The world has a problem with substance as news has become opinion and commentary, allowing for dangerous distractions and subversions in the social contract; on beautiful display in the patient well-worn staging of average personalities all coping with the same underling problem, “
Stuck Together” in a pandemic. The French film’s title itself a not so obvious metaphor for our political constructs.
Set during the months before viable vaccines at the height of the covid scare, the humor and drastic realities are masterfully depicted in this epic story weaving a cast of apartment building extroverts and egomaniacs gunning for the most understanding and clarity in the temporary surreal existence of a government-imposed lockdown.
The best part of the film stuck to a common theme we are all still feeling; how does your safety or perception of safety relate to who you are as a person? Everyone builds toward whatever grace they can surmise in a struggle to survive, weighing the pros and cons of freedom.
One character charged with representing germaphobia was too slapstick for me, but my wife laughed loud during his absurdist scenes incidentally symbolizing the horrifically foolish extremes attempting to trump science and reason at a critical time. The safest vaccines ever, have been ridiculed erroneously ad nauseam.
The most epic storyline features lawyer Laurence Arné as Claire; her touching teary eyed acceptance of a political rival’s redemption, that of a brute businessman played engagingly well by François Damiens as Tony. Worth the price of admission, the crescendo like impossible love felt fleeting at the same time as ever enduring, a masterclass of acting and directing capturing the essence of spiritual empowerment. Not far behind in accolades, the treatment of a child’s first romantic love in all its infinite innocent bliss was captured by the serene timing of child actors, Rose De Kervenoaël as louna, and Milo Machado-Graner as Basile; their extremely complex acting, especially at their age, was set to gorgeous cinematography which should have been used more. The innocent romantic love between children captivated in a heart shaped scene. A heavenly painting of a perfect moment seared into your mind with the sign of the heart juxtaposed marvelously. Artful framing and rich photography have sadly been used all too sparingly throughout the history of film; even masters like Bergman, Gilliam, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson, Nolan, and Spielberg who do dabble in scene painting don’t use this technique enough.
Several modern political and social dilemmas can be measured against the psychology displayed in this classic film. Perhaps the most intense and glaring question to pose is, how news was examined as commentary throughout or how unexamined ideologies creep into our personalities establishing unrooted convictions lazily carried out at timely extremes. Our current media likewise focuses on soundbites as defining what news is rather than examining the actions and consequences being taken; the boring reporting of progress or lack thereof ignored. At one point in this film, spoiler alert, a doctor is arrested for running dangerous experiments with himself and others unbeknown to them, taken away with a possible perfect vaccine, the science of which remains studied. Perhaps symbolizing the conscious of a modern nonbeliever carried away by opinion in a world desperate for new rules and edifying justice. The dream of Franklyn and Paine, relies on actionable reason going about the reforms and implementation of new ideas and social constructs that brings us together in a harmony of a true democratic republic which strives toward comfort safety and true inclusion. Instead, we a ‘stuck together’, listening to our incoherent gripes and uncontested battles.
