Themroc — Themroc( Blu Ray)
Themroc is a French film from the early 70s regarding a middle-aged living-with-his mother house decorator, who suddenly flips from the day-to-day grind, turning his apartment into a cave. The film has no formal dialogue/language, but instead is built around the characters grunting or talking gibberish. It’s a film that sits somewhere between absurdist comedy, statical drama, and crude-dusty/ noisy art film. Here from Radiance is the first ever digital release of the film in either the UK or US- the Blu-ray takes in a 4K scan, mixed of new and archive interviews.
Themroc is from the year 1973 and was shot on a shoestring budget. It was directed by Paris-born Claude Faraldo. Between the mid 70’s and early 2000’s he had eight features to his name- these go from comedy regarding a middle-aged factory worker moving into a commune Who Cares: Anatomy of a Delivery Boy (1971), Crime drama set in a vineyard Trade Secrets (1986), and a homeless man focused drama Merci Pour Le Geste (2000).
The film focuses on receded-haired/ bushy sideboard Themroc played by prolific French character actor Michel Piccoli, who had an impressive two hundred forty-two credits to his name, taking in the likes of Belle de Jour ( 1967), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), La Belle Noiseuse(1991). The character lives in a small apartment with his stern-faced mother and a young twentysomething lodger.
The film opens with Themroc having his breakfast in a vest, as his mother first uses the bathroom & comes in and points at the kitchen clock, indicating it's nearly time to go to work. Then the lodger one breast semi uncovered uses the bathroom, then slips back into her bedroom- he waits a few minutes then creepily sneaks into her room, leering at her nude body- though he’s very twitchy, fairly soon rushing out & down the apartment stairs awkward smiling at another young woman, before glancing up her skirt- so from the off we know he’s letch/ mumies boy.
Themroc clambers on his bike, meeting a next-door neighbour who nods at him before cycling through the city. He locks up his bike outside the underground station, gets in a packed carriage, and makes his way to work. He works in a facility where the workers either wear white and yellow boiler suits- those in white (like him) paint/ do work on building behind its gates, and those in yellow paint/ do work outside of the gates.
With a college, Themroc sets up scaffolding outside an office block- he starts painting, though he also starts leering at a secretary inside the office- her boss is none too pleased- whacks him on the nose, before being fairly soon thrown out of the building.
On his way home, he starts to snap- yelling, shouting, and bellowing. On his way, he gets excited seeing bombed out buildings, and this triggers an idea- he steals a wheelbarrow full of building material, getting back home, first he bricks up his room's door, then knocks down walls- creating his own crude/open-to-the-air to the air cave.
Piccoli is excellent as the snapping/ returning caveman lead. The surrounding cast of neighbours are all good too, managing to show their personalities/character type without the use of words. We later see some of them also altering to demented dwelling cave men/ women.
The film runs at one hour and forty-eight minutes, and I think it could have been brought down to one hour and a half, as just before that point, it’s made its impact. It truly is crazy to see the damage they do to a few of the apartments in the film, as well as little care for health & safety, as the full contents of said apartments are thrown out near folk standing below, and characters stand right on the edge of semi-broken floors. It’s a satire of modern society, and it's certainly impactful, at points quite shocking- I just wish it had been snipped/ edited better, as it does start to become a little tiresome in its last quarter.
This recently released Blu-ray is a region-free disc. We get a 4k scan of the film- this looks good, with even balance/ clarity throughout, yet it does lose any of its grittiness and 70’s ambience.
On the extras side, we get three things- two new, and one archive. The new stuff takes an Interview with critic David Thompson (23.19). He starts off discussing how director Claude Faraldo was a shady figure in the French cinema- we find out he didn’t read a book until he was in his twenties, and he started as a blue-collar worker at the age of thirteen. He talks about how the French riots involving workers/ students of May 1968 may have informed the film. He discusses how Michel Piccoli had a huge reputation within French film, and how he’s a real screen presence in the picture. He talks about how Themroc has a crude/punk-like quality, and how it’s a comedy, though this element is less obvious. He chats about how many of the films' other actors came from the Café de la Gare theatre group. And lastly talks about the film's controversy in the UK, when it was first released in cinemas, a cartoon-like poster was used which featured a naked breast, and the film was shown as part of Channel Four’s Red Triangle season in the mid 80’s, which saw them showing more risky/provocative films.
Next is an interview with film writer Manuela Lazic (23.26), which focuses purely on actor Michel Piccoli. She starts by talking about how he was a versatile and charismatic actor. We find out he enjoyed working in both mainstream and avant-garde film, with him continuing to appear in the theatre throughout his career. We find out how he first met director Luis Buñuel and their relationship- the pair made six films together.
Lastly, we have an archive interview with actor Michel Piccoli and director Claude Faraldo (17.30). A gallery and trailer.
Themroc is most certainly a very distinctive creation- with its blend of absurdist comedy, statical drama, and crude/ noisy art film. This new release from Radiance features a great selection of interesting/ worthy extras, as well as a classy 4 K scan.