An Eye for Beauty (2014)
Cast: Éric Bruneau, Mélanie Thierry, Melanie Merkosky
Director: Denys Arcand
Country: Canada
Genre: Drama
Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of our coverage of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. For more information on the festival visit http://tiff.net and follow TIFF on Twitter at @TIFF_NET.
I have no idea what this movie is trying to get at and there’s little spirit that I can find in it. It’s frustrating because I’m a fan of Arcand’s The Barbarian Invasions. In it, Remy is an old professor who will soon die of cancer. He’s a womanizing, wine loving socialist. The characters in the film are multi-layered and almost every scene is infused with brilliant sarcasm and/or a thought-provoking political statement.
An Eye for Beauty is about a Quebecer named Luc. Luc (Éric Bruneau) is an architect who keeps fit by playing many sports (skiing, tennis, hockey, etc., you name it, he does it). He also is an expert at building beautiful homes and buildings, but often doesn’t get invited to the grand openings of his creations. Oh and he grows his own high-grade pot in his home by the St. Lawrence River. Luc is married to the lovely Stéphanie (Mélanie Thierry). Together they celebrate life with their coupled friends who also seem very well off.
This sadly empty film is saved by cinematographer Nathalie Moliavko-Visotzky’s lens that captures glorious views of the St. Lawrence and the romantic nighttime landscape of Toronto.
During a business trip to Toronto, Luc meets Lindsay (Melanie Merkosky). After a bit of flirting and another trip back, Lindsay says, “I want you to spend the night with me.” Thus begins a love affair of a night or two where they declare their love for one another despite knowing very little about each other. Meanwhile, back at home, Stéphanie is going into severe depression and Luc’s contractor Roger (Michel Forget) gets struck with a severe illness. What’s he sick of, it isn’t made clear, just that it’s terminal and there’s no hope for recovery. Luc helps when he isn’t designing buildings, or keeping Stéphanie from killing herself, or game hunting.
Somehow we’re supposed to empathize with this man who is extremely lucky all around. He owns a beautiful house, is married to a beautiful wife, and his questions aren’t “How did I get here?” but rather he just continues on. Luc broods when he feels guilty, but still continues his illicit affair with Lindsay. There are more subplots involving the lesbian couple and more affairs, but nothing much is given full exploration.
I have yet to walk out of a theatre in the middle of a film, and I was highly tempted with this one.
This sadly empty film is saved by cinematographer Nathalie Moliavko-Visotzky’s lens that captures glorious views of the St. Lawrence and the romantic nighttime landscape of Toronto. Arcand curiously slows down frames and adds weird pop music when the characters are playing sports. This enhances the film’s seemingly alternate motive as a Quebec travel guide. There’s no denying that I want to live like these rich folk who suddenly have existential crisises when watching violent news on television. In the midst of a breakdown Stéphanie asks, “Are we real?” to television views of war in the Middle East. Luc responds with minimal speech and a slight shrug. We know he loves his wife, but he only acts when he finds her at the brink of her despair.
I have yet to walk out of a theatre in the middle of a film, and I was highly tempted with this one. These actors looked like they were adept at their job, at least I know Thierry is having seen her in Zero Theorem earlier this year. However, the sex scenes were unsexy and any expression of love and depth was vacuous. Either the script need more on the revision or Arcand needed to search for a meaning as opposed to having his audience vainly look for it.
If you want to see pretty Quebec sights and some nice bodies though, this film is good for that.
I have yet to walk out of a theatre in the middle of a film, and I was highly tempted with this one.
