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As part of the 24th Singapore French Film Festival's Tribute to Alain Resnais, ‘On Connait' is one of the few films of the renowned director which sees him exploring the lighter-side of cinema.
On Connaît La Chanson
(Same Old Song)
In French with English subtitles
Director: Alain Resnais
France, 1997, 120mins, PG
Cast: Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azéma, Jean-Pierre Bacri, André Dussolier,
Agnès Jaoui, Lambert Wilson
A thesis entitled ‘Yeomen in the Year 1000 at the Lake Paladru', a hypochondriac, a hyper-eccentric sister and much jellyfish imagery, make up the bizarre mix found in ‘On Connait La Chanson' (Same Old Song).
As part of the 24th Singapore French Film Festival's Tribute to Alain Resnais, ‘On Connait' is one of the few films of the renowned director which sees him exploring the lighter-side of cinema.
Featuring an omnibus of stories that ultimately come together, the film primarily centers on Odile (Azéma), a gung-ho businesswoman in an unbalanced relationship, and her younger sister Camille (Jaoui), whose tour guiding efforts are often undermined by an over-informative tourist, Simon (Dussolier). Throw in an unscrupulous but suave real estate agent, Marc (Wilson), and Odile's ex-flame Nicolas (Bacri), and you have got a potential riot on your hands.
A tale about fragile love under peculiar circumstances, ‘On Connait' takes one on flights of fancy, with director Alan Resnais' use of musical interludes inserted naturally, giving the film an ‘Ally McBeal'-esque quality. Using the apparently superfluous to flesh out deeper, more complex issues about relationships, the novelty however, lasts as long as the film runs, and leaves little indelible impression, despite its initial unique style.
While seemingly gimmicky at times, the musical sequences successfully attempts at illuminating the characters' inner monologues, as well as highlighting their different shades of emotions. The employment of various, old French music to this purpose is both whimsical and nostalgic, though one would expect the French to relate more to the familiar tunes.
Fortunately, the subtitles palliate this loss; revealing tongue-in-cheek lyrics such as ‘resist, so the world knows you exist' and the overtly political ‘nothing stirred on Red Square'. Deviating from the stereotypical musical, Resnais cleverly induces the transitions into the musical sequences abruptly, offering the audience a delightful element of surprise.
A promising film, with great comic possibilities, but falls flat at times and would have benefitted with more precise editing. ‘On Connait' could have been the little musical-comedy which dared, but it steps too gingerly out of its boundaries, retracting as soon as the spotlight falls on it. Winner of the 1998 César Award for Best Film-France's highest honours in cinema, among a slew of several other accolades, ‘On Connait' could, surprisingly have been, so much more.
Saved by a spasmodically witty script and a star ensemble that delivers the dead-pan dialogue with passable panache, ‘On Connait' abounds with humour that makes you grin from ear to ear at times. Just don't expect side-splitting laughter from this one. HOOKED
Images courtesy of:
http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/65/15/01/18869193.jpg
http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/rsz/434/x/x/x/medias/nmedia/18/65/15/01/18833342.jpg
http://reassurance.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-connat-la-chanson.html
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