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Review: Claire’s Camera (2017) ★★★½

Claire's Camera (2017)

&NewLine;<p>As an avid fan of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;&quest;s&equals;Isabelle&plus;Huppert">Isabelle Huppert<&sol;a>&comma; I can say with confidence that she &lpar;and many great talents&rpar; don’t always lend their abilities to the best films&period; For example&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;09&sol;review-valley-of-love-2015-&percnt;e2&percnt;98&percnt;85&percnt;e2&percnt;98&percnt;85&percnt;e2&percnt;98&percnt;85&sol;"><em>Valley of Love &lpar;2015&rpar;<&sol;em><&sol;a> should have been a masterpiece&period; In the film&comma; Huppert and Gérard Depardieu reunite after the suicide of their late son&period; What should have been a great character study starring two great actors devolves into cliches about the difficulties of marriage and parenthood&period; Fortunately&comma; Isabelle Huppert didn’t make the same mistake when she teamed up with South Korean director Hong Sang-Soo for <strong><em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> represents the second time Isabelle Huppert and Hong Sang-Soo have worked together&period; The film is a spiritual successor to their first outing&comma; <em>In Another Country <&sol;em>&lpar;2012&rpar;&period; Both films feature Huppert drifting from one seemingly banal situation to another&comma; abruptly changing between English&comma; French&comma; and Korean&period; Miscommunications abound&comma; but not for comedic effect &lpar;at least not ostensibly&rpar;&period; Instead&comma; both films portray their respective culture clashes in a realistic&comma; almost wholesome way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h4 class&equals;"wp-block-heading"><em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> Plot Summary<&sol;h4>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In <em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em>&comma; Huppert plays Claire&comma; a mild-mannered but curious high school teacher visiting Cannes&comma; France&period; She brings along her camera to document the people she meets along the way&period; Like many of Huppert’s best characters&comma; Claire is simultaneously reticent and up for anything&period; By pure coincidence&comma; she befriends a young woman named Jeon Man-Hee &lpar;Kim Min-Hee&rpar; who recently lost her job&period; Man-Hee’s boss fired her while the two enjoyed a cup of coffee&comma; but refused to give any reason for the sudden dismissal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Claire is charmed by Man-Hee’s personality and beauty&comma; prompting her to take pictures of Man-Hee as they get to know one another&period; As the story progresses&comma; we learn that Huppert has actually met Man-Hee’s former boss&comma; Nam Yang-Hye &lpar;Chang Mi-Hee&rpar; and the film director with which both women worked&comma; So Wan-Soo &lpar;Jung Jin-Young&rpar;&period; Through various revelations and chance meetings&comma; Claire learns that Man-Hee slept with So Wan-Soo&comma; angering her boss&comma; who had maintained a secret&comma; but somewhat one-sided affair with the director for years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h4 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Analysis&colon; Realism Overshadows a Minimalist Plot<&sol;h4>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i2&period;wp&period;com&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;05&sol;Clares-Camera-2018&period;jpg&quest;fit&equals;800&percnt;2C334&amp&semi;ssl&equals;1" alt&equals;"Claire's Camera &lpar;2017&rpar;" class&equals;"wp-image-1843"&sol;><figcaption><em>Claire&&num;8217&semi;s Camera<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>While the plot summary sounds rather dramatic&comma; <em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> is in no rush to reach its conclusion&period; Much like <em>In Another Country<&sol;em> &lpar;2015&rpar;&comma; director Hong Sang-Soo leaves his actors to do as they wish&comma; more or less&period; There is certainly a story to follow and I can only imagine that Sang-Soo gave stage directions and notes to his actors&period; That said&comma; the actors look like they&&num;8217&semi;re just making things up as they go&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The dialogue in <em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> is naturalistic to the point of being uncomfortable&period; The actors stutter through their lines&period; Only scenes in which characters speak Korean feel scripted and planned out&period; However&comma; for the majority of the film&comma; we listen to Isabelle Huppert speak English with Korean actors&period; Sometimes&comma; it feels as though they don’t know how to fully express themselves&period; Other times&comma; it’s as though they’re just making up the dialogue without any direction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h4 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Hong Sang-Soo&&num;8217&semi;s Signature Style<&sol;h4>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If the film had been directed by anyone else&comma; it would be easy to dismiss <em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> as an amateur attempt at hyperrealism&period; However&comma; this is simply Hong Sang-Soo’s style&period; He wants to capture his actors as they are&period; This is why Sang-Soo sought out Isabelle Huppert for two of his films&period; She has a way of being both natural and unnatural at the same time&period; Her expressions and reactions border on the bizarre&period; Meanwhile&comma; it feels as though she begins a sentence without quite knowing how it will end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It’s difficult to express what it’s like to watch <em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em>&period; At times&comma; you’re inclined to laugh or feel embarrassed&period; Other times&comma; you’re completely transfixed with the most mundane of interactions&period; Sang-Soo has the unique ability to make great films with very little plot progression&period; You don’t come out the other side feeling as if you’ve learned something&comma; but you come out knowing that you’ve seen something truly remarkable&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h4 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Conclusion&nbsp&semi;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Though I don’t think <em>Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> lives up to its predecessor&comma; <em>In Another Country<&sol;em>&comma; it uses the same devices to make for a completely unique viewing experience&period; Dialogue meanders without a clear direction&comma; while great actors do their absolute best to keep conversations going&period; It sounds like a recipe for disaster&comma; but it works surprisingly well&period; As an added bonus&comma; Sang-Soo shot on location in Cannes&comma; setting his actors against beautiful beaches and enchanting French cafes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It may not be one of Hong Sang-Soo’s best films&comma; but it is certainly worth a watch for anyone who enjoys Isabelle Huppert&comma; Hong Sang-Soo&comma; and awkward&comma; improvised conversation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&half; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’d like to watch<em> Claire’s Camera<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;&comma; the movie is currently available to purchase <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B07GW3JN5S&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B07GW3JN5S&amp&semi;linkId&equals;252b02823f90527569abd7e26ac2fd7b">via Amazon<&sol;a>&period; For more reviews like this one&comma; check out the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film Homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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