1214. Le temps retrouve

Le temps retrouve

Time Regained
1999

Directed by Raul Ruiz

A little awhile ago, I watched The Captive, which was loosely based on the fifth book in In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. I innocently though "Huh, a Marcel Proust novel would be hard to adapt." Little did I know that we would soon be watching a movie that attempts to cover the entire seven volumes of Proust's novel. Poor Marcel, he has to be the center of attention for nearly three hours.

This is a difficult film to summarize, but to put it succinctly, Marcel reminisces about all the strange characters he has met over the years, with the most prominent figures being Albertine and Gilberte. Marcel is a fairly awkward guy who doesn't seem to belong to the wartime era. His inability to get what he wants out of relationships dominates the story. 

Well, I said "poor Marcel" but perhaps I should have said poor us, for having to endure this movie. I just don't think this masterpiece translates to film well, and we should all just leave it alone as a novel. The transitions, the quirky characters, the music of the language: none of these things worked as well as they did in the book. Instead, it was mostly a long plodding trek from one memory to the next, with Marcel barely participating. 

I respect what the filmmakers were trying to do, but I think the vision was just too big.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Third time that Chiara Mastroianni acted alongside her mother, Catherine Deneuve.