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Review: Marguerite & Julien (2015) ★★★★

<p>It is no easy task to get audiences to root for an incestuous relationship&comma; or even secure funding for such a film to be produced&period; Incest is often made to look ugly and sinister&semi; it generally serves as the antithesis to all things good and pure in the narrative world&period; Whether it is the dark secret tearing a family apart&comma; or the repressed memory haunting a protagonist&comma; sexual encounters between two members of the same family are almost always seen as evil&comma; or at least stemming from an immoral place&period; However&comma; there are also times when incest is used for comedic effect&semi; it is so terrible that it becomes humorous&comma; like when films mock backwoods hillbillies who want to marry their sisters&comma; ostensibly for lack of better options&period; But even in these situations&comma; the humor can be read as overly crass&comma; making light of an otherwise serious subject matter&period; Incest is often viewed as a severe form of sexual depravity&comma; and thus too grave an area to be treated with anything other than abject horror and disgust&period; But there is a third approach&comma; only occasionally seen in films&comma; wherein incest is not dismissed as evil or disgusting at all&period; Instead&comma; it is presented somewhere on the scale between mildly unethical and morally ambiguous&comma; possibly even going as far as to be morally acceptable&comma; albeit within a very particular framework&period; Films such as Christophe Honore’s <i>Ma Mere<&sol;i> &lpar;2004&rpar; or Tom Kalin’s <i>Savage Grace<&sol;i> &lpar;2007&rpar; address incestuous relationships between mother and son without condemning the act itself&semi; but in both cases&comma; certain artistic choices on the part of the filmmakers work to make sure audiences remain uneasy with incestuous relationships&comma; despite not portraying these relationships as completely wrong&period; Incest has never been presented in film as a purely good or permissible thing&period; However&comma; there have been instances when filmmakers have pushed the matter as close as it can go to true acceptability&semi; such is the case in <i>Marguerite &amp&semi; Julien<&sol;i>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The screenplay &lpar;originally written for Francois Truffaut&rpar;&comma; is based on the real-life story of Marguerite and Julien de Ravalet&comma; 17th century siblings from an aristocratic family who were executed on charges of incest and adultery&period; In the film&comma; we see the pair as young children&comma; completely smitten with one another&period; The local Abbot and friend of the family warns their parents that Marguerite and Julien are growing too close&comma; and recommends that they be separated&period; Thus begins a long period during which Julien furthers his studies and travels the world&comma; while Marguerite stays home&comma; longing for his return&period; When the two are finally reunited as young adults&comma; they can hardly contain their love for one another&comma; but their parents&comma; fearing for their children’s souls&comma; do everything they can to stifle the relationship&period; Nonetheless&comma; the two lovers have no intention of giving in&comma; and they continue their passionate love affair&comma; even while being pursued by the police&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At its most basic&comma; <i>Marguerite &amp&semi; Julien<&sol;i> is a tragic recounting of forbidden love&period; Within the confines of the film&comma; love should not be bound by law&comma; religious doctrine&comma; or even societal norms&period; Love is love&comma; and it cannot be wrong&period; It is the world that is wrong for punishing the act of love between two innocent&comma; well-intentioned people&period; Even if taken outside of the narrative&comma; the situation that the two siblings find themselves in does seem rather unfair&period; They cannot help their love for one another&period; They follow their hearts&comma; and everyone despises them for it&comma; and wants them to be executed for their actions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;953" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-953" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-953 size-medium" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;IMG&lowbar;0114-300x125&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"250" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-953" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Marguerite and Julien&&num;8217&semi;s love is portrayed as genuine and natural&comma; despite society&&num;8217&semi;s disapproval &lpar;Marguerite &amp&semi; Julien&comma; 2015&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Besides portraying incest in a relatively positive&comma; nonjudgmental light&comma; <i>Marguerite &amp&semi; Julien<&sol;i> is unique in how it tells the story&period; For the first two-thirds of the film&comma; we see the brother and sister’s plight as a story within a story&period; Late at night at an institution for girls&comma; one of the headmistresses decides to entertain the girls with the story of Marguerite and Julien&period; This&comma; in itself&comma; is a bit odd&comma; as the girls listening to the retelling are quite young&comma; and the story revolves around two siblings having sex with one another&period; Eventually&comma; this bizarre framework is abandoned outright&comma; and we simply observe Marguerite and Julien’s escape from authorities as it unfolds&period; However&comma; even this direct observation is jarring at times&comma; as the clothing&comma; décor&comma; and modes of transportation suddenly shift from archaic to modern and back to archaic again&period; In one scene&comma; the characters are traveling via horse and carriage&comma; wearing the clothing of the times &lpar;the 1600s&rpar;&comma; and in the very next&comma; we see street cars entering the frame&comma; and the characters dress as though it is sometime in the early 20th century&period; Even though we are observing the same characters in the same situations&comma; there are moments when Julien is being taken away in a helicopter&comma; and moments when their father is pleading with the king of France to pardon his two children for their crimes&period; These apparent shifts in time are somewhat confusing&comma; but ultimately they contribute to the idea that the tale of Marguerite and Julien is not some story that is too old to be relevant&comma; but a timeless defense of love in all its many forms&period; Marguerite and Julien are every gay couple&comma; every interracial couple&comma; and every couple who has ever faced discrimination for openly practicing their love&period; But in a sense&comma; this story is even more tragic than most&comma; as incestuous relationships&comma; no matter how pure the love may be&comma; are still illegal in most places and not accepted by the general populace&period; That is part of what makes the film so unique&period; Rather than giving in to the demands of traditional morality&comma; <i>Marguerite<&sol;i> <i>&amp&semi;<&sol;i> <i>Julien<&sol;i> ignores what is accepted and what isn’t&comma; and simply shows two young people who never stop loving one another&comma; despite the many barriers and hardships they face&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Though <i>Marguerite<&sol;i> <i>&amp&semi;<&sol;i> <i>Julien<&sol;i> is not for everyone&comma; it is a beautifully poignant film on a sensitive subject matter&period; There are times when certain artistic choices will leave audience members scratching their heads&comma; but ultimately the portrayal of Marguerite and Julien’s forbidden love is so genuine and unapologetic&comma; it makes up for any confusion one might have with the direction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>Marguerite<&sol;i> <i>&amp&semi;<&sol;i> <i>Julien<&sol;i> is available to rent or purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B01BPZG2RI&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B01BPZG2RI&amp&semi;linkId&equals;d449eefd4df4d3c577c2de2a5d204018">here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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