Maelström

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🎙️ EPISODE 415: 03.07.22 (Review begins ~19:08) Villeneuve ramps up everything in his second feature. Building on similar themes found in August 32nd on Earth, Maelström is brighter, more salacious and 1,000 times wackier. Any by wackier I mean there is a decrepit, bloody talking fish serving as narrator / quasi Greek chorus, and he exists and the most disgusting warehouse that honestly looks too creepy for the Saw movies with his only friend, a fat, loincloth-only clad fishmonger who is equally dirty and disheveled and periodically chops the fish's head off. Sooooo, needless to say: "wackier." And such as that is, it sorta set itself up to do an incredible amount more work to stick the landing. But look at this cute little guy....

This fish, in his many incarnations, along with its horrible knife-wielding pal pop up on screen maybe seven times. And each time, without fail, I felt both repulsed and fascinated. The main storyline, on the other hand, probably isn't quite as weird or interesting as it thinks it is. It too often relies on a sense of wonder — the magic and majesty of chance — that felt unearned. It's certainly dark and dreary (our drunk and depressed protagonist commits vehicular manslaughter and covers it up), but one would expect nothing less from as tale narrated by gross talking fish, right?

Even though I didn't think his screenplay was quite as tight here, where Villeneuve shines is in the details. The depressed lady asks a gas attendant how much fuel would it take to immolate herself. The depressed lady using a plastic fork to remove some of the guy she killed's scalp from the front of her car. The idea that you might get nightmares if you eat stale octopus. And so on and so on...

It's also amazing how economical both of these first two films are; each clocking in at under 90 minutes. Though one could argue that Maelström suffers from this, especially as it pertains to our lead's backstory, which seemed to hold a good deal of intrigue (her famous lineage, her work life) but isn't ever quite flushed out and so all the references and allusions feel like clunky nonstarters.

I attempted to seek out why the director took an almost decade-long hiatus after completing this film, and there truly isn't much to the decision it seems:

“I felt like I was making cinema more for my own reasons, instead of using cinema to learn or give something to society.” (Film Independent)

"His first two films, “August 32nd on Earth” (1998) and “Maelström” (2000), both psychological dramas, made him a director to watch and did well on the festival circuit.

Trouble is, he wasn’t satisfied with the results. So he took a break from filmmaking to become a stay-at-home dad...

He wouldn’t make another film for nine years.

“I was obsessed with making a feature film before I was 30 years old, to make a first feature film as young as possible,” Villeneuve explained. “I did it too quickly. I felt like I was doing things upside down. I was more obsessed by the idea of defining my identity as a filmmaker instead of just enjoying the act of making a movie for other people. I had a more narcissistic approach. I thought to myself, ‘I need to go back to school. I need to learn how to write movies, how to direct actors.' And my kids at the time were very young, so I was feeling the need to spend more time at home.” (Houston Chronicle)

But perhaps there's something to those non-answers about the hiatus. Searching for a deeper meaning is no easy task. It's often rife with disappointment, malaise and self-doubt. There IS something purely narcissistic in these two movies, and while that may be troubling to the artist themselves, and something they truly needed to rectify on their journey, the results are still fascinating for the audience...



Editor's note: In reference to the Norwegian text that opens this film but isn't translated in the subtitles. Here it is via Google Translate: "(Norwegian): "Vi ber om unnskyldning til alle våre norske venner. Filmen viser et bilde av Norge som er basert på klisjéer. Vi skrev filmmanuset under hypnose. Vi beklager at alt i filmen er oppspinn."

Translated into English: "We apologize to all our Norwegian friends. The film shows a picture of Norway based on clichés. We wrote the movie script under hypnosis. We regret that everything in the movie is spinning."

Check out my RANKING DENIS VILLENEUVE episode here.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 415A - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 416A ⫸

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Maelström is a 2000 Canadian psychological drama film written and directed by Denis Villeneuve. It stars Marie-Josée Croze as a depressed young businesswoman who becomes romantically involved with the son of a man she killed in a hit-and-run accident. Employing fantasy and comedic elements, Maelström is narrated by a talking fish. It was released on September 15, 2000.