Oct 17, 2024
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Friends
Là où il y a l’amour, il y a la poésie, là où il y a l’esprit, il y a la fantaisie et là où il y a les deux, on ne peut qu’être heureux…
V. H. SCORP
Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus
For those of you who don’t know, I decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s queer cinema syllabus, which is comprised of 9 units. I have completed four of the units (here is my queer cinema syllabus round up post with all the films I’ve watched and written about so far). It is time for me to make my way through Unit 5- Lesbians, which includes the following films: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), Bound (1996), Water Lilies (2007)[finally got my hands on this one but I still need to watch it], Saving Face (2004), D.E.B.S. (2004), Set It Off (1996), The Handmaiden (2016), Carol (2015), Imagine Me and You (2005), Two of Us (2019), Rafiki (2018), and The Color Purple (1985).
Today I will be watching
Two of Us (2019) dir. Filippo Meneghetti
[Run Time: 1:39, Language: French]
Summary: Pensioners Nina and Madeleine have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades, but their bond is put to the test when they are suddenly unable to move freely between each other's apartments.
Cast: -Barbara Sukowa as Nina Dorn -Martine Chevallier as Madeleine Girard -Lea Drucker as Anne __ I really enjoyed this. It definitely had a pretty slow pace to it overall though they somehow managed to pack a lot of shit in it. I think I was most impressed by the use of sound in this film. They relied so heavily on the clocks and the knocking and the loud noises to tell and support the story they are telling. And I really appreciated that choice since for most of the film Mado has her words removed from her because of her stroke.
gif by @celluloidrainbow
I really loved how strongly Nina’s desperation to be with Mado radiated out of the screen. She was driven to do some absolutely absurd things like beat the shit out of Mado’s car for the chance to get Muriel in trouble and get her own access to Mado. It was interesting to me narratively that the fact that Mado had not come out to her children was the biggest driving factor behind Nina’s need to sneak around, to find excuses, to steal opportunities and act in increasingly ridiculous manners in order to take care of the woman that she loved. Who was inarguably improving every day that Nina was around to take care of her, and regressing the further and further she physically got from Nina.
And I think Mado’s fear at the beginning of admitting her queerness and her desire to move was a really good set up for understanding how her children were going to react when they found out, and that while it does make sense that Nina is frustrated and believes that people will not care about their sexuality, Mado’s hesitation to come out to her children is incredibly justified. Because we do see how her daughter reacts to finding Mado and Nina in bed together, and it is to literally lock Nina out, to move her mother to a home where she is overmedicated because she is so stressed out being away from Nina.
gif by @celluloidrainbow
I love how clearly Mado is able to express her desires and how vehemently the people around her ignore it all because they feel like they know what is best for her. She walks her ass over to Nina’s apartment and bangs on the door until she opens it where she promptly collapses in to her arms, and her daughter sees this and drags her away and back in to her apartment. Mado on her fucking knees starts packing all her shit into a bag because her daughter is right she does want to travel and her daughter pulling the trunk away from her and unpacking everything. And listen, I’m not saying that a woman who had a stroke that recently should be moving to Rome with her partner, but I do think at that point a conversation is warranted around what Mado actually wants.
While it was sad that Muriel and her son broke in to Nina’s apartment and stole the stuff she was saving for travel to Rome, I do appreciate that the end of this film is simply just Mado and Nina dancing together without music in Nina’s apartment, shutting out the world and even Mado’s own daughter because all they need to be happy is each other.
gif by @celluloidrainbow
I will say one thing, and forgive me my stupidity if this is an obvious thing that I just didn’t understand but I was so interested to figure out what happened to the little girl at the beginning, the one who disappeared during hide and seek, and then sinking under the water, and being pulled out by Nina and then waking up from a dream. I couldn’t tell how much of that was like an old and genuine trauma or something else, I think I’m landing on some type of metaphor for Mado drowning without Nina there.
Favorite Moment
My favorite moment of the film was the way Mado smiled to herself while her daughter and grandson flipped through pictures of a trip to Rome and talked about how one of the photos had someone in it that looked like Nina. I think there are so many little moments of quiet love throughout the film that I really enjoyed.
Favorite Quote
gif by @celluloidrainbow
Not a quote actually, but the absence of one. Mado is playing Bingo and remembers Nina’s phone number and manages to find a phone and calls her and though she doesn’t say anything Nina knows who is calling and it enables Mado’s rescue.
Score
8.5/10
I enjoyed it, and I’m really happy to see older lesbians in film. I do not know how memorable of a film it will be to me though.
