#6 WWW - WHEN LOS OLVIDADOS MEET JACQUES DEMY
06/09/2006
Faouzi Bensaïdi's film has made quite an impression on the film-pundits present in Venice, not only as an "auteur total" (also actor, scriptwriter, editor...) but as an erudite cinephile whose film, itself a patchwork of genres (from gangster movies to Bollywood), teems with references and yet is one of the most personal presented on the Lido.
WWW, What a Wonderful World falls into two main parts. The first half presents with great accuracy several lonely characters struggling for survival in a Casablanca half-way between traditions and modernity —for Morocco is at the same time a developing country and one which has been looking towards Europe for decades and where even beggars use cell-phones and internet chat-rooms. The virtuoso editing parallels the way all characters multiply jobs, "normal" ones and more or less illegal ones, to make ends meet. Like cattle, they evolve in the big city, criss-cross ona another's paths but stay profoundly lonely, like the shoe Kamel the killer finds, or like Kenza the policewoman, alone in the middle of her roundabout.
Yet, as the film unfolds, connections multiplies, and as Kenza ceases to be the centre of a ballet of cars reminding of Tati to become one side of a symmetric pattern (with Kamel on the other side), the film becomes a musical and a love story not unlike the ones Jacques Demy once staged in Rochefort. Not many filmmakers manage to combine realism and lyricism in such a colourful way.
What led you to take such complete control over your work by not only directing it but also editing, acting, etc?
When I did theatre at school, I got used to multitasking and for this film, I wanted to go back to that way of working. I wanted to direct a film like one paints or writes a novel.
What is quite striking here is that the toughest characters, K and K, are also the ones who end up living the most poetic love story?
I felt like creating a very special love story. The tough side they both have is based on the Moroccan reality I know, but this is only a façade, due to their respective jobs. They actually dream, like many people in Morocco, like teenagers, of an absolute, fairy tale-like love. When Kamel says you can love someone without knowing her, it is because he is in love with love itself. As far as Kenza is concerned, she is extremely demanding and therefore imposes many ordeals on Kamel, but eventually surrenders.
What are your cinematic points of reference?
The musical aspect of my film is owed to the fact that in my hometown, they would always play bits of musicals (reel by reel) before the film. Otherwise, as a filmmaker, I do not particularly refer to my mentors —Welles, Hitchcock, and Fellini. I think most of the references that appear in my movies are unconscious.
Bénédicte Prot (Cineuropa)
|
