss. So in some sense we by nature are bound to be part-time. Perhaps the lack of acceptance of this reality is also part of the culprit behind depression, as our production and success-oriented culture teach us neither to respect our own limits nor be empathetic about someone else's.

Part Time Fabulous is a full time joy to watch. It is a work of art, and was a highlight of the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.  Here's to its continued success, and to the courageous people suffering from depression who stand to be helped by this remarkable film.