MY LIFE AND TIMES WITH ANTONIN ARTAUD
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 3.0
France, 1994 U.S. Availability: varies Running Length: 1:33 MPAA Classification: No MPAA Rating (sex, violence, drug use, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Cast: Marc Barbe, Sami Frey, Julie Jezequel, Valerie Jeannet Director: Gerard Mordillat Producer: Denis Freyd Screenplay: Gerard Mordillat and Jerome Prieur Cinematography: Francois Catonne Music: Jean-Claude Petit U.S. Distributor: Leisure Time Features In French with subtitles
Born in the late 19th century, legendary French surrealist Antonin Artaud made a lasting impact on the theatrical and poetry communities during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Artaud's "Theater of Cruelty"--an experimental form of stage performance that encouraged actors to liberate their subconsciouses--influenced Genet, Ionesco, and Beckett's "Theater of the Absurd". Throughout his turbulent life, Artaud was plagued by bouts of extreme depression, heavy drug use, and frequent stays in asylums. MY LIFE AND TIMES WITH ANTONIN ARTAUD takes a look at the last few years of the artist's life (he died on March 4, 1948) through the eyes of his fictional drug dealer, Jacques Prevel.
Given the chaotic richness of Artaud's lifestyle, one would expect a gripping tale. Instead, what writer/director Gerard Mordillat has filmed is a terminally-dull, pretentious look at one man's private demons. As portrayed by Sami Frey, Artaud is a raving lunatic who continually spouts bizarre theories. Sex, in his opinion, has become impure and must be avoided lest it sap the spirit. There are seven to eight million human beings who need to be annihilated. A fly is the trigger of someone's evil thoughts. And so on... This sort of weirdness is all we get from Artaud; if there's a man beneath the mysticism, he never surfaces.
Prevel (Marc Barbe) is an amateur poet and Artaud worshipper who supplies his hero with drugs while juggling his own unstable personal life. He has a pregnant wife (Valerie Jeannet) who doesn't like Artaud and a pill-popping mistress (Julie Jezequel), whom Artaud names as one of the millions in need of annihilation. Prevel's relationship with these two women is by far the picture's most interesting aspect, but, through lack of screen time, it's limited to an underdeveloped subplot. Instead, what we get for most of the ninety-three minute movie is interaction between Artaud and Prevel--dull conversations in a "friendship" that never grows beyond an embryonic state.
Although ostensibly a period piece with black-and-white photography designed to bolster the atmosphere, MY LIFE AND TIMES WITH ANTONIN ARTAUD is so anachronism-saturated that this has to be intentional. The most obvious example can be seen when modern-day cars zip around the streets of Paris. There's probably some deeply artistic reason for such an obvious disregard for "reality", but, whatever it is, it eludes me. Suffice it to say, it jars the viewer out of the film's reality to see a '90s vehicle when it's supposed to be 1947.
The sole bright spot in MY LIFE AND TIMES is the performance of Sami Frey, who is amazingly intense as the title character. He goes through several scenes with his eyes fixed unblinkingly on some unseen object while he delivers his dialogue seemingly on the verge of hysteria. Next to Frey, Marc Barbe's Prevel is flat. The supporting performers are merely adequate.
Through the years, the struggles of the tortured artist have been at the core of films as far ranging as VINCENT AND THEO and THE DOORS. MY LIFE AND TIMES WITH ANTONIN ARTAUD is one of the least successful of the subgenre. Comparisons to the recent, similarly-themed TOTAL ECLIPSE are entirely appropriate. While Agnieszka Holland's picture took us deep into the life and psyche of Arthur Rimbaud, Mordillat's movie stands aloof, never letting us close to the principals. The result is an apathy regarding Artaud and Prevel that leads to a nearly overpowering desire to take a nap.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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