Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - Bel Ami

I got to see Bel Ami a few days before its theatrical release because HD Net, a Verizon movie channel, had a sneak preview. Then I got to watch its professional reviews at Rotten Tomatoes peak at 30% (that's really rotten) so I re-watched it on my DVD recorder because I thought: Am I nuts?

No, I'm not; at least not about my reaction to this movie. And that began a weekend where, when I had the time, my thoughts went to: What's going on here? Did I or did the professional critics' world miss the mark with this movie?

Then, yesterday morning, in a rare watching-C-SPAN-at-7am moment, I listened to Brian Lamb interview W. Joseph Campbell (more on him another day), author of Getting It Wrong, where Campbell (former journalist, now journalism prof at American University) takes 10 still believed US journalistic myths ranging from Hearst's quote of "You deliver the pictures and I'll deliver the war." to Murrow stopping McCarthy, to Cronkite turning the country against Vietnam and to Woodward and Bernstein bringing down Nixon. Watching this show, I realized that with Bel Ami the myth has become the meme and the meme has become the truth. 

And now, I'm going to leave that last sentence as a teaser and give you my review of Bel Ami first. And, even more "first", I'm going to discuss the book by de Maupassant ever so slightly. 

Bel Ami, Or, the History of a Scoundrel is told in de Maupassant's straight-forward style for he, unlike many other of his French novelist pals, left his audience to draw conclusions, connect the dots or feel the rage with the disparity between the social classes of his time. Read The Necklace to see what I mean. It's a surgically cut short story about social pretensions and their unhappy consequences but you must draw this conclusion yourself for de Maupassant is just telling a good short tale. I've read many de Maupassant short stories, though not the novel, Bel Ami, but I'm willing to wager that Georges Duroy is more sympathetic in the movie than the novel and Madeleine Forestier less the vocal feminist in the book. But then, the cast and crew of Bel Ami, 2012, were not making a movie to appeal to an audience with 1890's French sensibilities. Now, on to the movie:

I approached Bel Ami with trepidation since I had heard it was done almost a year ago and such a long lead time to release never bodes for a good movie. Then I was afraid that Robert Pattinson wasn't up to the lead role and using two strong actresses as Uma Thurman and Kristen Scott Thomas was a way to prop him up.

I was wrong on both counts. Within minutes, the movie had me. The cinematography and musical score immediately set the scene and I "saw", within 5 minutes, all I needed to know about George Duroy. Poor, resentful, resigned, depressed, living in poverty, staring at luxury, angsting over the fact he doesn't have the coin to buy a cheap whore. And, it was Pattinson who pulled off this rapid montage for in the opening silent few minutes he must show us what it's like to be a poor outsider in a rich Paris, not with words as he finally does with Clotilde at the end of the movie, but with expression and movement. It's these first 5 minutes which swoop us into the story which follows and they work.

What follows is the serendipitous meeting of Duroy and an old army buddy, Forestier, who seeing Duroy's pathetic state and invites him to dinner ("Come and meet my wife.") From there the story unfolds as Duroy desperately tries to work his way into Parisian society but is only thrown crumbs because, as he is reminded often throughout the movie, he will be forever an ignorant peasant. It's only his quick acceptance of Madelene's advice, "cultivate the wives" which brings a path to success; a path which he travels with very few mistakes.

Pattinson plays Duroy with a nuanced sensitivity so though we get to see him as a social climber he telegraphs his hurt every time the establishment trods on him. (Losing his job, the jabs about Comte de Vaudrec and his wife, being referred to as "Forestier" after he marries Madeleine, etc.) Even as he takes almost a Count of Monte Cristo revenge, Pattinson conveys a world-weary ironic sadness so that we never leave his camp. For really, even though de Maupassant sub-titled this A History of a Scoundrel, a better choice would have been: A History of a Scoundrel among Scoundrels.

This movie is very watchable; beautiful to see and hear, with actors who are all most capable of carrying a period-piece film successfully. Pattinson, Ricci, and Scott Thomas hit the mark again and again but special praise must go to Uma Thurman who has the difficult job of conveying Madeleine as an early feminist without resorting to brittleness nor overshadowing the true plot which is George's path to riches. I talked last week about how the removal of the sex scenes in the TV showing of A History of Violence muted the film's theme, in Bel Ami the inclusion of the final sexual encounter between Madeliene and George shows how important such scenes can be. I'm sure the director(s) didn't plan it, but this scene turns the image of Robert Pattinson as the ultimate sex symbol on its head.

Which brings me back to my introduction: the 30% favorable rating of Bel Ami by Rotten Tomatoes and the fact that when the myth becomes the meme it always trumps the truth. Because, I think, a lot of the disfavor with Bel Ami is a disfavor with Robert Pattinson. After viewing, Remember Me and How To Be with Pattinson, I saw what a good actor he is away from the tripe dialogue of the Twilight saga. But I really don't think this young man can catch a break from the critics when it comes to his acting. 

Remember Me only got 28% favorable from RT and How To Be didn't get enough reviews to even register there. Yet in both movies, Pattinson was very good. He's a serious actor who didn't take the block-buster route after Twilight but hones his craft in nuanced roles. Only time will tell if professional critics will explore beneath the meme (Pretty-boy, low talent) and see a serious actor. Memes are hard to break but good luck to him.

For me, I recommend Bel Ami. I even watched it a third time yesterday (yes, I lack confidence in my judgment; what a wuss!) and still found it most enjoyable.