Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

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therewillbeblus
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#1 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:18 pm

Image

Perdrix

It was worth working through nearly all of the films in competition to get here. This is the winner. An original inverted anti-romantic comedy that finds comfort in deadpan absurdities of human behavior and draws a facade of eccentric characters, a facade because they’re actually rooted in the flesh of ordinary people. We are allotted a gentle dissection of the manic pixie dream girl’s authentic presentation, and as we watch her as just one of many examples, we realize how all of these common caricatures and even the accompanying silly humor of genre films really hint with distance at human truths. This film levels the playing field and shortens the distance, creating an intimate and vulnerable space to confront such psychological and social rhetorical questions and is content with seeing them as both universal in generalization and special in experience.

The film is ultimately about how people become honest with themselves and with one another through the presence of another human being, and in Erwan Le Duc’s world his characters wear their defense mechanisms and personalities on their sleeves side by side as if they were the same (aren’t they?), putting up barriers while simultaneously shedding them. They put their core beliefs out in the open to be chiseled away at- whether by their own hands or most often others’ - relentlessly, sometimes without even realizing it, and yet the mood of this is so conscientious with warmth it melts the icy aggressiveness and reveals it to be another reactionary part protecting the emotional tissue of the exposed soul. The offbeat characters and desire to connect are there per usual, but the eye into the idiosyncrasies is multidimensional and cuts through the typical cloth to admire humanity in all its beautiful pain, innocent fear, and peculiar joy.

There is a Wes Anderson vibe to some of the comedy/pathos blends, and a good-natured lighthearted optimism with eclectic humor covering stark realities about the limitations of perspective and social dynamics that is reminiscent of Mouret. The boldness of these people and their social environment even recalls a raw and unsculpted Miranda July film of searing emotions with intentionally less control over its humor and surrealism that flies out of the shadows to provoke our senses, just like in real life but with a light twist- not too much to disbar a relationship with the viewer and just enough to bleed more sobriety into the truth of spirit. In this picture characters are people and vice versa, and the film essentially declares that the 'quirky' and the 'real' exist inside of one another, something indie rom-coms have been trying to access for decades with only few succeeding with authenticity. Maybe we are like earthworms, beings of contradictions, comprehensive of opposite yet reciprocal parts, adhering to sensibility and instability. Perhaps we need to be unique in solitude and know ourselves just as much as we need to love another and share ourselves. Maybe 'serenity comes to the self-centered,' as one character positions to make another speechless, prompting a difficult yet brave act that works against socially celebrated choices but is absolutely righteous all the same. I don’t know, but the film is hilarious and alive and touching, has the funniest police station scenes and musical performance in recent memory, demonstrates deftness as it transitions from magical to solemn within so many scenes, is as philosophically dense and emotionally intelligent as it is satirical while never condescending, and so far is the year’s best film. More than anything, it makes one grateful for the adventure that is life and inspires us to believe that we can all be our own unique version of Robinson Crusoe if we take a leap of faith and become honest with ourselves.

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#2 Post by senseabove » Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:57 am

Perdrix/The Bare Necessity: Sorry to say this was a total misfire for me... If there are occasional moments that approach some complexity about how we find, form, need, and shed relationships, they're tucked in those scenes that don't adhere to the dominant style of Andersonian geometry, quirky cutesiness, "interactive storybook" framing, musical counterpoint, etc. Unfortunately, that style is very dominant, and runs roughshod over them most of the time. The often jarring contrast between the two styles is clearly intentional—not quite so simplistic as Juliette's persistent unsettledness erupting into Pierrot's orderly world until they find a happy medium, but that's the gist—but it was a thoroughly insufficient conceit for me; and lacking a style that grabbed me (or at least didn't annoy me), the major narrative beats felt, charmlessly, like exactly what one expects from the moment we've seen the two leads in the same room.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#3 Post by knives » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:45 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:18 pm
Image

Perdrix

It was worth working through nearly all of the films in competition to get here. This is the winner. An original inverted anti-romantic comedy that finds comfort in deadpan absurdities of human behavior and draws a facade of eccentric characters, a facade because they’re actually rooted in the flesh of ordinary people. We are allotted a gentle dissection of the manic pixie dream girl’s authentic presentation, and as we watch her as just one of many examples, we realize how all of these common caricatures and even the accompanying silly humor of genre films really hint with distance at human truths. This film levels the playing field and shortens the distance, creating an intimate and vulnerable space to confront such psychological and social rhetorical questions and is content with seeing them as both universal in generalization and special in experience.

