re:mote voices

Title: It's All About Love
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, Sean Penn, Douglas Henshall
Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Its All About Love is the latest film from the director of the notorious Dogme film Festen. Festen is one of those films I have been meaning to see, but have never gotten round to, despite having heard so much about it. (In fact I actually have it on tape from when it was on TV, and do intend to get round to watching it sometime – perhaps especially now?). Its All About Love however would seem to be something of a departure, being in English, with American actors. Though one might suspect the ideas of love and relationships, and how they affect people might well be thematic commonalities?

Having seen posters that there was a new film coming with Joquin Phoenix and Clare Danes I could have told you little else about the film. My brother was in Glasgow/Edinburgh for a long weekend, during which time he caught Its All About Love. When we talked about it, he suggested that it was perhaps one of those films that not knowing what it was about would help the viewer to appreciate the film. Eliminating too many expectations. To some degree I think this is the case, knowing too much of what is going to happen is likely not the best idea.

Glancing at a review before I went to see it myself I caught the idea that the reception of Its All About Love has been mixed, mostly because of its wilful oddness. And Its All About Love is certainly an odd little film. The kind of nudges to reality, the weird little touches, hold a definite appeal for me. though like many things it can have mixed results, being odd/challenging can be a tricky line to walk. The ease with which a writer/director can cross that into self-absorbed, self-indulgence, is no doubt something we have all witnessed – though perhaps the definition of which isn’t something we all would agree on.

John has a stop over in New York, where he has just enough time to meet his wife Elena, so she can sign the divorce papers. However things quickly go off schedule, Elena apparently is far too busy to come and meet John. So her minders are dragging him out of the airport, re-arranging his onwards flights, and getting him a room for the night. From this point on there is a certain level of unease. What should have been a simple end of an affair has become more complicated. Significant glances, changes of subject, and strange events start to add up however.

While the core plot is going on, the characters are surrounded by a world going mad. Despite the fact that everything seems rational, the film is set in 2001, events clearly are not as we lived through them. These details are at times subliminal, glimpsed in the background, overheard news broadcasts. With progression though they add up, contributing a real veneer of bizarreness to events which are already just a little off centre. Visually these create some of the scenes with the highest impact in the film, and on the whole are pulled off pretty well. Better than some of the little touches used elsewhere, which are a little jarring at times.

For the most part Its All About Love is a striking and effective film, which I quite enjoyed. However it is not perfect, the ending seems to be dragged out, offering a little confusion, and perhaps an anti-climax creeps in. Along with that the repeat cameos of Sean Penn as John’s brother seem a little surplus – in real narrative terms, the film could have survived without his character. Though perhaps a little more actual interaction with John would have helped, especially given that Penn’s scenes do actually look and sound quite nice. The idea of a man who was scared of flying, but was given drugs to get over the fear is one of the most striking of the film (at least for me).

Initially I found the dialogue to be a little odd, stilted, and over deliberate. However it turned out they were acting, the characters of Phoenix (John), Danes (Elena), Penn (John’s brother) and Henshall (Elena’s brother) all being Polish. The four manage to maintain a reasonable consistency of their own, along with a certain similarity between those of the others. Whether it sounds Polish in the slightest, I couldn’t say, but its nice that they made an effort.

Yes, while I remain conflicted on the ending, Its All About Love is worth seeing.