Philippe Garrel is back to the Berlinale as one of the very few star names in the competition. At 74, Garrel is not just a recognizable name, but a recognizable style: naturalistic, sparse, intimist, with a limited number of close-ups. He approaches, but he is not intrusive, in his new film, The Plough.
Le Grand Chariot, the film’s original title, is both the name of an itinerant theater of puppeteers belonging to the same family, as well as the name of the truck that transports them. The father, maybe prescient or simply tired, hires a young man to take his place. A very short time after, the father dies and the siblings, along with the newcomer, must take care of the family business and run their lives.
The script is co-written by Garrel and his longtime collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière along with Arlette Langmann and Caroline Deruas Peano. The film is not about death as much as it is about how some trades are about to become extinct, a loss common to all of us. It is also about life, love, and how things can be rearranged in unfathomable ways.
According to Garrel himself, he made this film so he could work with his three children, all of them actors. The star Louis (who made his directing debut last year), the well-known Esther, and Lena appearing here in her second film work seamlessly with Aurélien Recoing (daughter of Louis Recoing, the legendary puppet master) as the maternal grandmother, to form a family in the film.
The first surprise in The Plough is that Garrel is back to filming in color! For the first time in 12 years and four films — his last color film was Un été brûlant in 2011. Renato Berta’s color cinematography is soft and natural, serving well to capture the atmosphere of the family and the puppet theater. The puppet shows are almost always photographed from the stage, giving us time to see and enjoy the performers. The camera seems to shy away from tragedy. When the father suffers a stroke, is the only time we see the puppet theater from the public’s point of view.
For anybody who has followed Phillipe Garrel´s career, this film is hardly a revelation. What in its moment was innovative, now feels repetitive and tiresome. Some situations that could be significant – ending a relationship with a lover and leaving her on her own with their newborn baby, beginning a liaison, discovering the infidelity of your partner – are dimmed, leaving the audience wondering if that is really what has happened. Not that a melodrama is expected, but some scenes need passion and emotion: two of the characters mark the beginning of their adulterous relationship with a companionable hug! Or when Louis, one of the sons, playfully tells a woman: “I’m just calling to see how the baby is doing, don´t make assumptions.” (This is not only said in a teasing way but also in a sexy one.)
Audiences mistakenly assume that directors of a certain age make their films as a kind of cinematographic testament. Not in this case. Even if Philippe Garrell repeats himself at times, he still has a lot to say. Even some new ways to say it. A surreal scene, maybe a dream or a vision, when one of the daughters sees her dead father is, as far as I remember, a first in Garrel’s work. Its message could be cautionary or prophetic, just like life itself.
Director: Philippe Garrel
Screenplay: Jean-Claude Carrière, Arlette Langmann, Philippe Garrel, Caroline Deruas Peano
Cast: Louis Garrel, Damien Mongin, Esther Garrel, Lena Garrel, Francine Bergé, Aurélien Recoing Mathilde Weil, Asma Messaoudene.
Producers: Edouard Weil and Laurine Pelassy; Joëlle Bertossa and Flavia Zanon
Cinematography: Renato Berta
Editing: Yann Dedet
Music: Jean-Louis Aubert
Sound: Guillaume Sciama
Production companies: Rectangle Productions, Close Up Films, Arte France Cinéma, RTS Radio Télévision Suisse, Tournon Films
World sales: Wild Bunch International
Venue: Berlín Film Festival (Competition)
In French
95 Minutes
