With «The Mule», Clint Eastwood has nothing left to prove

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

Ten years on Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood (88) returns to the screen with The Mule, which he also directed. Spotlight on a masterpiece, a must-see.

Earl Stone is an octogenarian who has spent his life in horticulture. Orchids are his passion, so much so that he has devoted all his time to them, to the detriment of his family. His daughter hasn't spoken to him for years, and his ex-wife is totally devastated too. Ruined and lonely, the old man accepts a small job which, on the surface, only requires him to act as a chauffeur. Except that his trunk contains cocaine, and he unknowingly becomes the mule for one of Mexico's biggest drug cartels. What follows for Earl is a dozen more dangerous errands than the last, a stay with the great boss of the cartel, prostitutes and Viagra included, a game of hide-and-seek with the FBI and, above all, an attempt to make up for the past with those closest to him.

Beyond good and evil

So, once again, it's the moral ambiguity of the human being, that gray soul, that Clint Eastwood depicts. The octogenarian was magnificently faithful to this rule by directing the biopic Sully, starring Tom Hanks. But, contrary to popular belief, it's not about the character «doing harm for good»: The Mule is not about immorality or morality. The film is about amorality, and is itself amoral. Complete absence of morality, total presence of cinema. The first stroke of genius is the way the director manages to relativize the camps of good and evil, as was the case in the spaghetti western: the mafia and the police sometimes use the same methods. That's all we're going to say.

Read also | Hostiles, the greatest western of our century

Contrary to what some might say, Earl Stone's lines aren't «Republican»: they're simply American. «It's a real pleasure to be able to help niggers»: with these talented phrases, delivered with humanity and self-mockery, Clint Eastwood doesn't make a movie. for racist America, but on racist America, as Jean-Marc Lalanne so aptly put it on his show Le Masque et la Plume on France Inter. As for «faggots» and «dykes on motorcycles», we all know that good old Clint can't resist using them in his films. Ironically, the mule is nicknamed «Tata» by the cartel. Let's forget Clint Eastwood's political sensitivity for a moment.

«An artist's film»

It's not about politics in The Mule, because it's all art. First of all, we're dealing with a slow film. This choice to present slow shots and dialogue that last more than a few seconds is in the best taste in an age when cinema dreams of high-speed trains. Slowness - to be dissociated from length - allows the image to linger on North American landscapes that are one with Clint Eastwood's fascinating face.

Also, the photography is subtle, testifying to a different kind of American cinema than that of the mainstream blockbusters that we have been able to deal with in recent weeks. The Mule is a jewel in which cross-fading - a technique sometimes considered old-fashioned, in which two shots are progressively joined together - is not a dirty word. Add some music country and folk rock an orgasm for all music lovers worthy of the name, and a typeface western for the chapter titles, and you have what we call a masterpiece, arguably surpassing the excellent Gran Torino ten years ago.

The Mule is also an artist's film, because you have to be one to handle comedy with such tact. Or rather, funny, because it's funny that suits the whimsy so typical of Clint Eastwood films. «Has anyone ever told you you look like James Steward?» asks the FBI cop, played by Bradley Cooper, to an old Clint who is seen elsewhere in the film learning to text a Mexican cartel tough and spreading Labello on his lips while his «colleagues» settle a case with guns.

Once upon a time Clint Eastwood

At its heart, this film is not just about Clint Eastwood as director and lead actor: it's also about what it's about. It is, of course, The Mule deals above all with the theme of forgiveness, it's worth remembering that it's the actor's daughter (Alison Eastwood) who plays his daughter in the film. The question of whether or not to give a second chance to a father who never had time for his family because he was so focused on work is thus embodied in reality in a powerful sense. And the words spoken by the character's wife when she is about to die are even more moving:

«You've been the love of my life and the pain of my life. And I'd like you to know that the only thing that matters to me is that you're here with me now.»

This film is Clint Eastwood insofar as the melancholy authority he has become merges with the authoritative melancholy of this cinema. And, in short, why does Eastwood play so well? The answer is simple: it's because he doesn't act. Clint looks good. And that's all there is to it. So we won't end on a twilight note, as many critics have done. Far from a testament film, The Mule represents yet another high point in the career of an admittedly elderly man, but one to whom we wish many more years to come.

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

Photo credit: © Warner Bros