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.
Launching my new website
Armidale to lock down
Armidale in regional NSW will go into lockdown from 5pm on Saturday, August 7 2021 after two Covid-19 cases were detected in the area.
NSW Covid-19 Public Health Response Branch executive director Jeremy McAnulty said the cases were a woman who recently travelled to Newcastle and one of her household contacts.
The Armidale Local Government Area will go into lockdown for one week with the same rules as Sydney and Newcastle, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard confirmed.
Mr Hazzard said the woman who travelled from Newcastle to Covid-free Armidale had “possibly” broken the rules with investigations ongoing.
Authorities are also concerned about another regional area, with sewage detections of Covid-19 in Dubbo.
Dr McNulty said there were no known cases in Dubbo and urged residents to get tested.
Tamworth to lock down
Tamworth has become the second Northern NSW city to go into lock down due to COVID-19.
NSW Health has confirmed a young woman travelled to Tamworth from Newcastle last Thursday, August 5.
She visited a number of businesses before returning to the Hunter.
New South Wales chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said the young woman did not know that she was positive while travelling and the Hunter had not been in lockdown when she began her trip.
“She is now back in Newcastle and is isolating,” Dr Chant said.
People in Tamworth turned out in droves this morning to get tested and, by 9am, police were forced to turn people away to prevent the line encroaching on arterial roads.
Tamworth Mayor Col Murray praised the community’s response.
“How can we be surprised that the good people of Tamworth responded so positively?” he asked.
“But we ask that you understand there will be some delays, there are large numbers of people responding to this lockdown, there will be delays while you are queueing to get tested.”
A new testing clinic at the Australian Equine and Livestock Exhibition Centre will open from midday today.
Both the Riverside and AELEC testing clinics will now operate from 8am to 5pm, seven days a week.
Byron Bay, NSW North Coast LGAs enter seven-day lockdown
Byron Bay and surrounding LGAs have entered a seven-day lockdown from amid fears COVID-19 may be circulating in the regional areas.
The stay-at-home orders come after a man in his 50s – who travelled from locked down Sydney to Byron Bay – tested positive to COVID-19.
The NSW Government on Monday afternoon confirmed the LGAs of Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina would enter lockdown until 12.01am Tuesday, August 17.
The restrictions for the areas are the same as those already in place across Greater Sydney, as well as Tamworth, Armidale, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie. Maitland, Port Stephens, Singleton, Dungog, Muswellbrook and Cessnock.
“Everyone in these areas must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave,” the NSW Government statement read.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said officials did not have any information from the infected man’s QR check-ins, which are compulsory when visiting venues.