bdlover wrote:rrenault, not much to say except that the Guardian article you quote is quite idiotic (who wrote it and when, do you have a link?).
It's Brian Baxter's
obituary for Ingmar Bergman in 2007. The whole article's a bit of a mess, really. Here's another paragraph on Bergman's work, which might help to illuminate the point he's making:
Brian Baxter wrote:The results, although immaculate, remain somewhat heartless and one might easily - in the lesser films - confuse technical skill with mechanical bravado. He seemed unable to forget that he was examining a theme or topic, rather than creating a film where the medium itself can unwittingly reveal - in the hands of a great artist - an inner truth. The result is an occasional lack of spontaneity, compounded by the increasing skill of the performances. On occasion the actors so busily suggested improvisation and naturalness that, unlike the greatest screen actors Spencer Tracy or Trevor Howard, say, they achieved the opposite.
That earlier phrase, 'the simplicity of expression that belies inspiration' might suggest that Baxter does not understand what 'belie' means, but I guess his point is that Bergman (and Antonioni) are trying too hard, thinking too much, and so revealing a lack of 'inspiration'. Bergman and Antonioni are perhaps rather cerebral film-makers, better at making us think than at making us feel; at least that's how I respond to them, and is perhaps why I tend to get impatient with Bergman's films when they become emotive or sentimental.
However, a work of art that seems to operate primarily on a cerebral, intellectual level can ultimately elicit a very profound emotional response. I always feel weirdly moved by the scenes in the park in
Blowup, for instance: the compositions, the placement of the human figures among the grass and the trees, induce a whole series of reflections on isolation, loneliness, the longing for a connection, and the final effect of this process is devastating. The same goes for the climactic sci-fi fantasy in
Identification of a Woman. It may not look or sound like the ending of
Ordet, but it's still deeply poignant.
rrenault wrote:But you have to wonder. Why will the "greatest film of all time" always be a Citizen Kane or a Rules of the Game or a Tokyo Story, but never a Red Desert or a Contempt or a Persona or even a Celine and Julie Go Boating?
The obvious (glib) answer might be that the last four films you mentioned are all deliberately alienating and, for all their intensity, rather cold, whereas the first three, for all their bleakness, are deeply and overtly empathetic. That said, if you really want to read that much into 'greatest film of all time' polls, you might want to consider the recent triumph of
Vertigo in the S&S poll.
ellipsis7 wrote:See then this current Senses of Cinama piece about CHUNG KUO CINA & drawing on MA's reaction to the negative reception of ZP, thence concentrating on the Chinese reaction from their POV... He certainly annoyed & perplexed all parties stateside & orientally ...
Great article on
Chung Kuo - thanks for the link. I'm not totally 'in tune' with some of the more theoretical stuff in that piece, but it's all beautifully deployed in the service of a really persuasive argument. A great (and nicely balanced) account of the film's qualities, contexts and limitations. Can't wait to watch it again now.