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"Be pleased then, you the living, in your delightfully warmed bed, before Lethe's ice-cold wave will lick your escaping foot."
This opening quotation by Goethe speaks to director Roy Anderson's quest to expose the human condition of the living through a series of absurd and whimsical vignettes. Although the film lacks an overarching linear narrative, these vignettes all speak to unique human experiences in the at times crazy world that the living occupy. Through the character's bizarre interactions and comedic confessions, You, The Living opens the viewer to see the world and its workings in a novel way.
One important theme of the film is the role of onlookers. These scenes explore how we don't realize how entangled we are with the bystanders that frequently surround us. Many of us go on our day-to-day business without considering the experiences of others. For example, there is one scene where daughter is trying to communicate with her mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's, while an unaddressed nursed sits daftly in the background. In a more obvious way, the large depressed woman who humorously wails that nobody understands her blatantly ignores her devoted partner and his tiny dog, who try to care for her. Ignoring the people around us comes to serious detriment to the businessman in the restaurant, when his oblivion allows a man sitting nearby to swipe his wallet out of his pocket whilst the rich man boasts to his friend about his wealth on his cell phone. At other times, the film shows what happens when the world simply ignores us. A man must endure the rain when a crowded bus stop denies him a place to stand, and another must take the stairs. These scenes capture the film's carefully balanced tone between humor and tragedy in its exploration of the world's forgotten or overlooked.
Another interesting aspect about the film is that there are several occasions when the actors directly address the camera and audience. This often occurs when characters are describing their dreams to the viewer. The effect is humorous but poignant. For example, during one scene a man caught in traffic leans out the car window, looks into the camera, and begins to describe a dream where he is sentenced to the electric chair for breaking a family's precious china during a magic trick gone wrong. We see the dream played out, then return to the car inching along the screen. Although the content of the dream is certainly absurd and humorous, his story reveals complex emotions and human insecurities. Likewise, when a lovesick girl addresses the viewer and recounts her dream, we get a personal glimpse of her wild but lighthearted passion for guitar player Mikke. In one of the most visually compelling scenes of the film, Mikke plays the guitar in their moving house, while a crowd of supportive fans wish them the best as they continue on life's journey. The girl's recounting of the dream expresses her deep desire to be supported and loved.
One criticism of the film is that because there is no real plot development or overarching resolution of conflict, the film does seem to drag on towards the end. Each vignette is entertaining in and of itself, but without a narrative to tie them together some may find the film too long to captivate the viewer's attention throughout the entire length of the film. However, the filmmaker does make several attempts to subtly connect the characters in unexpected ways. Fore example, all of the characters find themselves in a torrential thunderstorm midway through the film, and their shared experience of the dark deluge unites their stories. Likewise, there are some characters who we revisit from time to time throughout the film, notably the lonely Mia, and the lovesick girl who pines over Mikke the guitar player. We also often find ourselves at the seedy bar. The monotony of day-to-day life is explored in the bar, as every day the bartender ceremoniously rings a bell and shouts for the people to come order their last drinks. Although these connections and patters do unite the story as a whole, the film would probably be improved if the director has pared down the vignettes and omitted a few of the scenes to make the story move faster.
Although this film is a clear deviation from Hollywood narrative style, the raw human experiences explored through the characters and scenes is a wonderfully comedic cinematic journey through the life of you, the living. It is no surprise that the film has won a host of awards across the globe, and an overall positive international response. The film cover's description of the film as a hybrid of "Bergman meets Monty Python" is not far off base: it adopts the famed Ingmar Bergman style of revealing the deep emotions and underlying psychology of the characters while also using hilarious timing and dialogue to explore these themes. Overall, this "tragicomedy" explores what it means to be a human in a refreshingly enjoyable way.
score 6/10
rosenwin 29 April 2012
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2603947/ |
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31-1-2021 08:27:06