With all of us self isolating in quarantine the daily question of what to watch gains even more importance. Not only do you want to watch something good and entertaining but also something that will engross and really distract and take you away from the reality of the grave situation we are living in. Something soothing and comforting above all, however you never know where comfort might come from.
Last night I thought a comedy was in order and based on Wes Anderson’s recommendation in a sweet email to The Criterion Channel I chose Arthur Hiller’s The-Out-of-Towners (1970) with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Denis. However I turned it off 15 minutes into the film. Lemmon constantly yelling his entitlement was not comforting nor funny. The rants were well written and the situations would have probably been funny in another context. But not at this time.
Last week the movie was Francois Trauffaut’s The Last Metro (1980)...
It was a major blind spot in my viewing as someone who loves Catherine Deneuve and Trauffaut and that is why I chose it. I wasn’t looking for comfort or laughter with that film just trying to fill a gap in my viewing history. Yet surprisingly it was the one that gave me the most comfort and I came out of it energized to persevere no matter what.
The Last Metro takes place in Nazi occupied Paris during the second world war. Similar to Trauffaut’s Day For Night it grapples with how a group of people come together and make art. In this story it’s a theater troupe that has to deal with not just the occupation but censorship as well as their artistic director - Lucas Steiner played by Heinz Bennett - being forced to hide from the Nazis because he's Jewish. The trick is that he’s hiding in the basement of the theater and only his wife and the star of the play Marion Steiner (Deneuve) knows he’s there. He finds a way to listen in to the rehearsals and gives notes through his wife, while everyone thinks he has escaped Paris.
The film is about the artistic process and how personality clashes make great art even in trying times. However I found it oddly comforting to watch a story about a guy spending years in a room hiding while in self isolation. His circumstances are different from ours during this pandemic and the risk in going out was much more serious for him, and yet I couldn't help but relate. These characters take it in day by day, just trying to survive. By the end there is no big liberation or change, it’s just another day when Lucas is finally able to go out because the forces that could harm him have been defeated. This is how I hope we could all feel after this crisis is over, wake up one day and be able to go outside without any fear.
Which movies have you found comforting during this time?