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"The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael" : satire sociale, fin brutale et violente
LE MONDE | 25.04.06 | 17h12 • Mis à jour le 25.04.06 | 17h12

Une scène du film britannique de Thomas Clay, "The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael".

Dès les premières images, on sait que tout cela ne se terminera pas bien. Est-ce l'alliance de l'écran large, de la composition des cadres, de la durée des plans, de la lumière, du caractère apparemment insignifiant de ce qui se déroule à l'écran ? Est-ce ce mariage d'un formalisme froid et d'un réalisme social allant du tiède au brûlant ? Un peu de tout cela sans doute et aussi autre chose, le sentiment que le film cristallise une peur très contemporaine quoique diffuse et impalpable.

Présenté à la Semaine de la critique lors du Festival de Cannes 2005, The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael de l'Anglais Thomas Clay y a été remarqué, à la fois pour la maîtrise dont il témoignait pour un premier long métrage et aussi pour sa violence. Mais ni la maîtrise, ni la brutalité de sa fin ne suffiraient à en définir les qualités particulières.

Robert Carmichael (interprété par Dan Spencer) est un adolescent qui vit à Newhaven, une ville côtière du sud de la Grande-Bretagne. Si a priori la narration, qui suit diverses personnes, semble ne pas en faire le personnage principal du film, il s'agit pourtant bien de celui qui sera considéré comme le cobaye d'une expérience de laboratoire bien particulière, un sujet d'études épinglé, comme d'ailleurs l'ensemble des protagonistes, par le regard froid (et sans doute pervers) d'un cinéaste entomologiste.

Lycéen, Robert Carmichael semble ne se distinguer en rien de la figure de l'adolescent, amorphe, mutique, tourmenté - devine-t-on - par la sexualité, capable pourtant d'atteindre une grâce inattendue par ses talents de violoncelliste dont il joue en amateur. Elevé par une mère célibataire, il traîne parfois dans les rues de Newhaven avec des copains peu recommandables, petits consommateurs et trafiquants de drogues. Un brusque accès de violence (il frappe un de ses camarades de classe lors d'un atelier cinéma) devient un signal d'alarme imperceptible car rejeté par le spectateur.

On devine vite que Thomas Clay cherche habilement une voie entre la programmation et la sensation de l'absurde. La mise en scène, faite de plans longs, parfois peu intenses d'un point de vue narratif (lorsque le "héros" joue du violoncelle, les déambulations enfumées au haschisch de ses copains), annonce le surplomb et l'assurance d'un cinéaste qui croit moins au hasard qu'à une fatalité, sourdement perceptible.

RESSENTIMENT DE CLASSE

C'est pour cela sans doute que le film de Thomas Clay est autant péniblement pessimiste qu'habilement manipulateur. En émaillant son histoire d'instants où s'affirme le sentiment que la réalité pourrait soudainement bifurquer, le cinéaste confirme par l'absurde qu'il croit que le pire est toujours sûr. L'ultime et brutale séquence du film n'est donc pas vraiment provoquée par une série d'aléas : elle est la conséquence d'un ressentiment de classe transmuté mécaniquement en barbarie pure, elle-même alimentée par une perte définitive de tout repère.

The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael rejoint ainsi tout un cinéma, très actuel, témoin empressé d'une sorte de malédiction anthropologique et sociale. On pense parfois, sur des bases esthétiques différentes, à Michael Haneke ou à Gaspar Noé (auteur du bien nommé Irréversible) par cette manière, au-delà du simple désenchantement, d'envisager l'évolution fatale de toutes choses.

Mais ce que ne manque pas de faire le cinéaste c'est de situer, mine de rien, les personnages qu'il décrit dans une sorte de funeste dynamique sociale. Il y a ceux qui sont paupérisés par les transformations de l'économie (une brève conversation de bistrot sur le statut des marins-pêcheurs enfonce le clou), il y a ceux, les petits-bourgeois, prêts aux compromissions pour passer à un échelon supérieur (le prof de lycée qui donne à lire son manuscrit à l'écrivain confirmé), et puis les nantis, méprisants et méprisables, objets d'une envie généralisée, et enfin ceux qui commettent l'horreur pour prendre ce qu'ils désirent (sexe ou argent), leur part de gâteau.

Difficile de ne pas raccorder le film avec quelques faits divers récents, survenus dans le monde réel, dévoilant dans les sociétés occidentales apparemment pacifiées mais véritablement en crise, le surgissement d'une barbarie inattendue, atroce et impensable. De cela, le film de Thomas Clay peut être vu aussi comme une représentation crédible.

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Sacre bleu.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

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I can translate it if I've got time. Small portion though:
Il admet sans mal qu'on puisse voir The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael comme un remake d'Orange mécanique, à la fois pour son aspect formaliste, critique, et pour la violence qui s'y déploie, mais certainement pas pour le style.
He freely admits The Great Ecstasy... can be seen as a remake of A Clockwork Orange at once for its formal, critical world view and for the violence it deploys, but certainly not in terms of style.
TC wrote:as soon as baseball stops being homosexual, i will.

