Saw a truly wonderful film today: "Those
Who Love Me Can Take the Train" Directed by Patrice Chereau
from a script he co-wrote with Daniele Thompson and Pierre
Trividic it might be described as Robert Altman Goes to Hell. En
Francais!
A Very Famous Artist Who Isn't Francis Bacon
But Just As Well Might Be (Jean-Louis Trintignant), dies. Though
his whole life has been spent in Paris, he decides to be buried
in the family plot in Limoges. (Chereau took the title from
Francois Reichenbach, on whose funeral the film is based)
Therefore all his friends have to get there for the ceremony.
It's a wild mix of characters along for the ride -- some related
to the deceased, like his identical twin brother (Jean-Louis
Trintignant, encore!) others ex-lovers. Pascal Greggory ( a main
squeeze of Chereau's for the past few years,and familiar face
from Rohmer films) is one of the centers of attention. His
boyfriend (Bruno Todeschini) has just fallen in love with an old
semi-casual trick of his (Sylvain Jacques) who hustles round the
Gare d'Austerlitz. As the station is the point of departure for
everyone, the hustler comes along for the ride. There's a
long-squabbling straight couple: she (Dominique Blanc) an
ex-junkie; he (Charles berling) still on the needle. There's a
Zazie-like, bratty little girl (Delphine Schiltz) to whom the
deceased has left all his money. And that's just for openers.
The biggest surprise: Vincent Perez as a drag
queen. Those who saw "Queen Margot" doubtless remember
M.Perez's . . .equipment. Well, resourceful actor that he is, he
manages to hide all that candy this time out.
Chereau doesn't direct films all that
often,what with theater and opera commitments. But when he does
-- watch out. I'm going to be talking about this one for some
time to come. It's over here in select cities as part of a
series. I don't know if it's got a U.S. distributor. Chereau will
be in town in a week or so, so I'll be interviewing him.
One more uncanny bit in the film: One of the
last shots is a sweeping panorama of Limoges taken from a
helicopter. As the fragment that remains of what would have been
Mahler's 10th plays on the soundtrack, the camera swoops over the
landscape and zeros in on a row of trees. They're *exactly* like
the trees in Chereau's "Ring" cycle. Except they're
real.
