why, oh why?

can't we get properly subtitled movies? why was the 2007 french film 'la question humaine' released here as 'heartbeat detector'? surely, i am not the only one getting a little tired of this?

it's a hard movie. it's not...an enjoyable movie, but i'm glad that i watched it. mathieu amalric, who always strikes me as a better-looking roman polanski (especially with his twitchy performance in 'kings and queen'), has what seems to be a ridiculously cushy job as something between psychiatrist and human resources manager, restructuring the french branch of a german technology company. apparently, psychiatrist is french for 'spy', because his chief task becomes to find out what is causing the slightly irregular behavior of the ceo, a little too cleverly named mr. just. knowing that nazi themes would be rooting around somewhere in the film, i was wondering if it was going to turn out to be a max mosley/nazi kind of secret, but it turns out to be much more serious. the film focuses on europe's continuing collective guilt at the atrocities of world war II. it's a good question, how far away, how many generations away from it will people have to get before the guilt dissipates? none of the characters concerned were old enough to be perpetrators, but that doesn't mean that they feel absolved.

the look of the film made me think of fritz lang's 'metropolis', all angles and shadows and blacks and whites and greys (and a very obvious nosebleed). made me think, also, of a certain paperback version of paul auster's 'the invention of solitude', with identical men in suits sat round a table. the simple, clean camera work very soon starts to seem cold and distant. the soundtrack plays a huge part. there's no 'background' music, pieces are often played in their entirety, with little or nothing else transpiring, much to the viewer's discomfort. there are two seemingly interminable and melodramatic spanish songs, some classical pieces, and a few indie rock ballads which seem like they should feel more out of place.

the thing about this film is that it is trying to make a very big statement, and while i appreciate the attempt to show that, i'm not entirely certain that the film isn't drowning in its own artsiness.