Audience Member
There were moments but talky on the whole.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Orly's opening cause an estrangement: the opening credit sequence is audacious compared to Schanelec's previous films and resemble the opening of Godard's films. But we then see the familiar face of Maren Eggert and recognize typically French streets (the connection that Schanelec has with France, especially with Paris, is unquestionable and present in all of her films). Cut. The camera travels lingeringly among family photos. Part of the cover of a LP single is visible; "Love will tear us apart ", the classic A Factory Record - FAC 23. A man, a phone call, a break. Cut. Int., day, Orly Airport.
"Orly" features eight characters and four stories - initially, the girl who works at the airport seems to be one of the main characters, but she is just like that time span; at the moment when we could meet her, she leaves the room to talk on the phone - that have in common the place in which they unfold. The film is quite honest in its approach of this time suspended, of this temporary site that marks the non-presence, the transitory. The dialogues, short, long, unfinished, banal, depict the transience of such situations and the relation between public space and intimacy. Cat Power's "Remember me" marks a brief encounter and mismatch, or the impossibility of love. In the stillness of waiting, only and outside factor is able to break such passivity. Although, maybe, it is able to just give it a break.
"Yes, it's true. Everything moves into the void, "says Schanelec about the end of Orly.
Curiosity: the story that Theo tells about the old man in a cafe accompanied by a young woman is quite similar to the man that Thomas, in "Passing Summer", went to interview (possibly) in Paris. We only know these characters through Theo and Thomas's narration; we not only don't see them as we will never know who they were. Thomas tells us that this man received him - along with his wife with whom Thomas seems to have had more contact - but refused to talk because once he had completed his work, there was nothing else to say. "There is nothing to say. I do not want to say anything. There is nothing to say. Nothing. "Says a voice that gives his age away. Theo, in "Orly", follows the old mand and the young woman when they leave the cafe. They go into a building and he waits outside, across the street. Much later, the girl comes down and goes to his direction. "'He asked me to tell you he doesn't receive guests anymore. He hasn't given interviews for a long time and never gives autographs. This isn't going to change", she said, without annoyance, but without a smile either, seriously bringing to an end the task she seemed to have. The old man, God, whoever, doesn't give interviews. This didn't surprise me."
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
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