Confusing Artistry with Awesomeness

Last weekend, a patron returned a Canadian movie named Lilies. I'd never heard of it, but the concept sounding interesting so I borrowed it. I've done this several times before and haven't gotten a bad film. What follows is a list of things that made this film a strong applicant as a potential "Jer Movie" (a phrase used by several friends).

• It's a foreign film.
• It's based on a French-language play.
• It centers around the tumultuous relationship between three boys in a holiday town in Quebec.
• It features a hotel with an exotic, moneyed clientele.
• It explores the interplay of fact and fiction, religion and sexuality, lies and truths.
  
• It was directed by an auteur whose films have been Cannes Film Festival selections and featured at other various film festivals.
• For heaven's sake, one of the characters is a ruined Countess who busily clings to the hope the French aristocracy will rise again.
  

The story centers around a bishop who is taken hostage by a group of inmates and forced to watch a play written by the man whose confession he is hearing. The prisoner was wrongfully accused of a crime years before by the bishop, and the events leading up to this betrayal are played out by the other inmates. This boded well for my enjoyment of the film since two of the books I've read this year specifically dealt with childhood betrayal and an adult quest (always coerced or forced) for personal absolution.

While this prison/confessional fiasco was a fine setup, it is a film and not a filmed play so we go back and forth between the dramatization in the prison and the events themselves. However, to lessen confusion the players are the same so all the women are played by men in drag. Now while I have no problems with men in drag, they can sometimes be distracting, especially in a film that isn't set during the time when this was usual.

So we have a rather standard plot of love, jealousy, and betrayal oscillating between a stage play and "flashbacks" or remembrances featuring the same cast. The story is infused with whimsy (the two old men enter the flashbacks as passive observers), imagery (an upper class resort, a hot air balloon), symbolism (the lilies show up when someone is distressed and in need of comfort), and an awkward dinner party. Essentially, I was watching a film whose flaws are out weighted by it's quirkiness and beauty, thus endearing it to me and finding it's way on my wish list.

That said, I hated it. Absolutely disliked it. None of the characters are developed or did things that made much sense. The end of the plot is known from the beginning, and it's so simple that it just doesn't hold up on its own and definitely not without strong characters. The artistry was gimmicky and overshadowed the story. The entire production holds the audience at arm's length and sets itself up as a tale of passion and betrayal intellectually told. Since we were made aware again and again that we are watching a group of actors putting on a play, there is no sense of character, no way to connect because everything is artifice. The film collapses under it's own artistry and sense of self. It failed for the same reason as The Painted Veil which has no heart or soul despite it's technical beauty.

Now, while I was disappointed, I am glad that I saw it purely because it made me realize how much I've grown as a amateur cinemaphile. There was a time when I would have been so seduced by that beauty and artistry of this film that I would have insisted that my friends watch it and would have proudly added it to my collection. But I've grown enough to realize that being artsy and unconventional doesn't automatically make a brilliant film.

In nonfilm news, I got my first issue of Rolling Stone (March) yesterday and the second issue (February) this morning. I've read a few of the articles from each and flipped through them. I'm really excited about getting the magazine. It will definitely help me be more musically literate. Soon, I'll be annoying family and friends with news of the latest Green Day album and the lyrics of the newest Lily Allen songs.