Well, today the text will be in English, because it is dedicated to David Charles Rose - a person who gave me a unique opportinity to see one of the most beautiful movies ever and he definitely does not read in Polish, but I hope that those ones who read my blog will excuse me for this one time.
While being in Belfast at the conference Displaying Word & Image and the day after I had presented my own papers there, I decided to make myself a relaxing day, or rather morning in order to prepare for the lecture by W.J.T. Mitchell. So, for having a good start I choosed to see a movie first, after of course having a good coffee. I went to a screening of a movie by Christian Merlhiot entitled Le Proces d'Oscar Wilde. I think that it is unnecessary to add that it was a perfect match for the conference that was focused on interference between word and image, not only because the movie itself was about one of the greates words magicians but because it was like a perfect union of both above mentioned elements.
First of all I have to mark that the film was based on some documents related to the trial itself, the same trial that after all led to a death of the great poet and writer. The stage for a one-man show was a modernist villa and even though we - as viewers - were aware where it is placed, it really does not matter.
Before I write any more words first let me show you an image or rather let me encourage you to watch some part of the film that fortunatelly has been uploaded to youtube.com
Le Proces d'Oscar Wilde
For some of you My Dear Readers, unfortunatelly the film is orginaly in French, we had a copy with subtitles, but it is in this case an image that matters more.
At first, I was completely took in by the images and a very delicate voice of a narrator. I must admit that at this stage the meaning of the words themselves wasn't something I took much care of but slowly, slowly I came to realise their meaning, and was totally enchanted by the beautiful union of both components of the movie. All the pauses, slight changes of voice that once was going high and firm and then becoming low and almost silent. A death silence that was around, a purity of all the images, calmness of the landscape, its sharpness and mysticims in one moment made me more and more immersing into it. The most interesting thing for me were the colours. Almost the whole movie was recorded in cold tones of shining white and different shades of blue that gave the atmosphere a trace of distance. But the words themselves were so passionate, so emotionally expressed that I think that every viewer was touched by them.
The central figure of the movie is Libanese actor Nasri Sayegh, who declaimed sentences of different protagonists: a judge, a lawyer and Oscar Wilde himself. Nasri modulated his voice and changed its tone and timbre so rapidly that sometimes a viewer might think that only one person is speaking or quite the opposit that there are a lot of people who have something to add to the whole story based on the really trial documents.
Even though there is not much action in the movie and not many landscapes appear, I was sitting completely attracted. It is really hard to express what was so exciting, but I think that the kernel point is this strange kind of intimacy that was conjured up by the actor and said fragments very much carefully selected and actually mixt of different texts. I felt like I was there, sitting by the same table with Nasri or following his steps closely but not too close in order not to interrupt him in his constant monolog. There was no court, no judge, even though we heard his words, but it was rather like recollecting memories from the trial not to reenact it. It was like a chat with a close friend, who tries to tell you something very important that changed all his life.
I cannot remember the other time when I was so much inside the movie as during watching this one.
I am really happy that Christian Merlhiot realised this movie, thanks God it was possible!
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