Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by orejones (D) on May 24, 2004 at 05:06:17

I saw it yesterday, attracted both by the theme (I have seen Vermeer´s painting in La Hage, and enjoyed one full hour or so looking at it) and by some comments about its photographic quality..., and I must say that photography was simply excellent, with a wonderful rendering of the light, as in Vermeer´s paintings: kudos to the camera!

But the film was simply shallow: it never went under skin depth, and it failed, in a miserable way, to exploit the immense possibilities the story could have, if properly treated. It is obvious that the whole crew knew how to do their work..., but not the director himself: the recreation of everyday life in Delft at that time seems to be extremely faithful, and there are some moments which show glints of true cinematographic beauty, like when the Master is teaching Greit how to mix the stuff to prepare the colors, and when he explains some details of his technique to her. But that´s not enough to raise the film from the shallow ground it moves in.

There´s even a brief, successful attempt to make true cinema, when Greit is deflowered in two steps, first by the Master piercing her ear, with that drop of blood coming from her before he inserts the earring, then with her frenzily looking for her boyfriend to consummate the act in a purely carnal way: that scene in the noisy tavern is the exact counterpoint that makes it right, and is very good indeed..., but even this is not enough to make it a good film.

It is a true pity that this man has not been able to use all the resources he had at hand -and there were many indeed- to squeeze all the juice the original story had in, as he falls so short of what could have been done under a true director´s hands.

Anyhow, I enjoyed the sheer beauty of the imagery, and that by itself will be enough to recommend seeing it. If only the director knew how to tell a story, and how to suggest what was running under the skin of the characters...

Regards

BF