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Yeah, when I read that I thought it didn't sound like something you'd say, especially given your ego. :) So when's it coming out on dvd?
Just cut them up like regular chickens

The Great Ecstacy of Robert Carmichael

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This is not going to be a true review in the sense that I am not a film reviewer; there are many of you who can do it well, and I am not one of you. But I do want to offer my take on a film that--once seen--does not leave your mind very easily.

Tom Clay's "first" feature (he also directed Motion, a film much better than he thinks it is), TGEORC is visually gorgeous and substantively disturbing. Very disturbing. In a nutshell, the film examines violence on an intimate, domestic level and shows us the context for this violence. At times not very subtle, the message nevertheless resonates. Who can argue that violence at the national, even international level does NOT pervade our daily lives?

It was a wise choice to have the protagonist be well-to-do (relatively) and a talented aspiring classical musician: if this had been the story of a troubled inner-city rapper it would not have nearly as much weight.

It's not really a character-driven film: the acting is fine, but ideas and actions are what drive the story.

The direction and cinematography are dazzling in every sense. There are a few excellent set-pieces (the film is episodic) that will remind viewers of both Kubrick and Lynch. One such set-piece--at about mid-film--is so audacious that I had to watch it a number of times in a row. In the end, I came to believe that the sequence is almost TOO perfect--the technical brilliance obscures the emotional impact (almost). A minor quibble, as by the end of the film you cannot escape the imapct of what has transpired.

It's also a fucking funny film. A dark dry wit inhabits every frame. I laughed a number of times...that slightly embarrassed laugh we reserve for slightly shameful things that nevertheless are humorous. There's a great scene at a gas station that elevates the mundane into something sublimely hilarious.

This film does not make you feel good. It leaves you feeling a little guilty and a lot disgusted...you end up disgusted at the characters, disgusted at the filmmakers, at yourself for watching it, esp. the end...and yet like taking a sigularly bitter medicine it's cathartic. Anyone who thinks Clay is celebrating violence is missing the point entirely. Rather he is rubbing our faces in it as if to say "see what you are tolerating? this is what's happening. This is what we are all allowing to happen. Open your eyes." Watching this film makes watching heads of governments excuse rape, torture, lies, civilian "casualties," etc. a lot harder to swallow.

In some ways this is a young artist's work. It tackles big themes in a big way. It isn't subtle, as I said before. But these aren't subtle times.

Watch out for Clay. I have a few hints as to what he may be working on next. He will only get better. He has an enormous talent and all it needs is refinement through practice. Find this film and see it.
http://www.vectortrio.com

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i can't wait to see this. of course, it sounds like - much like "Kids" - i will be thoroughly disturbed by it and wonder if i should/could ever watch it again. but i honestly can't wait.

never did get to see motion either, dammit.

TC, i'm sending you our next CD - when you do a film that requires metal i expect to be included. :)

also, here's a link and here's another where we have discussed this film in detail previously. perhaps this should have been in one of those, but then again i'd really like to see them all in one big thread. once we upgrade the software here, perhaps we will be able to finally do that easily. :)

thanks for the review, scott.

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never did get to see motion either
Hardly anyone did.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

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O-dot wrote:
never did get to see motion either
Hardly anyone did.
not everyone worked on a website (that didn't get used) for it, however.... :)

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harmo wrote:I thought about adding the review to a previous thread but then said, rather profoundly, fuck it. It deserves its own thread.

Where can I get one of those blow job emoticons?
Better question--where did you see this, and how can the old guard get their hands on a copy?
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

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I thought I saw it here on gorenet!

To all: if klimov agrees, I will send my DVD of Great Ecstacy to TC, who can then forward it on to whoever he wants.

Klimov, let me know and I will be prepared to mail it tomorrow.

TC--zap me a mailing address.

scott
http://www.vectortrio.com

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TC wrote:
O-dot wrote: Hardly anyone did.
not everyone worked on a website (that didn't get used) for it, however.... :)
Gee, not bitter are we? :twisted:
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

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Alexhead wrote:
harmo wrote:I thought about adding the review to a previous thread but then said, rather profoundly, fuck it. It deserves its own thread.

Where can I get one of those blow job emoticons?
Better question--where did you see this, and how can the old guard get their hands on a copy?
Reading between the lines: These guys want a hand job.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

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O-dot wrote:Reading between the lines: These guys want a hand job.
I think that's the only way you can get a copy of the dvd.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

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darkness wrote:
O-dot wrote:Reading between the lines: These guys want a hand job.
I think that's the only way you can get a copy of the dvd.
hey, I just offered to send it out to you guys! and no expectation of a reach-around...
http://www.vectortrio.com

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I've got a wife who handles that, thanks...but I'd take a free DVD too; heck, I'll even pay postage. Heck, I'll even mail maha the price of a movie ticket :P
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

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Well hell, since you guys are offering, we'd like to see it down in Arkansas, too.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.