Boarding Gate

written and directed by Olivier Assayas
France, Luxembourg, 2007

Sandra blurts out the point so obviously in the second scene that it completely takes the fun out of the subsequent ones. "You always got harder when you told me what we were going to do than you did when we actually did it." Great line, though. The story is more interesting in between the action sequences—of which there are few. I'm hoping, though, that this isn't merely an effect caused by Sandra's appearances in lingerie—of which there are many. Olivier Assayas' latest film in a career-tainting string of disappointments after 1996's Irma Vep (although I quite liked his Paris, je t'aime segment) flirts with redemption in a way similar to main character Sandra's vain, last-ditch attempt at the same. Assayas continues in BG to plug seedy sexual attractions, B-movie genre bends (self-admitted this time, as if he needs to remind everyone why he keeps making films at all?), and an anti-bombshell femme fatale into his usual formula. The resulting meta-fest ends up with its lead actors simply chasing each other around the x-axis, taking turns in the focus range. It resembles less an exploitation film and more a Directing for Film 101 final project. At least it's interesting until we decide who's chasing whom. One talent of Assayas', like so many critics-turned-filmmakers, is he really makes an audience leave the theater feeling smart as long as they understand what the hell just happened. Sandra whored herself around for a long time in her twenties, and now that she's burned out in her thirties she seeks, through that same lifestyle, to phase herself out of the game. Simple.

Asia Argento is so terrifyingly attractive, I'll forgive her butchering this potentially effective script. The photography and soundtrack fall under the same category. That is to say, effective on the surface. Assayas and fellow heady shooter Yorick Le Saux (I don't really know much of this guy's work. I only say "heady" because he's French, too) keep things either too dark to see far enough into the scene, or are careful to keep a sharp focus only on the foreground, leaving the rest completely indecipherable. An easy visual metaphor for surface beauty. For such a complex filmmaker, Assayas' techniques are usually fairly straightforward when broken down. Asia Argento is so terrifyingly attractive, I'll...(did I say this already?) Moving on, Asia Argento is so... I just can't shake it.

Anyway, Asia has been excellent before. I call in question The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, a film where she played a convict with the kind of conviction it takes to bring to life not just a bad-girl (which she is anyway), but a real embodiment of desperation. BG doesn't see her with any commitment to this world. I'd call it a problem with theory-devotional filmmaking. Argento's foray into filmmaking shows something like holistic ignorance of a critical reception. It's a don't know/don't care attitude that really keeps a film like that one breathing. This one, like the rest of Assayas' career, is marked by a fear of commitment. Non-film theorists often make the best filmmakers. And for the record, in regards to Assayas' non-actors, well, let's just say Kim Gordon was WAY better on stage.