Dir. Wong Kar-Wai, Steven Soderbergh, Michelangelo Antonioni, US/Italy/Hong Kong/China/France/Luxembourg/UK, 2004, 104mins
Cast: Chen Chang, Li Gong, Robert Downey Jr, Alan Arkin, Ele Keats, Christopher Buchholz, Regina Nemni, Luisa Ranieri
A ménage-a-trois involving three world renowned and accomplished directors each independently directing a tale around the central theme of Eros. As well as a thematic link, the films are literally linked by some rather beautiful amorous images from illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti that have a haunting ethereal quality to them and are accompanied by an original music piece, aptly called ‘Michelangelo Antonioni’, by composer Caetano Veloso. Each film varies quite drastically in style and content (with varying degrees of success), but they all explore the notion of what eroticises the mind and how memory and time play an important part in the brain’s reaction to what the eye sees and thus how the mind is eroticised.
The relationship begins with an atmospheric, sumptuous and erotically charged tale of unrequited love called The Hand by Wong Kar-Wai. It’s certainly the best of the bunch as Wong weaves a tale of a young apprentice dress-maker (Chang) and his love for his first client - a beautiful courtesan called Miss Hua (Gong). Although she initially rejects him he is bound to her love and he quite literally binds her in his, by the care and longing that he puts into making the clothes that wrap around her body. From their initial arousing encounter he is entranced by her power and grace and longs for her touch; the film exploring how the mind can be eroticised through touch, on flesh and by the silk that Chang crafts and encompasses Hua’s body in, the cloth becoming a substitute for his own spurned hands. It’s a beautiful looking film with Wong Kar-Wai taking great care to recreate the sophisticated, eloquent style of the period which is objectified in the gracious dresses that Gong wears and Chang creates. A moving, sensual and evocative film, it’ll be love at first sight.
Next it’s off to a different time and place with Steven Soderbergh’s surreal and witty comedy, Equilibrium. Set in a psychiatrist’s office its subconscious driven narrative sees Robert Downey Jr’s distraught patient having a recurring dream involving a beautiful woman and a snooze alarm clock. Its three part structure reflects the film’s own and it plays with ideas of voyeurism and memory and how the latter plays tricks with us and our own interpretations of eroticism and the spectacle of looking. It’s humorous and engaging, with a suitably slapstick performance from Arkin whose psychiatrist is more preoccupied with what’s gong on outside his window than inside Robert Downey Jr’s brain. Compounded and confusing it’s certainly not what you’d expect an erotic film to be, but that’s sort of the point. It’s enjoyable and puzzling, a funny tale in both senses of the word.
The third and final part is directed by the great Michelangelo Antonioni and is called The Dangerous Thread of Things. By far the most explicit, we see two quarrelling lovers lost in their surroundings as well as their relationship. Obtuse and indirect, it’s wrapped in symbolism but feels lost in a space somewhere between what Antonioni wants to work out as an aging (and perhaps dying) director and what the viewer can interpret as a cognitive and satisfying film. Perhaps because of this it suffers some what and, is, unfortunately - considering how much of an influence he’s been over the other two – the weakest of the three as its slightly ostentatious tale becomes a little too hard to follow. He treads a fine line between free range expressionism devoid of narrative or conventional storytelling (which is fine) and just outright pretence - the dangerous thread that binds it all together threatening to unravel and reveal at its centre a hollow shell. If you happily followed the first two films into the tunnel of love, this last one may be the one that rocks the boat and throws you overboard.
Like all film triptychs there’s good and bad and it’s a bit of a mixed bag really. But if you’re a fan of the specific director’s work you’re bound to find something here that’ll you’ll enjoy, as there’s plenty here to tantalise and tease - you just might not fall head over heels for it.
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