Lundi matin
France / Italy,
2002, 122 min
Shown in 2003
CREDITS
- dir
-
Otar Iosseliani
- prod
-
Roberto Cicutto, Martine Marignac, Luigi Musini, Maurice Tinchant
- scr
-
Otar Iosseliani
- cam
-
William Lubtchansky
- editor
-
Otar Iosseliani
- mus
-
Nicholas Zourabichvili
- cast
-
Jacques Bidou, Anne Kravz-Tarnavsky, Narda Blanchet, Radslav Kinski, Dato Tarielashvili
- source
-
Celluloid Dreams, 2 rue Turgot, Paris 75009, France. FAX: 33-1-49-70-03-71. EMAIL: info@celluloid-dreams.com.
OTHER
The films of Otar Iosseliani, the Paris-based, Georgia-born director, have been compared to the work of René Clair and Jacques Tati. So it’s no surprise that Monday Morning carries the idiosyncratic comic touches and warmth of a Mr. Hulot’s Holiday. Vincent is a metal worker trudging through life. Underappreciated at home—his wife cares more about the rain gutters than her husband, and his sons find their father an annoyance—and fed up with working in a factory, he heads off on an aimless journey, anywhere but here. Vincent encounters village characters along the way: the grandmother who drives a convertible, the snoopy postman who steams letters open, the vineyard workers who store books in the outhouse, the gypsy caravan that brings a crocodile to town. And Vincent? Well, he finds his own amusing and bizarre adventures in Venice. A feckless hero who doesn’t even care that his wallet is stolen, he eventually discovers that it’s easier to work than to be a traveler. Like its protagonist, the film is short on dialogue and the cinematography’s cool palette conveys the blue-gray quality of Vincent’s life. The film has a running commentary on the struggle between modernism and tradition—the final shot of spewing factory smokestacks indicates which is winning.
—Cathleen Rountree
FACTOID #125
According to the November 29, 1959 San Diego Union, The Village on the River was the first Dutch feature ever shown in the U.S. (at the Third San Francisco International Film Festival).
