A «pink cloud» that reminds us of a certain virus

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

The Pink Cloud recounts the arrival of a mysterious pink cloud in the sky, which will impose strict confinement on the entire planet. This Brazilian film, released on April 8, was written before the cursed period of the coronavirus. The family resemblance is impressive.

A Nuvem Rosa («The pink cloud»). An elegantly original title that reminds us that Portuguese is one of the Romance languages closest to Latin. The Pink Cloud, its international title, invites us to think about the «cloud» and all that this word now evokes in the world of computing. A cloud to store our personal data, which is supposed to protect us while monitoring us, interfering in our lives.

Strict confinement and digital life

The story we're told grips us from the very first minute. A large pink cloud invades the air on the outskirts of a town. A stroller, observing this strange phenomenon from a small wooden pontoon, collapses ten seconds later, leaving his dog masterless, landmarkless and sobbing. It's the beginning of a catastrophe to which society must quickly respond. The gas giant, whose origin is still unknown, is lethal. But it can't penetrate the walls. Sirens sound; a general lockdown is imposed.

Giovana (Renata de Lélis) and Yago (Eduardo Mendonça) have just met. They've been making love all night, having hit it off at a party. Now, as fate would have it, they find themselves locked up together. Not much sex for the first few days. It's all about being perplexed by this absurd threat, visible through the window. It soon becomes the only news item on TV. And the habit of settling into the house, along with weariness, will signal the return of desire between the two near-strangers. Crazy desire, then long-term desire. A child is born of this gradual mutual taming. For the rest of his life, this kid will only know the existence intra muros and digitalized activities.

The pink cloud is the story of this second-rate life, where human beings go through all kinds of moods. The kid's lessons are done remotely; we take refuge in the augmented reality of a helmet; the erotic life of adults becomes inventive or hurried, it's up to you. Reality becomes terribly routine and, paradoxically, false. A neighbor, at his wits' end, takes his own life. It all boils down to this: we resist, more or less. The couple - very well embodied - whose different stages of life and psychology we follow, represent the tension that can arise between refusing the tragic and accepting it. It also brings home to us the intrinsic incompatibility that exists among human beings, as well as the miracles that can nevertheless occur, like flowers emerging from the stones of a desert.

Another premonitory work

The similarity between our daily lives over the past year and the scenario in The Pink Cloud is striking. Yet director Iuli Gerbase wrote it in 2017, and the film was shot in 2019. The fact that the feature film was made before the Covid-19 period is proof both of its universality and of the prophetic character that the universal can take on, precisely. «Il n'est pas de hasard, il est des rendez-vous»: what Etienne Daho deduced from the reality of love is applicable to the sometimes breathtaking realm of art. When art perfectly matches a moment in the future, it's because it's fully in line with that anticipation which is so characteristic of creators, and which is in itself inexplicable.

When the resonance is so strong, the resulting experience is powerful. Such was the case a year ago with the Swiss novel Deflagration by Serge Bimpage. This is now the case with The Pink Cloud, And its exclusive viewing on the filmingo platform echoes our distressing routine. There's plenty more meaning and parallelism to be found in this black smoke. Unless you'd prefer to see life in pink.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credits: © trigon-film.org