The film is ultimately about how people become honest with themselves and with one another through the presence of another human being, and in Erwan Le Duc’s world his characters wear their defense mechanisms and personalities on their sleeves side by side as if they were the same (aren’t they?), putting up barriers while simultaneously shedding them. They put their core beliefs out in the open to be chiseled away at- whether by their own hands or most often others’ - relentlessly, sometimes without even realizing it, and yet the mood of this is so conscientious with warmth it melts the icy aggressiveness and reveals it to be another reactionary part protecting the emotional tissue of the exposed soul. The offbeat characters and desire to connect are there per usual, but the eye into the idiosyncrasies is multidimensional and cuts through the typical cloth to admire humanity in all its beautiful pain, innocent fear, and peculiar joy.

There is a Wes Anderson vibe to some of the comedy/pathos blends, and a good-natured lighthearted optimism with eclectic humor covering stark realities about the limitations of perspective and social dynamics that is reminiscent of Mouret. The boldness of these people and their social environment even recalls a raw and unsculpted Miranda July film of searing emotions with intentionally less control over its humor and surrealism that flies out of the shadows to provoke our senses, just like in real life but with a light twist- not too much to disbar a relationship with the viewer and just enough to bleed more sobriety into the truth of spirit. In this picture characters are people and vice versa, and the film essentially declares that the 'quirky' and the 'real' exist inside of one another, something indie rom-coms have been trying to access for decades with only few succeeding with authenticity. Maybe we are like earthworms, beings of contradictions, comprehensive of opposite yet reciprocal parts, adhering to sensibility and instability. Perhaps we need to be unique in solitude and know ourselves just as much as we need to love another and share ourselves. Maybe 'serenity comes to the self-centered,' as one character positions to make another speechless, prompting a difficult yet brave act that works against socially celebrated choices but is absolutely righteous all the same. I don’t know, but the film is hilarious and alive and touching, has the funniest police station scenes and musical performance in recent memory, demonstrates deftness as it transitions from magical to solemn within so many scenes, is as philosophically dense and emotionally intelligent as it is satirical while never condescending, and so far is the year’s best film. More than anything, it makes one grateful for the adventure that is life and inspires us to believe that we can all be our own unique version of Robinson Crusoe if we take a leap of faith and become honest with ourselves.
More thoughts on this later, but I found this utterly hilarious and wonderful. It reminded me a lot of Dominique Abel's films.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#4 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:49 pm

I don’t know if I’m happier that you liked it or that I was able to measure your sometimes tough to pin down tastes and recommend it. Looking forward to your thoughts!

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therewillbeblus
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#5 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Feb 14, 2020 7:01 pm

Last call reminder to see Perdrix (The Bare Necessity) or any of the other festival features for those interested, on amazon prime or the festival site. Not sure if this will go through Sunday or not but it says it ends on the 16th, so if you’ve got space in your weekend I’d recommend prioritizing a few of these since who knows if or when they’ll be available with English subs again

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knives
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#6 Post by knives » Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:22 pm

Speaking of, I've been trying to put into words what works for Perdrix, but I just don't have them. I could see somebody disliking the film, but it just works really well for me.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#7 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:49 pm

Yeah- I tried, and I still feel strongly about my initial thoughts- but also sometimes, like taking the act of a Civil War reenactment and transforming the period to WWII, familiar ideas can be reworked to reveal a whole new set of opportunities completely unique within a preexisting skeleton, and not a whole lot needs to be said beyond that respect for imagination and the pleasures of wit, humor, and empathy that come with this one.

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knives
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#8 Post by knives » Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:04 pm

My favorite moment was the line, "I do not reciprocate," which at least is a genius phrasing by the translator. It's also surprising given how silly the film is how its use of pathos is actually effective with that ending bringing up some very complicated emotions. I guess Bringing Up Baby is the best phrase I can use to sum up my feelings about this film.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#9 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:12 pm

Yeah that line (and many from the brother) are gold, and I think the pathos burns a hole in the stylization and molded genre trappings to reveal a deeper authenticity than you often get. Maud Wyler‘s character, for example, hints at a MPDG type but deconstructs it to undo the one-sidedness and magical nature enough to become as honest as any female character in a romantic comedy I can think of.

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knives
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#10 Post by knives » Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:17 pm

I think she is definitely where the film will live and die for an audience. It's a great and complicated performance that uses her body in a fascinating way. It seems like she has a lazy eye or maybe a Marty Feldman thing which forces her to be the center of the screen. We never really learn much about her and she really does seem to exist for that magic, but contra to the expectation she's very feisty and seems to be primarily angry at the cop. It's a hard knot to untangle though I think the film manages to piece things together in a way that works.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: MyFrenchFilmFestival

#11 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:03 pm

Exactly, she absolutely retains that magical nature just three dimensional enough to give space for authenticity and relatability. It’s like she exists as a caricature, a fleshed out character, and an empathetic vessel of our own humanity, which of course has been done before but not in this way and not often in the genre this is sorta working with, even if I’d argue it’s more building on it

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therewillbeblus
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Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#12 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:17 pm

Here's a Q&A w/ director and cast (translated in English by translator on stage)

