Syngué Sabour,d'Atiq Rahimi,avec Golshifteh Farahani,Hamidreza Javdan,Massi Mrowat.1 h 42 sortie le 20 février.

 

Le Monde | 15.02.2013 à 10h01

 

Vedette du cinéma iranien, Golshifteh Farahani, vue dans A propos d'Elly d'Asghar Faradhi, s'est trouvée propulsée sur la scène internationale en 2008 avec Mensonges d'Etat, de Ridley Scott. Sa chevelure découverte a déplu à Téhéran, qui lui a retiré son passeport. Exilée à Paris, cette ancienne pianiste de 30 ans y a retrouvé une famille d'artistes, dont son compagnon, l'acteur Louis Garrel, qui l'a enrôlée dans son court-métrage (La Règle de trois).

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Aujourd'hui, dans Syngué Sabour, adaptation par le cinéaste afghan Atiq Rahimi de son roman sur l'Afghanistan en guerre, l'actrice se livre à une performance introspective, sous forme de monologue confessionnel poignant adressé à un époux dans le coma. "Mon personnage, dit-elle, découvre que le corps n'est pas fait que pour souffrir." Récemment les frileuses autorités persanes l'ont encore rappelée à l'ordre, offensées par son impudeur dans une vidéo des Césars, où elle est nommée parmi les Espoirs.

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"L'Iran est un pays de contradictions, les différences culturelles sont énormes, regrette-t-elle. Tout y est politique, même si personne ne connaît les Césars. Moi je ne dis rien, pour calmer le jeu." En attendant, ses parents, artistes, prennent l'avion pour lui rendre visite, et son nouveau film circule déjà en DVD pirate, sous le manteau.

 

 

Clémentine Gallot

 

-For Manchester scenes (filmed on actual streets in the USA), any overly "American" curbside items (like certain fire hydrants) were hidden by dropping bottom-less slatted metal trash cans over them and then adding prop "English" rubbish; however, extras and crew unaware of this subtle artful touch continuously filled the apparently-normal-looking receptacles with their own trash.Between filming sessions,rueful set dressers would have to remove a foot-high layer of discarded plastic water bottles (and then reset and fluff the "official" rubbish).

-While the derelict-but-surviving US neighborhood where the Manchester Scenes were filmed had plenty of its own street litter and urban debris,the Hollywood crew(in the effort to make the area look like an English slum) had left certain piles of prop rubbish in precise places.For scene continuity,such rubbish needed to remain  present even when scenes took multiple days to film. To protect against unwitting community litter cleanup, "essential" debris was flagged overnight and on weekends with "hot set" tape (a specialized version of other American yellow hazard tapes which say things like "caution caution caution", "wet paint", or "police line do not cross").

-During one Munich scene (actually filmed on a busy urban US street corner), civilian vehicle traffic was stopped only during actual filming. Just before and after filming, the prop street signs (written in German) were in place while the street was still open to traffic. Thus, some unknowing motorists went from seeing typical street signs (which said things like "Central Avenue" or "Washington Street") to reading differently-colored German signs for, say, "Charlottenstraße".

-For Manchester Scenes (filmed in a gritty and real American slum), actual English "police line" tape was used. Its distinctive blue and white coloration contrasts with US-style police tape which is yellow with black text. Comparison was easy because occasional stray bits of American police line tape from past actual crime scenes were among the real neighborhood's windblown street debris littering the edges of the filming area.

-A key scene's spectacular explosion is not a digital effect; it was a real, though controlled and safe pyrotechnic blast-much to the delight(or,in some cases,surprise) of neighborhood onlookers.

-To get just the right look during a massive pyrotechnic explosion while also not damaging still-occupied neighborhood buildings, technicians used a "car chucker" (rather than the force of the blast) to fling a vehicle violently. The fridge-door-sized steel plate has a powerful spring-hinge device able to catapult cars for specified distances.

-Some performers in the exterior Turkish Cafe in Munich Scene were stage-reading actual Arabic news papers.The more-attentive among them were indeed reading from right to left (most noticeable when they turn a page).

