Word: schlondorf
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...MEETS GIRL. He falls madly in love, wasting time and money on his object of desire, Girl retreats. It's the same old story, told this time with more talent. In the venerable tradition of films like Endless Love, Volker Schlondorf's latest is a tale of obsession. But where Zeferelli's version was a superficial skimming of a very good novel. Schlondorf's adaptation renders Marcel Proust some justice...
...Schlondorf handles the evolution of the romance skillfully, by using the associations of present to past in Swann's mind. A carriage ride hurtles his thoughts to a passionate tryst with Odette in the same carriage. The technique is confusing at first, since Schlondorf forswears the traditional wavering picture and weepy music school of flashback, but highly effective once the viewer becomes accustomed to the abrupt shifts from past to present...
...SCHLONDORF gives an almost relentlessly depressing view of relations between the sexes. Neither Swann nor Odette seem to transcend their own emotional needs when together. Curiously, though, Schlondorf ignores some avenues that might have shed light on such sexual politics. He spends very little time, for example, on the homosexual relationship between Baron de Charlus (Alain Delon) and a young Jew-potentially fertile ground for some parallels...
...most part, however, Schlondorf's direction is skillful filmmaking as well as a compelling adaptation of Proust's novel of the same name. He focusses the camera carefully and uses voiceovers sparingly to reveal Swann's thoughts...
...Perhaps Schlondorf's greatest accomplishment is his decision to incorporate Proust's epilogue to Swann in Love(not originally included in the story itself) into his film adaptation. The material shows Swann three decades later in life, when the devastating effects of an illness--and his choices--are apparent. Against the background of the new 20th century--epitomized by Odette's rise from risque to respectable--Swann is a decaying relic. Irons gives Swann the appropriate nerve-wracking intensity of a man out of time, whose tastes belong to another era. Through Irons' skillful portrayal and Schlondorf's careful direction...
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