Erwan Le Duc has only made a few shorts before this feature, but the only one up on backchannels, Le soldat vierge, is a fun preview on Le Duc's strengths for absurdist social humor. We follow a dying soldier whose very serious conditions, physically and existentially, are expressed with objective dry farce and interpreted comically along trivial social ethics, finding the comedy in the melancholy, as Le Duc aptly states are his tonal intentions in the linked Q&A regarding Perdrix. This short film emphasizes the twisted perversity that his feature film doesn't, and there are a few perspective-shifting gags that are quite inspired while a few fall flat. He doesn't balance the tones as well here but does transition between them seamlessly when it counts, and fans of absurdist comedy should seek it out if only for the few bits that do land hard - which are mostly resigned to the first half. At least the amazing Maud Wyler pops up in the back half, even if she doesn't do much.

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domino harvey
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Re: Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#13 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:14 am

Please cancel the mid-00s indie revival before it spreads. I do not care to see Gigantic or the Living Wake just because it is in French and seemingly filmed on an iPhone. I have no, and I mean no, idea what you guys are talking about in this thread in terms of any greater meaning or import or artistic merit. This was even worse than Le vent tourne and Les fauves from MyFrenchFilmFestival, and about as comparable to Mouret as the latter.

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tenia
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Re: Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#14 Post by tenia » Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:31 am

From a French perspective (might be a cultural thing, who knows !), I agree with dom full heartedly. Perdrix might be funny and silly and touching at first glance, but it never seems to know what to do with any of its specificity : its regional setting (which was heavily marketed here in France - "ah, finally a movie not shot in a big city or, god forbid, Paris !"), its quirkiness or its main protagonists who have pretty much no chemistry whatsoever. The result felt disjointed 99% of the time, with only a few things here and there vaguely working.
I did feel it had, however, a quite lovely photography.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#15 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:26 am

Oof I knew there was a high chance this one would fail for some due to the indie quirkiness that bleeds through the fabric, risking distraction from other aspects that I see as strengths, but calling it on par with Les fauves makes me feel like championing it is a war crime! tenia, I don’t disagree with your points, particularly the lack of chemistry, though this seemed very intentional toward deconstructing and making transparent the rom-com tropes and how they fit with realistic defense mechanisms we put up to bar connection. I’ve already defended the film along those lines enough so I’ll stop there, but I’m sorry it didn’t work for you guys.

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tenia
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Re: Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#16 Post by tenia » Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:51 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:26 am
I don’t disagree with your points, particularly the lack of chemistry, though this seemed very intentional toward deconstructing and making transparent the rom-com tropes and how they fit with realistic defense mechanisms we put up to bar connection.
I didn't felt it was intentional, unfortunately, which I guess is probably the main reason of why it didn't work for me.

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domino harvey
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Re: Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#17 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:33 pm

tenia wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:31 am
From a French perspective (might be a cultural thing, who knows !), I agree with dom full heartedly. Perdrix might be funny and silly and touching at first glance, but it never seems to know what to do with any of its specificity : its regional setting (which was heavily marketed here in France - "ah, finally a movie not shot in a big city or, god forbid, Paris !")
I’m actually surprised to hear that, because I thought the only slightly better Paul Sanchez est revenu! already just did the weird small town police thing, so that didn’t even strike me as a point of differentiation

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tenia
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Re: Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#18 Post by tenia » Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:25 pm

Paul Sanchez barely registered in France (even on video : Blaq Out sold only 100 BD of this which made them basically stop releasing anything on the format), so it might be that Perdrix thought nobody noticed and they could push this angle nonetheless.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Perdrix [The Bare Necessity] (Erwan Le Duc, 2019)

#19 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:57 pm

Erwan Le Duc's earlier short Jamais Jamais finally popped up on backchannels, and it's much better than his subsequent short Le soldat vierge, in part because Le Duc strikes a more effective, yet equally unhinged, tonal balance. The film is essentially an alt-buddy cop picture with two women of mismatched personalities "bonding," if you can call it that. The observational social comedy is quite funny, and there are some absurd lines and rationalizations cemented and accepted into conversations that forcibly invite us into a strange kind of messy psychosocial-existential disgorging, without granting us the privilege of speaking its language. Per usual with Le Duc, this is a bit quirky but also retains a pathos, but here that blend is condensed together in an occasionally overwhelmingly forward manner, as opposed to Perdrix's long-game, and feels oddly appropriate containing itself in that fever dream of unrealistic relational movement. What begins as a conventional pairing of eccentric characters for a resigned dry farce transforms into a bizarre and surreal acid-trip of abnormal behavioral psychology, defying even the internal logic established by the film itself- a process that suggests intangible internal cores each woman cannot access in themselves or one another, not even within the formula of buddy-cop intimate catharsis we're accustomed to expecting.

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