Three Films I Enjoyed (1)
I have watched three different films over the past week that I not only found to be excellent but were also very thought provoking. They dealt with three very different people who were coming to terms with who they were and/or others around them.
Reinventing Marvin (Marvin o la bella educación)
Is a 2017 French drama film directed by Anne Fontaine. It screened in the Horizons section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2017 and won the “Queer Lion”. The film premiered in English-language territories under the title Reinventing Marvin.
The film stars Finnegan Oldfield as Marvin, a gay actor in Paris who is struggling to write and perform a one-man theatrical show about his childhood.
Unable to fit in at school, Marvin’s life is changed forever when he discovers his passion for the theatre. With no support from his family, Marvin runs away from home to chase his dreams of becoming an actor.
His family is quite disfunctional even though he is clearly loved by them but is often put down as weak and a faggot. As school he is also bullied by a latent homosexual student but Marvin is able to escape into drama class where he excels.
He has a relationship with a girl in his class but they are more best friends than boyfriend and girlfriend. A new Principal to the school takes an interest in him and helps him apply for a scholarship to a drama school in Paris. His approval letter arrives but his father hides the letter and it is not until the end of summer when he principal tells of his success. He demands the letter from his father and makes plans to leave.
His father chooses to drive him to the station and tries to express his love for his son but Marvin seems unmoved. As the train moves away from the station we see the emotion on his father’s face.
In Paris, he develops a monologue of his life playing all the roles of the people who have passed through his life. At the same time he is aware of his homosexuality and attends gay bars. At one bar he meets a rich man who takes him under his wing and gives him gifts including a full dental treatment to straighten his teeth.
His monologue is widely accepted and the media publish his story putting his family in a poor light. He is reconciled with them but they do not like the fact that he has changed his name from Marvin Bijou to Martin and taken on the Principal’s surname, Clement.
This film is not the usual “coming out” story but rather one where Marvin takes his life and achieves his dreams by reinventing himself, accepting who and what he is but and is confident in his new life.
I found the story at times quite moving as Marvin bears the sarcasm of his family, the bullying at school, the transient gay encounters and the “sugar-daddy” environment. The monologue extracts we see are very powerful and expose his life and those within it.
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