QUICK’N DIRTY: LIVE FROM SAN SEBASTIAN
Renowned pianist Matthias (François Civil) returns to his native Lyon after eight years working in Japan. His piano teacher Elena (Charlotte Rampling) insisted that he was present for her farewell performance. The lonely and enigmatic old lady is desperate that her unreliable memory could betray her, and wishes to retire before she could stain her immaculate curriculum with a flawed performance. Matthias insists that she should continue. He grudgingly agrees to share the stage with her mentor for just one last time.
Matthias comes across old lover Claude (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), who is now happily married to his friend Pierre. The encounter literally makes him faint, in a scene more likely to elicit laughter than any profound emotion. Parallel to this, he sees a mysterious child in the park, who looks exactly like him when he was roughly of the same age (he has a photograph to hand in order to prove this, as Desplechin seeks to add a touch of Hitchcockian suspense to the proceeedings). The turbulent events are so many that Matthias immediately hits the bottle. His devoted agent rescues him from a police cell, and his mother Anna helps to ensure that he’s prepared for the week of intense rehearsals ahead.
This is a movie that sets out to deal with multiple topics and themes, yet it leaves each plot hanging out loosely like a bunch of grapes. The various subplots and meaningless and inconclusive. Rampling is magnificent as an elegant and formidable pianist, in a role that feels virtually tailored for her. Her vulnerabilities eventually show when she’s alone with Matthias. She breaks down and begs him for support. A lame comment on internalised ageism and career obstinacy. Matthias’s unrequited love for Claude and his connection to the boy with the uncanny physical resemblance continue to haunt him, particularly after a very sudden and inexplicable death throws the young woman’s life into disarray.
Sixty-four-year-old French director and writer Arnaud Desplechin – who is not Jewish – repeatedly explores the topic of Judaism in his latest feature (something he has done previously, in films such as Esther Kahn (2000) and Kings & Queen (2004). Two Pianos opens with a lame Jewish joke, and yet another barely comprehensible such story is shared during a full-on Jewish funeral. This neither compromises nor aggregates any value to the story.
The film’s most accomplished thespian and most interesting character – Rampling and the ruthless pianist collapsing under the weight of her own pride and pomp – become sidelined as the meandering script opts to focus on the creepy boy and his relationship to Matthias instead . Those expecting the shocking twists and perversions of Isabelle Huppert’s Erika Kohut – the similar character in Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher (2001) – are in for a huge disappointment. Elena’s character arc is as flat as a pancake.
Civil’s perfectly chiselled face and chest are eye candy for admirers of male virility. His acting skills, however, are not on a par with his heartthrob looks. The actor is visibly limited, and his delivery is fairly unconvincing. He turns what should have been a multidimensional character into a caricature of failed masculinity. There is no chemistry whatsoever with Tereszkiewicz, and the near-sex scenes are neither arousing nor inspiring. The conversations around fidelity and love are unimaginative and boring. Paul Guilhaume’s elegant cinematography – with abundant artificial lights and luxurious settings – infuses the movie with an extra layer of unwarranted elitism.
While most of the developments are vaguely loose, the ending is firmly pointless and futile. It is neither surprising nor constructive. It has absolutely nothing to say. In other words, this is a movie with enormous pretensions and notably few achievements. Save yourself 115 minutes of your time and listen to a piano concerto at home instead.
Two Pianos is in the Official Competition of the 73rd San Sebastian International Film Festival.
