Film ReviewsMy King
Dec 16, 2016 Anchorage Press
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Love, marriage, children and normality are nouns often strung together as if they were a formula for happiness and a meaningful life. That may be so in the Hollywood and Disney worlds, but in My King-and perhaps in the real world-that's bunk. My King (Mon Roi, original title) by director Maïwenn is a compelling study of the imperfections found in love and the idea of happiness. The film tells the story of deeply entangled love fraught with duality, beauty and repulsion, humor and cruelty, sensuality and rawness, all at the same time.
Maïwenn's unique work explores these complex themes through the relationship of two people who are more different than alike, but love each other even if by conventional standards their relationship doesn't work.
Maïwenn is a young director with many lives lived that all inform the history of her characters and their interactions.
Maïwenn was born Maïwenn Besco (or Le Besco) but decided to drop her surname early on as a result of contentious family dynamics. The 40-year-old director not only has a rich cultural background, (Breton, Vietnamese, French and Algerian) but by the age of 16 she had gone from a child star to being a young mom, married to famed director Luc Besson, and living in Los Angeles. The marriage only lasted five years and then her transformation continued from actor to writer and ultimately director.
Her work-particularly in My King-demonstrates her solid understanding of complex humanity and the unpredictability of people.
Marie-Antoinette Jézéquel (a.k.a. Tony) and Georgio Milevski are played by Emmanuelle Bercot and Vincent Cassel, respectively, and comprise the couple at the heart of My King. What gives My King that je ne sais quoi is Maïwenn's insistence on delivering a story through a focused, female gaze that lays low but has an undeniable presence. Even when the plot is driven by Georgio as a temperamental man-child, it is the seemingly calmer character of Tony that holds the film together.
Tony's story is legitimized from the get-go as she stands upon a snowy summit on skis and plunges into an accelerated dive down the mountain, without thinking twice and full speed ahead, no matter the consequences. But risks do come with consequences, as do tempestuous relationships, so it is through Tony's convalescence and painful physical recovery that she finds the freedom and space to recall her story with Georgio.
Maïwenn gives the characters and actors a sense of freedom as they create a life that is not about "should haves" and "shouldn't haves," but rather about things they did and didn't do. Bercot and Cassel are wonderful actors, taking the freedom that Maïwenn gives them and soar to the heights of playfulness and passion, and of course, also fall and hurt one another in ways that some viewers may judge or want to discuss further with their therapists.
Bercot and Cassel are experienced and prominent actors who are recognized by viewers worldwide, but under the direction of Maïwenn, they are fresh and compelling, with a sense of wonder that comes from acting at its best, through dialogue that seems spontaneous and physical movement that is directed but unhindered. Through the sharp articulation of the female gaze, Maïwenn shifts the power dynamic so that by the closing scene, the female gaze is strong, front and center and filled with desire. So for critics or viewers who may believe that love is not enough, the question is, enough for what?
My King plays at Bear Tooth on Monday, December 19 at 8 p.m.
Maïwenn's unique work explores these complex themes through the relationship of two people who are more different than alike, but love each other even if by conventional standards their relationship doesn't work.
Maïwenn is a young director with many lives lived that all inform the history of her characters and their interactions.
Maïwenn was born Maïwenn Besco (or Le Besco) but decided to drop her surname early on as a result of contentious family dynamics. The 40-year-old director not only has a rich cultural background, (Breton, Vietnamese, French and Algerian) but by the age of 16 she had gone from a child star to being a young mom, married to famed director Luc Besson, and living in Los Angeles. The marriage only lasted five years and then her transformation continued from actor to writer and ultimately director.
Her work-particularly in My King-demonstrates her solid understanding of complex humanity and the unpredictability of people.
Marie-Antoinette Jézéquel (a.k.a. Tony) and Georgio Milevski are played by Emmanuelle Bercot and Vincent Cassel, respectively, and comprise the couple at the heart of My King. What gives My King that je ne sais quoi is Maïwenn's insistence on delivering a story through a focused, female gaze that lays low but has an undeniable presence. Even when the plot is driven by Georgio as a temperamental man-child, it is the seemingly calmer character of Tony that holds the film together.
Tony's story is legitimized from the get-go as she stands upon a snowy summit on skis and plunges into an accelerated dive down the mountain, without thinking twice and full speed ahead, no matter the consequences. But risks do come with consequences, as do tempestuous relationships, so it is through Tony's convalescence and painful physical recovery that she finds the freedom and space to recall her story with Georgio.
Maïwenn gives the characters and actors a sense of freedom as they create a life that is not about "should haves" and "shouldn't haves," but rather about things they did and didn't do. Bercot and Cassel are wonderful actors, taking the freedom that Maïwenn gives them and soar to the heights of playfulness and passion, and of course, also fall and hurt one another in ways that some viewers may judge or want to discuss further with their therapists.
Bercot and Cassel are experienced and prominent actors who are recognized by viewers worldwide, but under the direction of Maïwenn, they are fresh and compelling, with a sense of wonder that comes from acting at its best, through dialogue that seems spontaneous and physical movement that is directed but unhindered. Through the sharp articulation of the female gaze, Maïwenn shifts the power dynamic so that by the closing scene, the female gaze is strong, front and center and filled with desire. So for critics or viewers who may believe that love is not enough, the question is, enough for what?
My King plays at Bear Tooth on Monday, December 19 at 8 p.m.