Je t'aime, Je t'aime — Je t'aime, Je t'aime ( Blu Ray)
Je t'aime, Je t'aime ( I Love You, I Love You) is a late ’60s French film that gives a very different/distinctive take on the Romantic drama form. It’s a sci-fi film which sees a suicidal man getting involved in a secret time machine project, which sees him reliving his romance with a decidedly free-spirited woman. The film has a decidedly shifting/ at times cut-up quality, as we move back and forth on the man's timeline, all making for a picture that equally intrigues and frustrates. Here from Radiance is a Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a 2k scan, and a selection of new/ archive extras.
Je t'aime, Je t’aime is from the year 1968. It was directed and co-written by Vannes, Morbihan, France-born Alain Resnais. Between the mid-40s and mid-2010s, he had twenty credits to his name, these go from the psychological drama come tragic romance of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), onto comedy drama My American Uncle (1980), through to romantic drama Wild Grass (2009).
The film opens with our lead character, forty-something Claude Ridder( Claude Rich), being discharged from a hospital after a failed suicide attempt. He’s approached by two men who say that they want him to help them with an experiment, so he says 'What the hell'. They drive out into the countryside a secret lab- and fairly soon, he’s informed they’ve developed a time machine. So far, they’ve only sent back mice to the past, but need to try it on a human subject…as he feels he says he’s got nothing to lose, he agrees.
The ‘time machine’ is made of large cushion-like lumps 'n’ bumps, with a brown bean bag-like seat for the human candidate to sit in. He’s told he’s going to be sent back a year for a minute, then they need to let him recover for four minutes, before it’s safe to take him out of the machine.
So Claude settles into the seat, and presently disappears, dropping a year back in his life where he’s on holiday with his beloved Catrine (Olga Georges-Picot)- when he drops in, he’s scuba diving in the sea, as Catrine sits on a rocky shore sunbathing. He seemingly comes up for air- reports what he’s seen, then this loops again a few times, with him briefly returning to the time machine.
But something starts going wrong, with the machine dropping him back over a seven-year period in his past, which is around the amount of time he’s been with Catrine. The pair first meet when she comes in as a temp at his work, and she says she’s bored with her job after doing it for only a few hours- he pays her the fourteen fracs she owed and asks her out for lunch.
Catrine is a fairly free-spirited woman, not really bothered about progression, whereas Claude is more focused on moving from being a mail packer, head of department, then writing a few books.
As mentioned, the film has a very shifting quality, as we dart around the seven-year period, with these shifts moving from a few minutes to maybe ten or so at its longest. We get some repeated elements like the scuba diving & one or two other things, but basically, we get snapshots of the pair being happy, not so happy, and on the edge of breaking up.
As the film moves on, the areas in his past he’s visiting are getting more troubling/ glum, moving towards a fairly downbeat resolve.
Both of our leads are fine in their roles, as is the small supporting/ surrounding cast. The film features a haunting to unsettling score built around cut and stretched female choral vocalizing.
On the whole, Je t'aime, Je t'aime is both an original romantic drama and time travel movie, though it has little of the wonder/ adventure the latter normally has- as Claude is thrown back & forth through the most emotional time of his life. I’d say the most key/ worthy thing I got from the whole thing was thinking about one’s own memories- pondering why the brain selects/ hangs onto certain memories, and not others.
On the less positive side of things, the shifting/ at points cut-up structure of the film can be frustrating to watch, as you really have to keep on your toes, as well as trying to reconnect the storyline into a more formal/traditional shape in your mind.
The region free disc features a 2k scan- this looks well defined throughout, with great clarity to the 60’s colour palette. We get a few extras- on the new side, we just have one thing on the disc. This is an Interview with critic David Jenkins( 12.43) he starts off talking about the first collaboration between director Resnais and writer Jacques Sternberg Far from Vietnam (1967). He talks about the film's fanciful/ lo-fi time machine and how it’s at odds with other things in the picture. He discusses how the film's structure is very difficult to quantify/ explain, though he says there is a meaning/ point behind the whole thing. We find out that Sternberg wrote a two-hundred-and-fifty-page script of separate scenes, which the director put back together. He talks about how the film is closer to a mix of murder mystery and grand romance. He discusses how the film connects to his other work, and more- well worth a watch.
Otherwise, on the extras side we have – a 2007 audio interview with director Alain Resnais(12.43), a 2007 Interview with actor Claude Rich(15.46). A 2007 Interview with screenwriter Jacques Sternberg and film historian and Resnais expert François Thomas (20.31). In the Ears of Alain Resnais( 53.24) documentary on Resnais with a focus on music and voices in his work, featuring collaborators and critics including Resnais himself, actor Lambert Wilson, writer and actress Agnés Jaoui, critic Michel Ciment and others.
The finished release comes with a reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original poster designs. With a booklet featuring new writing by Catherine Wheatley.
Je t'aime, Je t'aime certainly is a rather one-off experience, with its cut-up structure, and blending of different genre tropes- all forced into a time travel wrapping. But if you enjoy unusual takes on both sci-fi and romantic drama, it’s certainly worth a watch, with this new Radiance release featuring a great 2k scan, and worthy extras