Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci
A partner section of Cinérevue, NeuchVox's film program. Next live broadcast: Monday August 7, 2017, 8:30 pm - 9:00 pm
«Make peace with your past or you won't have a future.»
Alpha, a cosmopolitan station. Over the centuries, all the peoples of the Earth, and later extraterrestrials, have settled here. Its UN organization features administrations and ministries of space-like grandeur. Among its most valiant civil servants are young agents Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne). After a rocky operation in the «Big Market» straddling various dimensions, the two are entrusted with a new mission: to protect Commander Filitt, head of the armies.
A threat has crept into the station. An unknown species of people occupies an area from which no law enforcement agency has managed to escape. It's all a complete mystery until these Cameroonian avatars appear in the middle of a security meeting, paralyze all the guards and kidnap the Commander. Valerian must save him at all costs. What's more, he's certain he's already met these aliens in his dreams. From there, the hero embarks on an adventure into the depths of risk and soul. Laureline, no less his lover than his collaborator, follows him.
Fantastic masterpiece
The free adaptation of the sixth volume in the Valerian and Laureline : The Shadow Ambassador (1975), revives the most galactic French comic book series of two generations ago. Luc Besson, who now knows only how to surprise with his talent, was fascinated by these albums as a child. He devoured them as soon as he received them. Such a past forced him to mature his film over many years. He even revealed to the press that he was already thinking about it when he made the revolutionary Fifth Element, in 1997. With a broad smile on his lips, the master of European fantasy now considers that the latter «looks like a short film next to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets ».
In short, there's a claim to mastery. So be it. However, if the use of such a qualifier remains deserved, it must be confined to a specific genre - obviously fantasy - and a specific audience, namely children and teenagers. The innocence and simplicity of the script, and the omnipresence of digital technology, set this condition. Having said that, both of these points can be summed up as a sincerely humanistic and merciful message on the one hand, and a bewildering spectacle on the other.
Humor and modesty
Adding to the success are the performances of the actors, both principal and secondary. Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne are already naturally appealing with their vitality and delicious looks. But what's more, they've got spirit! Their little games of seduction don't just endear them like a cute little crush; they really do make you laugh. The machismo of the male remains despite the perpetual responses of the feminist damsel. The old couples in the room recognized each other, and the «beaufs» too. You could hear it in the chorus of laughter during the screening. In fact, the film itself, as a whole, is funny. A very French kind of humor, mixing anachronisms with light societal parodies.
Although the audience doesn't go from laughter to tears, it does experience emotion. Serious subjects, such as the instability of love, financial misery or, worse still, social exclusion, the fate of refugees without a future and the genocide of an ethnic group, are treated with modesty and attention. «What's the point of being free for an immigrant far from home?» says the prostitute Bubble, played by Rihanna.
Genre fans or not, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has one guarantee: entertainment for everyone. Luc Besson, a man you can trust, has promised this, investing his heart and soul without calculation in this work, which takes the heart light-years away from everyday life.
«It's a very poor love, that which can be calculated.»
Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © linternaute.com
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