Filmoteca – El Sueño de Ellis

A few weeks ago, I went to the cinema and saw the critically acclaimed Hollywood film “Gone Girl”. Firstly, it was amazing! I absolutely loved it and in my opinion, Ben Affleck did himself proud. He is a much better actor than people often give him credit for. Personally, I think he is great and “Argo” is one of my most favourit-est films in the history of ever. I remember hearing about it last year but didn’t think much of it. It was only on the flight to Japan that I was able to see it, and even then I did do in a most difficult fashion. On the 13 hour journey on the way to the East Asian country, I managed to wait to hour 12 until I decided to watch it. So a little less than halfway through (and I was on the edge of my seat, absolutely blown away by it), we landed and off switched the screens. I was devastated but, as it turns out, 2 or so weeks in Japan was enough to keep my spirits up ;) On the way back, though, I was praying for “Argo” to still be there … and it was! 2 ½ weeks later, I was able to resume the film and still thought it was amazing – I couldn’t recommend it more.

But I digress. The point is I went to see the Castellano dubbed version of “Gone Girl” which was … interesting. The film was good, and the story was still fantastic but I still want to see it again in English. If I wasn’t certain before, I am certain now – I am not a fan of dubbing. In any language for that matter (French, Spanish …) – it is slightly different for cartoons and animations - but with live action, I do not enjoy watching someone where their voice does not match with their lip movements. It’s very distracting. It’s particularly difficult as, speaking English natively, I am only ever exposed to Hollywood films in their original English-speaking versions, and when you expect to hear Ben Affleck being … well, Ben Affleck … and it is isn’t him, it’s just jarring. I would always prefer to watch the original version of the film with subtitles.

So, I learnt (I learned? How do you make this in the past? Why is English so tricky?). And when I saw the poster for ‘The Immigrant’ (a film I have really wanted to see for a long while, ever since I saw Joaquin Pheonix was cast a couple of years ago), I was eager to find a cinema that screened it in English with Castellano subs. Fortunately, near the centre of the city in Santander, there is a small movie theatre called the Filmoteca which shows films in their original language. And this week they were showing “El sueño de ellis” (the Dream of Ellis) which is the very same film as “the Immigrant” but just retitled. Arina and I, who both share a love of Marion Cotillard, decided to go the weekend just passed and I think it’s safe to say that we both thought it was just amazing.

Marion Cotillard is incredible – not only is she stunningly beautiful, but she is one of the greatest actresses in existence. From start to finish, her portrayal of Ewa, a young polish immigrant who finds herself forced into prostitution in 1920s NYC, never faltered. It was so powerful. One of the things that we commented – which might sound like an odd thing to observe – was how well she acted simply waking up. Normally, for me anyways, it is clear when an actor is acting waking up from sleep – it’s a hard thing to convince an audience of. But, somehow, Cotillard does it so well. In this film too, there are a number of scenes which involve Ewa lying still, disappointed and discouraged with life, but even though there is little physical action, Cotillard is still able show the many feelings and thoughts of Ewa.

The story, itself, was strong too. And I often found myself with my hands to my mouth, or a tear running out the corner of my eye. Even when there were certain things that I saw coming (yes, I am being cryptic so then you will watch it too), I didn’t see how they were coming. And it was enough to surprise or even shock me.

Jeremy Renner was great in his role as the charismatic and charming “Orlando the Magician” and I won’t even start of how amazing Joaquin Pheonix was. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love Joaquin Pheonix as an actor – he is one of the best, in my opinion. I always get the impression that he studies every single role he takes on thoroughly and makes sure he understands everything about his character. Like I said, this is my impression. Of course, I don’t actually know seeing as I don’t know the guy from Adam but as an actor, I think Joaquin Pheonix is positively amazing. In this case, he reminded me a lot of Al Pacino and his role of Michael in “The Godfather”. Not because the characters were similar - not at all - but because of the subtle but startlingly different change in character personality from the start to the ending of the film. Without giving too much away, Joaquin Pheonix’s character of Bruno starts as an entirely unlikeable person – acting as a pimp and taking advantage of immigrant women who have nothing and forcing them into prostitution (okay, so I gave it away, but you would have Wikipedia – ed the plot anyway). So anyways, he is horrible and then you detest him even more when he says how he is in love with Ewa and forces her to stay with him through means that make it seem like he is actually helping her. However, by the end, so much has happened, and it is only in the last scene when he lets her go, that I was convinced the he actually loved her. Up until that point, I don’t believe it was a matter of love, but a matter of power – by the end, I think he loved her and this was his act of redemption. Don’t get me wrong, you still aren’t warm to the guy. But you just have a greater understanding of him.

Overall, as you may have guessed, I really loved this film. “Enjoy” isn’t the right word, as it isn’t exactly a happy film, and often it can be quite heavy-going but, it is impressive and you leave the cinema talking about it. In fact, I even woke up thinking about it.

So, here’s to more films at the Filmoteca – in English, or Spanish or in whatever language they come in! And here’s to more films with Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Pheonix!

Hasta luego!