-Costume standards were such that performers portraying British police wore full regalia including a tie, utility belt, regimental insignia, and a bulletproof jacket even though none of these were visible under their blaze yellow police emergency-response raincoats. Also, these same police were usually positioned with their backs to the camera - which was often a quarter-mile away.

-During filming in the USA, a few of the POVs (privately-owned vehicles) which extras used to reach the locations were used during filming of scenes meant to portray parts of Europe, but first the cars needed to be "de-Americanized". This involved more than just switching license plates. Rear-view mirror dangling trinkets (graduation tassels, novelty-shaped air fresheners, etc) were removed. Bumper stickers advertising vacation spots and political views were scraped off. In some cases, windshield decals from European municipalities were added.

-To extras waiting to join the "Terrible Neighborhood" and "Terrible Flat" scenes, a wardrobe specialist announced, "Please remove your personal jewelry including school rings and wedding bands; this is supposed to be a gritty neighborhood full of crackhouses and you're poor... you hocked all of your jewelry - for drugs."

-Over the course of filming the Terrible Neighborhood scene, two tanker-truckloads of water were sprayed onto the location neighborhood streets because, for looks, wet roadways were considered preferable to dry pavement.

-Carice van Houten actually played the character of Roger's wife Gretchen Ferris, but all her scenes were deleted and she does not appear in the final cut. The movie does provide dialogue that distills the story in the book, when Roger says they are getting divorced because "I was a bad husband and she was a worse wife".

-A visual sequence meant to illustrate cross-cultural suspicion by showing German police and Turkish migrant-workers eying each other darkly at a Munich street corner's outdoor tea café was cut. A short clip of the sequence survives, but as a sort of Islamic "anytown", without the German-language street sign or the Munich police car. It appears as an aside In Scene 2 while Hoffman briefs headquarters staff about "men from the future", Americans, being easy to defeat when terrorists use face-to-face meetings and hand-written notes in place of easily-traceable electronic technology.

-The plot is set in various international locations: Manchester (United Kingdom), Samarra and Balad (Iraq), Qatar's US Military Base, Amman (Jordan), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Langley and Washington DC (United States), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Incirlik (Turkey), Vienna (Austria) and Dar'a (Syria) but the actual filming locations were only Morocco and United States.

-Ayesha's cousins are named Yousuf and Rowley. Rowley is an unusual name for a Muslim boy and it stands out. It's possibly a nod to the FBI whistleblower of the same name.

-The Amsterdam scene in the picture was actually shot at Eastern Market, a historic marketplace in Southeast Washington, DC, which hosts weekend food and flea market vendors. It was shot on a hot September day, though extras had to suffer wearing heavy clothing for what was supposed to be a cool fall day. The car explosions were really staged - not special effects.

-The presence of oranges in films are usually used as a harbinger of something bad happening. During the scene when Nizar guides Ferris and Bassam to the terrorist cell in Balad, Ferris offers Nizar an orange. Soon afterwards, the shootout with the terrorists begins which ultimately leads to Bassam's gory death.

-Mark Strong turned down a role because his wife was pregnant.

-When Ferris first meets with Hani, he is asked about what he has heard about Hani's unit of intel gathering and interrogation methods. He responds by saying "finger-nail factory". Mark Strong was in Syriana and tortured George Clooney's character by pulling out his finger-nails.

-Russell Crowe, Oscar Isaac, Mark Strong, and Simon McBurney all starred in Ridley Scott's next film, Robin Hood.

The trivia item below may give away important plot points.

-During Scene 1 which included the "Terrible Neighborhood" sequence, set dressers pasted street posters for real musical bands upon walls and lampposts. While the selection of posters was generally random, there was careful attention paid to the posters seen just before the tactical squad storms the bomb-makers' flat: they are bright red with the headline SMOKE OR FIRE ABOVE THE CITY. The red sky and black cityscape purposefully foreshadows the massive explosion and fireball (indeed, "smoke or fire above the city") which is seconds away.

