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Les Errances Enjouées de Neus Amaëlle
Les Errances Enjouées de Neus Amaëlle
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Les Errances Enjouées de Neus Amaëlle
  • Les fantaisies d'une petite littéraire bien entourée, en quête de sérénité dans un monde joyeusement chaotique, qui aime écrire, s'intéresse à plein de trucs & trouve que la vie, même si c'est un peu n'importe quoi, c'est drôlement chouette, quand même.
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2 avril 2013

American Beauty, Sam Mendes.

[The following article is nothing but a huge spoiler, make sure you don't read it before watching the film! Trust my word, it's brilliant, watch it now!]

 

I know the film by heart. But I can't help crying at the end of it. Systematically. I always end up saying something like "but it's so beautifuuul and so truuuuuuue!" between two pathetic sobs. 

Why is this film so fucking genius? ('being objective, as always) It would be hard to say in a few words. And it can quite easily make you look like a complete freak when you invite someone over to watch it, the film being itself a kind of gallery of freaks - especially when you go almost hysterical about the awesomeness of it and the person you've invited has never heard of Sam Mendes before.

There is the gigantic loser who falls in love with his teenage daughter's friend (Lester - the amazing Kevin Spacey). There is the neurotic wishes-to-be-successful wife who matches her gloves to her gardening tools (Carolyn - the no less amazing Annette Bening). There is the insecure daughter who's been babysitting for years to pay for a boob job (Jane). There is her friend obsessed with being sexually attractive as it's certainly the first step to becoming a model (Amanda). There is the next door neighbour who keeps filming everything - including dead birds or persons (Ricky). There is his mother who is obviously stuck in a different reality that absorbs most of her time and energy. There is her husband, ex-marine colonel, who would rather throw his only son out of the house because he suspects him of being a "cock-sucker" than admit his own homosexuality.

 

american-beauty

 

Everyone sees things through his/her own obsessions, everyone is kind of insane. But is it that far from reality? Sure, I do hope I'm not that neurotic and I do wish my fellow neighbours to feel the same about it but, in a sense... isn't it what would happen to anyone who lost him/herself for too long? That's how Lester describes his own situation: it's like coming out of a coma. Ironically, he will die at the precise moment he realises that he is happy. Not happy in the everything-is-perfectly-coherent-in-my-life kind of way - far from it - but just happy. Happy to be alive, happy to realise he's alive and happy (the awareness of these simple facts is not that common, in the end) as he used to be happy in the past, before his dull routine took all the happiness of his life away. Happy enough to notice how much beauty there is in the world. 

What I like about this film, it's the fact that it actually starts after the "happy ending". And shows us what the "happily ever after" can end up like if we don't pay attention. It proves that Hollywood is wrong, that the lovers-kissing-in-the-sunset scene is not the perfect ending but may well be the beginning of hell. American Beauty starts when the prince has become an alcoholic and when Cinderella starts being obsessed with buying expensive coaches to save appearances. It shows us how empty the American dream may be or become if it doesn't have any substance. If there's no other goal behind it than earning money, having a beautiful house and showing off an image of happiness without the warmth of the actual feeling in your body. When all the love that is supposed to be at the centre of your life has disappeared. It shows us how alone and empty we may feel, including in our own family. 

Strangely enough, Ricky, the young neighbour, is the maddest but also the healthiest character of the whole film (in a way). He's got self-respect. He's not afraid of showing his emotions or thoughts - who could brag about doing the same in his/her daily life? Nor is he ashamed of his past, even though he was sent to a mental institution. Sure, he's weird and creepy, but he's also able to see beauty where most people can't. He's moved by the smallest things - hence the importance of recording them, so that he can remember them. That's the lesson Lester is going to learn, through Ricky's confidence but also through the new desire he found for himself: to appear attractive to Jane's new friend Amanda. As preposterous or disturbing as it is, it is what puts Lester back on the trail. He manages to surprise himself once more. He goes back to what used to be his dreams, his young man expectations regarding a life that was still full of promises. And even though he's quit his job to work in a fast-food restaurant, and even though his wife is now sleeping with another man, he doesn't care. For he is actually happier now. He found resources in himself he didn't even hope to find and won his self-respect back. He feels more alive than he felt in years. And is now more aware of all the beauty that surrounds him. The beauty of life itself. Which doesn't fit any kind of manichean, human criteria, but transcends and perspires in everything, including pain or death (besides, isn't it the perspective of death that makes everything even more valuable because fragile, elusive and fleeting?). Beauty can thus be seen in everything, even in a plastic bag being blown away by the wind among dead leaves. Especially in a plastic bag being blown away among dead leaves.

 

A really subtle and ironically funny analysis of human psychology

- "Never underestimates the power of denial." has become one of my favourite quotes -

and lesson of poetry

- Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in. -

and of spirituality

- That's the day I realised that there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know that there was no reason to be afraid, ever. -

that will leave you grateful for what you have

- it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world ... I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. -

and for such a brilliant film director to exist.

 

  ---------------------------------------------

And because I didn't really like the trailer, I'll add a link to the second most beautiful scene - the most beautiful, in my opinion, being the final one, that needs to be seen at the end of the film, obviously...

 

 

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