Again the story seems to reflect the thoughts of Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. Suicide being being the focus again. A writer, finding life empty turns to alcoholism, finishes rehab, then finds that still does not give him enough self worth to carry on. After secret journal, I'm sure this was a recurring theme in Drieu's work.
No convoluted thoughts, and again simple enough to interpret.
Found the film online, and it put images and sounds to the novel well. The piano every now and then captured the melancholic feel of the text. The introverted alcoholic was played better than I could have imagined. My favorite part being after he wakes up the day he's going to take his life, buys the two delivery men a drink, says he doesn't drink and they are confused. They want to know what is wrong with him. He simply says there is a problem with his heart, nonchalantly.
In both the text and film, it's clear from his point of view he'll be taking his life from the beginning. Dead man walking. A recovering alcoholic, masquerading as a changed man, I enjoyed the subtle interactions that are clear signs something is wrong, but no one seems to notice, only adding to the low self esteem, and contributing to the problem. Understanding this spiral downward is captivating.
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I just downloaded and watched the film too. Its very well done and it does give a perspective that the book didn't, yet remains true to the book. However, I still think it would have been a better film if they had stuck with the idea of the main character being a heroin addict. In my opinion, heroin addiction has a certain element of hopelessness that alcoholism does not.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with you Alexander. I'm curious why the filmmakers made the decision to make him an alcoholic instead of a heroin addict. Both are struggles of course, but I think there is a quality about heroin addiction (probably because of movies/media that I've seen) that implies utter despair that alcoholism does not...kind of feel like a jerk for trying to say there is a hierarchy of despair between addictions...but I think you get my point.
ReplyDeletethere is a film based on will o' the wisp?lol i should watch it :)
ReplyDelete