[critical] IMAGES, Robert Altman

It is a little more than 40 years came out in theaters Images of Robert Altman. For the first time available on DVD in France, published by M6 Video, this is the time to discover or rediscover a film of rare and little-known. If Robert Altman is one of those filmmakers who have upset the hollywood cinema since the 70’s, the only incursion of the director in the psychological thriller with Images, makes it a curiosity. The warm colors, the image “grainy” is the hallmark of a cinema of the seventies, prolific, dominated by an american stage for the bold and its wonders : Sam Peckinpah, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola… Robert Altman, known at that time especially for the MASH, a satirical comedy, is obviously a two.

With Images, it’s like the face of a Repulsion or Rosemary’s Baby of Roman Polanski, another genius of the 7^e Art. The stories of the most simple are often the best, with a dose of skill all the same. The authors of the most talented manage to plug in to a narrative that is familiar, a part of surprise, of the unexpected, of instinct. On the borders of surrealism, the fantastic and the horror film, the film narrates the nightmares awakened from Cathryn, embodied brillement by Susannah York. And it is not for nothing if, in the same year, she received the prix d’interprétation feminine at Cannes for this role. The story ? While she works on her latest book, Cathryn, writer for children receives phone calls from a mysterious woman, suggesting that her husband is having an affair. Upon her return, she expressed to him her suspicions. Then she believe to see, instead of Hugh, another man and begins to have hallucinations… in the Face of the panic reaction of his wife, Hugh, proposes they spend a few days in the countryside, thinking that she needed rest and quiet. But Cathryn is quickly the victim of other visions…

Robert Altman leaves no doubt on his female character, Cathryn. From the beginning, the viewer knows that he is face to face with a crazy. The challenge, therefore, is not whether, as in most thrillers psychological, the main character is insane or not. In the implementation stage, the seizures are transient, the vignettes are filmed coldly, so that everything becomes banal. And this is the whole interest of the film. The viewer may wonder about the complexity of the protagonist, which made him like this. One also wonders if his visions relate to a past that really existed. Lack that tinge of subtlety when in his madness, the bias of the director is a little too settled. As a result, the pace tends to miss of evolution, the tension from the beginning is at the same level. Signed by the composer of repute, and John Williams, the soundtrack is simple and effective. She punctuates with tact the adventures chimeric Cathryn.

” That one admires it or not Robert Altman, Images is well worth the detour. Rich narrativement and scenically, the only psychological thriller directed by the legendary film maker shows the perfect mastery of his art, in which each shot is carefully composed, where a tributary of the symbols. “

For a little more than one hour and thirty minutes, the camera differs only little from it, if it is to show her world, its savagery mixed with a daily basis we can no longer normal. And when she is not there, his voice is never far away. Also in the casting, the French actor Marcel Bozzuffi, best known overseas for his role in the French Connection ‘s William Friedkin, here is the former lover of Cathryn. We also note the presence of René Auberjonois, actor recurring Altman.

If the picture painted Robert Altman seems to be ultra-realistic, the light movements in the frame with a slow motion effect, corroborates the vision impaired by the spirit of a woman obsessed by his marriage and his femininity, his fantasies and his fears. The theme of adultery is at the center of the story. The writer has doubts about the fidelity of her husband, while she appears totally flawless. Another point brought up by the film, the desire to have a child. When she is faced with the daughter of a friend (perhaps even lover) of the couple, the director filmed brilliantly with the amazing looks of the two. Fact is anecdotal, in the film the girl embodied by Cathryn Harrison, is named Susannah, and Susannah York plays a certain Cathryn. Robert Altman plays with this duality. It uses as a pretext to this similarity, the plans through a window, where both are reflected, one to the other. One can only remember the Persona ofIngmar Bergman, work mirror, released 6 years earlier, referring to the relationship between an actress and a nurse. A process of osmosis personalities will contribute to the healing of the actress, but will strengthen may be the solitude of the nurse.

That you admire or not Robert Altman, Images is well worth the detour. Rich narrativement and scenically, the only psychological thriller directed by the legendary film maker shows the perfect mastery of his art, in which each shot is carefully composed, where a tributary of the symbols.