My 2024 Watchlist Obsession!

I stand back, and look at La Commune (Paris, 1871) with one hell of a lot of admiration and respect. This isn't a movie that's different for the sake of being different - it's eccentricities yield concrete results for both the casual viewer and those who might want to analyse it with more thoroughness. The hard part is the fact that this has a running time of 345 minutes - but more about it's length later. This is about a moment in French history when revolutionaries set up their own government in Paris during the Franco-Prussian war, and were put down by the French Army despite their Commune being defended by the National Guard. But more than that, this film is about revolution as a whole, as well as economics in our current age and world politics. The events aren't filmed as they normally would be - we're given a tour of the set before everything commences, and are introduced to some of the actors who talk about their characters. Then, when the story does commence, performers often stop to explain how their characters are feeling, or else about how the actors themselves are feeling about anything they may wish to express during peak moments of tension or emotion. It's all a very free-form process where there is no fourth wall anymore, with both real world and imaginary world bleeding into each other.

Another difference you'll find in the Paris of 1871 is that in this version television and the media exist as they do today. No other modern technologies or differences are apparent but that - so we get to see news broadcasts and television interviews during the months of revolution in Franco-Prussian-war era Paris. A large portion of the film is devoted to on-the-street interviews - and Watkins has hundreds of actors at his disposal here all playing their parts. Throughout the film we get regular intertitles that explain in detail all of the events as they transpire - something I really appreciate, because that makes it much easier to follow proceedings. They impart much information, and it means the actors don't have to constantly worry about exposition - they can simply get on with playing their roles. Many of these roles consist of people attending committees and meetings where passionate revolutionaries debate about what actions to take, but there are also convent schoolgirls, wealthy older ladies who are against the Commune, soldiers from the National Guard and historical figures like French President Adolphe Thiers (played by Jean Giacinti). Everyone plays their part as if this is all 100% real while at the same time free to express themselves in any way they see fit and make comparisons to today's world. It's as if two worlds have fused together into one.

So this one requires stamina to a certain degree - (but it's by no means the longest film made by Peter Watkins - that would be Resan, which tops the list of "longest non-experimental movies in history" at 873 minutes.) I could have watched the "short version" of La Commune, the theatrical cut, but even that goes for 220 minutes. Watching, we can see how the revolutionaries frequently shoot themselves in the feet - often making conditions for the poor even worse than they were before, seeing wages continually cut as they try to do too much too quickly and lose sight of the bigger picture. They waste time debating, and their debates are never filtered - there should be a process where ideas can be seconded, voted on and then implemented into real-world action. Instead, energy and time is wasted. When the French troops do eventually arrive, despite having months, they catch the National Guard flat-footed and unprepared. While many revolutionaries are happy to give their lives for the cause, the civil war ramps up until terrible atrocities occur - monstrous even by today's standards. Throughout Watkins manages to glean what's pertinent for today's world, perhaps in the hopes he can wake people up from their slumber. Some historians think much of what's rotten with today's system of governance and finance started in Paris, 1871. I don't know about that - but I do know that this is an insane movie-making feat that does something profound to both filmmaker and spectator.

Glad to catch this one - Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice listed this as the #1 film made since 2000. It holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch La Commune (Paris, 1871)

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Why couldn’t the British play the British? How very odd.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

I probably understate the importance of a film's score in many of the reviews I write - but it's impossible to overstate the importance of Irène Drésel's pulsating, heart-pounding electronic musical accompaniment to the action in Eric Gravel's Full Time. Without it, I don't think we'd be fully in tune with our protagonist's mental state. She's Julie Roy (Laure Calamy) - a single mother with two overactive little dervishes who lives a high-pressure life, her career, menial job, parenting and social life precariously balanced and in constant threat of careening out of control into outright destruction. She works as a head maid at a serious 5-star hotel for demanding, wealthy clients which requires a lengthy commute each day, but is secretly slipping out for job interviews in the hopes of restarting her serious marketing vocation. Juggling that with raising children is not for the faint-hearted, but when transport strikes hit Paris she finds that getting to and from work while also slipping out for interviews and not completely betraying her overworked nanny - all the while trying to chase up critical alimony payments from an non-communicative ex-husband - is setting the stage for the utter disintegration of everything she's worked so hard for. Facing the prospect of losing everything, Julie has to fight on any way she can and hope that her fortunes don't destroy her altogether. Amongst all the trouble and turmoil, she has to carry on and host her kid's birthday party as if nothing at all is amiss - another stress to add to an almost impossible load as her funds run out.

Sheez. Modern life is completely stupid - the pressures so psychologically draining. I find that most of the people I know hover on the brink of complete financial ruin as if that's the natural state of modern man. These days it takes two incomes to support a family, which means if there's kids then parenting and housework are an added pressure to people who are out burning up all their energy working. Don't even think about losing that job - you might never find another one. Don't even think of moving - rents are sky high, vacancy rates are near zero, and if you're paying off a mortgage than may God have mercy on your soul. Nobody is holding the power company to account for increasing the cost of electricity to absurd levels, and the same goes for the supermarkets who find it necessary to do much less competing with each other so prices can be fixed at nice high ranges. The car that's so essential to all of your life's crucial pursuits costs a king's ransom to run and keep legal as petrol prices skyrocket, and don't forget your phone and internet bill. All of this is why just about all of us can relate to Julie Roy and her battle to just keep it all together without crashing her life into a reef and sinking - being a parent, working a demanding job and simply looking after all the critical elements of her existence. It'd be interesting if a test group could watch this film while doctors monitor their stress levels! I bet they'd go through the roof. As mentioned earlier - the pounding score gives this all a rapid, fight-or-flight level heartbeat of it's own.

Laure Calamy's performance is extremely praiseworthy as well - every emotion writ large on her very expressive facial features. She reminds me of someone I know and kind of regret not keeping in touch with. I found the work maids have to do in 5 star hotels fascinating - there's an exactitude and perfection required that is up at obsessive compulsive levels, and as you can imagine it's the perfect job for Éric Gravel to give the heroine in this story. It ups the pressure by giving her an extremely demanding menial job. He also gives her two of the loudest, most obnoxious kids possible - although they're cute and not monsters, just hard to deal with. Julie's nanny is always on the verge of quitting, and as with her job she's never able to keep her appointments or promises as far as she's concerned. It all makes for an extremely tense and exciting movie - although I kept wondering why Julie had money troubles considering the fact that she had a pretty good job. A hint at some kind of issue would have quelled that constant irking question that kept bothering me. I mean, it didn't look like she lived an extravagant life or had any other avenue that would burn up large amounts of cash - and she even used public transport. I do get it though - from what I learn in movies along with what I hear in the news, life in Paris is expensive. I don't think this is a film I could watch multiple times - but for a one-off it is particularly excellent and timely.

Glad to catch this one - it won a couple of César Awards in '23 - one for Irène Drésel's music (go figure) and the other for Best Editing. Full Time also snagged the Best Director Award and Best Actress for Laure Calamy at the Venice Film Festival. Nice.




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Full Time

⬆️☑️☑️☑️ LOVED THIS MOVIE