«Ça», a film about fear

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

A partner section of Cinérevue, NeuchVox's film program. Next live: Monday, October 2, 2017, 8:30 pm - 9:00 pm

«It knows all the fears and shows them to us.»

A rainy afternoon in the small town of Derry. A finger traces a smile on the fogged window; a hand applies itself to meticulous folding. Georgie has asked his big brother Bill to make him a paper frigate. Mom plays the piano in the living room. Dressed in a yellow anorak, Georgie goes out alone to chase his floating toy. Cute music mingles with enthusiastic laughter.

After a fall, the child notices his boat slipping into a manhole. In despair, he rushes towards the hole of misfortune. «Me, I'm Grippe-Sou, the dancing clown», blue eyes hidden in the dark underground announce hoarsely. A few words are exchanged between Georgie and his mysterious encounter. And when he reaches out to retrieve the frigate, he is immediately assaulted and dragged into the sewer by the clown. All that remains is a puddle of blood under the violent raindrops of the storm.

Something evil is lurking in Derry. Week after week, children continue to disappear. The clown's threats have particularly affected the losers' club, of which Bill is a member. Unlike some of the other children, they haven't been abducted, just terrified for a moment. In a burst of courage imbued with fear and risk, the seven youngsters take on the mission of finding their comrades' killer, who knows all about trauma and fear.

The anguish process

It is enjoying phenomenal success in cinemas. Andrés Muschietti's new adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name is breaking all horror film box-office records. That's right, It scary, It interests and It makes its mark. This type of horror is nonetheless accessible. It's more the anguish punctuated by occasional scares that dominates. All the more so as this constant feeling is not endowed with any real crescendo. The procedures are repeated, which lessens the terror.

The repetitive nature of Grippe-Sou's attacks unites all children under this fear, creating a phenomenon that is as much psychological as social, although each one is plagued by a shock of its own. From the hypochondriac boy confronted by a leper, to the abused teenager strangled by her vaginal blood, to the rabbi's son pursued by the woman in a cubist painting; all are posed in the face of the major fear that inhabits them. The camera accompanies this peculiarity of the scenario by isolating the child, filming him from behind. The soft music accelerates, becoming more ominous. A pause in the action and the pull towards the trap. And then, slyly, the clown appears.

Too much clowning

Despite these high-pressure moments, the director imposes some heavy faults on his film, including unrealistic effects. While reviews of Masque et la Plume on France Inter agreed on the excellence of the first scene for its verisimilitude - the one where Georgie is abducted by the clown in the manhole - Eric Neuhoff of Figaro points out that excessive fantasy is unfortunate and impoverishes the effect of fear. For example, Grippe-Sou deploys an alien mouth. This detaches him from reality and the audience's everyday life. What's more, the clown ends up being too present, to the point of being almost unimpressive.

Suggestion would undoubtedly have been more effective. With it, psychological haunting takes precedence over screams, blood and the undead. It, In its gory leanings, the film tilts more towards the physical side of fear, which is certainly less powerful. And yet, the film's setting in 1980s provincial America makes up for much of the horror diminished by the unreal. Pale cottages, dreary downtowns and often empty roads provide opportunities for children, on their classic bikes of budding adventurers, to encounter the clown in the banality of a summer's day.

Fear as the main protagonist

The psychic disturbances, always present in this daily life, fulfill their function perfectly. The omnipresent red balloon in the crime scenes announces the anguish to be felt as soon as it appears. Anyone can see a red balloon in the street and think of Grippe-Sou. Or we might find ourselves cutting a few strands of hair at the sink, fished them out, and immediately imagine being besieged by them, with no way of freeing ourselves. The scene of the young girl who experiences this is particularly shocking. What's more, blood spurts out. The carmine-red tone of the shot is highly evocative of the distress and drama of the moment.

It isn't just meant to frighten. It's also a symbolic film with a message. «I will gorge myself on your flesh by gorging myself on your fear. The clown's first weapon is fear. In fact, fear is the film's main protagonist. It haunts every child, sometimes ridiculously, to the point of torture. Who, in fact, has never experienced such anguish? As adults, these fears are forgotten or denied. That's why the child is eminently concerned by this issue.

An invitation to courage

Through fear, Andrés Muschietti arrives at morality. In a rather puritanical style - which isn't necessarily a bad thing - young people are encouraged to fight their terrors. The only awkward aspect of the film's Manicheanism is that the adults are all irresponsible oppressors. Nevertheless, Bill and his friends find themselves in the same situation as Harry Potter, where the courage of sacrifice alone can kill the forces of evil. From this point of view, the film doesn't endorse gratuitous horror. It works on an intrinsic human feeling, inviting us to go beyond it.

There remains the question of the deeper meaning to be attributed to the story of It, and even all horror films. The question is a philosophical one. Why should we feed our imagination with anguish and violence? Some would reply that this practice serves as entertainment, in the same way as all other genres, whether literary or cinematographic. Others, more moralistic or even committed, would see in the monstration of artistic horror a preparation for the horror of the world. What if erecting a statue to fear was tantamount to encouraging and propagating it in the social subconscious?

«Come have fun with the clown.»

Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © journaldugeek.com