superficiel in depth

This evening, I was 15 again. And so was my friend Sophie. Imagine the two of us giggling like teenagers in the cinema theatre when a close up of a smiling Donald Sutherland on a giant screen overwhelms us with emotions.. This happened in the movie Klute which he leads with Jane Fonda. She's not too bad either. When I was actually 13 or 14, I wanted to copy the haircut she has in this movie that I hadn't seen then except for some pictures (my parents wouldn't let me...) The sexual tension between the two characters in this movie is absolutely delicious. In a wonderful scene, Fonda who plays a prostitute describes her feelings for this man without even noticing she's talking about love. The choice of the movie name - Klute - could seem slightly ackward because the plot centers on the character of Fonda but Klute's not her name. It's Sutherland's character's. Yet, it makes sense that the movie's named after him. He's the only way for us - audience - to reach to the story. His presence is pure and generous. But it's his raw sex-appeal that makes it all. When he moves, when he smiles, when his eyes don't let go of Fonda, we only see him, his lips, his beauty, marking us with the seal of His Sensuality. Who said that Klute was a scary psychological thriller? It reminds me that another favorite movie of mine stars Sutherland as well in a majestic role: Ordinary People. When I told Sophie, Sutherland did a Casanova (Fellini's actually), she was like: "we have to rent it and see it this week-end!!"... And as a preview, as we were waiting for the subway home, a guy - maybe in order to impress a girlfriend - started with a powerful voice to sing "Don Giovanni".



-- Joëlle.