Spread across three continents, each of these films focuses on a woman at a unique stage of her life: an accomplished middle-aged lawyer and mother in Last Summer, a queer young professional in Days of Happiness, and an awkward teenager in Vera and the Pleasures of Others. Despite their difference in age, experience, and circumstances, these three women share a deep connection. Each woman must balance dysfunctional family dynamics with their desires. Both drive the women but also threaten to destroy them. The three films stand on their own but, taken together, create a fascinating portrayal of womanhood and the depth of talent among contemporary female filmmakers.
Days of Happiness
From Tár to Maestro, conductors are having a moment in cinema. Days of Happiness, from Canadian director Chloé Robichaud, is a welcome addition to the conductor canon. Emma (Sophie Desmarais), a gifted, if tightly wound, conductor, is ending her residency at a renowned orchestra and hopes to earn a permanent position. Emma's professional pressures are compounded by her budding romance with orchestra cellist Naëlle (Nour Belkhiria) and her deeply dysfunctional relationship with Patrick (Sylvian Marcel), her father/agent. Robichaud frames the film with a perfect metaphor when Emma, at a lake resort, accidentally drifts away on a raft and cannot swim. The rest of the film is about Emma learning how to get herself to shore.While its character's gender and profession, lesbian storyline, and themes of control and abuse overlap with Tár, the film is not a copy but rather a harmonizing companion piece. Like Lydia Tár, Emma deals with issues of creative control and the expectations of others. In many ways, Emma's plight is more similar to Nina's in Black Swan, sans the body horror, as she is constantly encouraged to let go of her sense of control. All of her life, Emma has been told to be focused, disciplined, and perfect and is now advised to "smile," "relax," and "have fun." These maddening contradictions, combined with her entangled personal and professional lives, put her on the brink of a breakdown. What Robichaud does best is show the catharsis and transcendence Emma finds within the music. 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at Silverspot Cinema 16, 300 SE Third Street, Miami; and 12:30 p.m., Sunday, April 14, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables.
Last Summer
After a ten-year absence, Catherine Breillat, one of cinema's greatest provocateurs, returns with Last Summer, a remake of May el-Touky's 2019 film Queen of Hearts. Until now, remakes were not a part of Breillat's repertoire, but the source material could not be better suited to her brand of brutal sexual politics. Both films center on Anne, a wife, mother, and successful lawyer. Anne specializes in protecting abuse victims, which makes her transgressive sexual relationship with her underage stepson all the more bewildering. Early in the film, Anne warns a client that in the legal system, "victims become the accused." It's a prophetic statement. Last Summer finds Breillat in a subtler register than films like Romance and Fat Girl or her debut film, A Real Young Girl, which was banned for decades. Yet, the film continues her lifelong fascination with the battle of the sexes and the erotic connection between desire and destruction.While following the same plot points as Queen of Hearts, Breillat infuses Last Summer with her intellectual perspective on gender, sex, and abjection. El-Touky's film keeps her camera at a distance, infusing the film with a colder, Scandinavian feel, whereas Breillat opts for close-ups that are simultaneously and contradictorily intimate, intrusive, and often inscrutable. The choice highlights a trio of terrific performances by Oliver Rabourdin as Anne's confused and conflicted husband, newcomer Samuel Kircher's troubled Théo, and a near-Huppertian central performance by Léa Drucker. Breillat also diverges from the original, offering a more perplexing end. Interestingly, Last Summer debuted at last year's Cannes Film Festival alongside Todd Haynes' May December. In addition to seasonal titles, both films are engrossing tales about enigmatic and amoral women unwilling or incapable of confronting the ramifications of their actions. A decade later, Breillat and her films are as potent as ever. 1 p.m. Saturday, April 6, and 3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables.
Vera and the Pleasures of Others
Vera and the Pleasures of Others, the feature debut of Romina Tamburela and codirector Federico Actis, is the antithesis of HBO's Euphoria. Vera (Luciana Grasso), a remarkably unremarkable volleyball-playing teenager, takes on an odd extracurricular activity. She rents out an empty apartment to other teens looking for a place to have sex. Not since 1972's Last Tango in Paris has a vacant apartment seen so much action. Vera's motives are more ambiguous and innocent than the summary suggests. Tamburela and Actis craft a delicate, sex-positive exploration of a teenager's nascent desires.Behind the door of apartment 3B, Vera takes gratification from listening to the sounds of others' pleasures before experimenting with her own. The auditory voyeuristic thrills turn into tactile reality for Vera when she befriends a couple of clients. However, Vera and the Pleasures of Others is not only about pleasure; after witnessing a disturbing sexual encounter, Vera must confront some harsh realities of desire and sex. Coupled with a fraught family life, Vera's transition from adolescence to adulthood is full of confusion, passion, and self-realization. Beautifully shot and acted, Vera and the Pleasures of Others is a fascinating and fresh take on the coming-of-age film where the realities of life are not divorced from the joys of sex. 6 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at Koubek Center, 2705 SW Third St., Miami.
Miami Film Festival. Friday, April 5, through Sunday, April 14, at various locations; miamifilmfestival.com.