 

DiCaprio shines as usual in a technically well made film that ranks amongst the better Ridley Scott films

 

Author: The_Amazing_Spy_Rises from United States

9 October 2008

Ridley Scott has always been very consistent in my mind as a filmmaker. He has occasional flashes of genius (Alien, Gladiator), but always seems to make steady, good, interesting, and watchable films.The same applies here with Body of Lies.While the film will not be this year's major awards contender, Body of Lies is among the better films by Scott, somewhere between American Gangster and Black Hawk Down.

 

One thing Scott always manages to do in his films is ground the film in reality very well, setting a mood that allows us to get into the film easier. While it has its dark moments, I wouldn't consider this a supremely dark or depressing picture, despite the subject matter. In Body of Lies, his take on the War on Terror in the Middle East is gripping and realistic (especially the sets), though not as thrilling as it should be. Though put in danger many times throughout the film, I didn't find myself on the edge of my seat whenever those moments rolled around.

 

As we already know, the film features two of the most dynamic and talented actors working today in Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Here, Scott gives his usual tag team partner Crowe a break to let DiCaprio take the reigns. Leo has long been one of my favorite actors for his ability to bring intensity and grit to every role he plays (outside of Titanic and Gilbert Grape, of course), making real and believable characters time in and time out. Again, DiCaprio steals the show and makes the movie watchable, as he's in almost every scene in one way or another. Without his commanding and charismatic presence, the film would sink. He delivers yet another winner of a show, showcasing his ability to grow into even more adult roles as he grows older.His role in the film is strikingly similar to his position in his career. He's in between young heroic roles and adult authoritative roles, which is what his Roger Ferris is: a young CIA agent dealing with new found authority and choices.

 

Though on paper, Russell Crowe's role is pretty weak, he manages to turn in a great performance through an altered appearance and voice. Once again, Crowe's character symbolizes who he is as a person: a shaken soda bottle one twist from exploding. It is because our two leads (I feel weird saying that, as DiCaprio is the only true lead) work so well together and hold our attention so well that the film succeeds. An able supporting cast adds to the film as well.

 

Technically well made, just like every other Scott films, Body of Lies brings nothing new to the table while taking things we've seen before and one-upping the last to do it. The sound in particular was a plus for me, as was the art direction (like I've said, these are always good things in a Ridley Scott film). The preview can be a bit deceiving in marketing the film as an action political thriller, like Blood Diamond, when in reality it is the thinking man's thriller without that plot twist I thought would be coming. While the film does have some marvelous and well done action,it's few and far between as the film is more about gathering intelligence than intelligently blowing everything up.

 

I also appreciate that the film rarely dragged or got boring, and I credit this to yet another winning script from William Monahan, scribe of The Departed. I think another Oscar nomination for Monahan is possible here. All in all, Body of Lies is a well made film that would be nothing special(again, the lack of thrills in some parts)if not for the commanding presence of Leonardo DiCaprio and the always consistent Ridley Scott. It's not worth losing your head over, but it is worth giving the price of admission to your local theater.

At the age of 70 Ridley Scott is still making Greats.

 

Author: memento_man from New Zealand

9 October 2008

One of the Greatest Directors of All time has picked a touchy subject for his newest film. Did Rid pull it off?Body of Lies is a smart political thriller on the state of some of the world's debacles 

 

Some of the high points of the film were the action sequences which were very similar to the style of action sequences of "Black Hawk Down". The acting was also great. Personally i liked Crowe's performance more as a CIA head he was very dedicated to the role and put on 66pounds for it, he also had the Virginian accent down. But I thought that Leonardo DiCaprio was very similar to his role in The Departed. (Watch when he is talking on the phone you will see what I mean) The cinematography was Grade A also.

 

But the thing that impressed me most was the way Ridley Built up the story and tension not knowing who to trust, (obviously one of the themes of the movie) this brought me back to the days of "Alien" with the slow building atlosphere which made "Alien" one of the most respected films of all time. It was also a balanced look at the Iraq situation as it wasn't following the Anti-America trend but it also wasn't trying to justify the war. It also will leave you thinking about the current events long after the credits have ended.All in All through great shots, Acting and Direction make "Body Of Lies" a hit and can be put on Ridley Scotts list of Greats on his CV.