Film Review: “Ca Blure,” a classic rendition
By Boy Villasanta, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/05/2009 10:30 AM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
MANILA - Watching “Ca Blure” (On Fire), one of the few films at the French Film Festival held at UP Film Institute Cine Adarna, isn’t too late. As a matter of fact, missing the 2006 official entry to the Directors Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival is quite regretful.
Directed by woman filmmaker Claire Simon, “Ca Blure” is a modern rendition of a classic tale about a girl’s infatuation to an older man.
Livia Werner, played succinctly by young French actress Camille Varenne, is a horseback riding village girl who begins fantasizing about Jean Sucini (Gilbert Milke) after he found her unconscious on the road when she fell off the saddle.
Jean is a middle-aged, robust, sympathetic, ideal husband and father-fireman.
She hopelessly longs for Jean’s company, relentlessly stalks him just to see him however ephemeral. Her bosom Latina friend, in her behalf, even applies on the phone as a nanny to his baby daughter only to be rejected in the process.
Livia bravely sees him, pretends to borrow money from him, accommodates and returns it right there and then, mingles with his colleagues, his visiting wife and child at the fire station, only to be passed off like a common fire victim, if not, stranger.
When the sailing gets rough, though, she possesses him on soliloquy. She speaks to herself, sees and proposes, even makes love to him.
Tragedy
In a series of youthful adventures, like birds, Livia and her guy and girl friends fly the whole village as far and wide as their sight can behold in wild abandon.
In her moment of madness, though, as they wander in the forest, Livia sets the male and female grasshoppers on flame, and eventually, it spreads like wild fire that razes the mountains to the ground.
Still, Livia guiltlessly hopes to see her obsession in the middle of the fire as Jean looks for her all over the place only to be suffocated by smoke.
Finally, she hears his voice however faint. She sounds off in return. Then she looks for him until she finds him lying on the grass, lifeless.
After that chilling moment, the whole screen explodes with terror and hopelessness.
A simple emotion of joy leads to tragedy.
The film is very compelling, emotionally tough but brilliant in presenting human foibles especially of the life wasted on the young, on the one hand, and great deeds of the elder ones, on the other.
Just as the opening scene is pregnant with symbolisms, the thoroughbred means a strong sentinel to lean on like the fireman while Livia’s dilapidated dwellings with her English gay mom speaks of the filial decay she wants to run away from. The fire at the end of the story, meantime, is a glaring metaphor of passion, deadly passion.
The French actors are very precise putting on the characters and they seem to live the lives of their illusory selves even off-screen on cue.
Given the resources, the creative components of “Ca Blure,” including the direction, sound, cinematography, storyline and other technical aspects, are worth emulating.
No wonder the whole production seems inspired to come up with a Cannes-bound film three years ago but would remain a classic in its own time.
Comments