La Belle Époque’ is a time travel movie, where there is literally no time travel! Just as special effects or practical effects in films are created directly on set, by hand without any computer manipulation, time-travel is also staged in this film. It is not a future world created by any computer graphics, but a perfect hand-made time travel of the past world. Even if there is no mechanism to go back to the past by entering a device, there is a mechanism to touch the past from the present! It can get a little confusing. Let’s talk in detail.
In the steady progress of time, people at some level consciously or unconsciously want to go back to the past at least once. Maybe for a change, or maybe just to feel that special moment, to refresh the mind once again. That desire is not possible in visible reality, therefore, the appearance of Trime Travel as a fantasy.
Although time travel is not possible according to the concept of time, work is being done to create the possibility of future travel. ‘Premonition’ is a case in point. However, there are many other explanations. Let them Back to the movie talk.
Since it is not possible to actually go back to the past, this movie, as an introduction of keen intelligence, wants to travel to the past in a different way. In this movie, a company does the work of presenting the past artificially! They have a huge team. Good team. There are stage actors and actresses! The reason for that will be understood a little later.
The company allows wealthy people to travel back in time for a large sum of money. They collect all the information, details from the client and build a huge set. It has been seen that some want to spend another evening with their late father, some want to meet their wife for the first time, some want to recapture that moment of first love offering to a lover and sipping steaming coffee while sitting in the coffee shop with eyes on each other.
Someone wants to sit down and have a family dinner with Hitler again (the movie opens with such a scene). Someone else wants to sit down with Buñuel and do Galgappo. Coming to this place, readers will surely get a little ‘Midnight in Paris’ (2013) vibe. Come on, the story is different. So, this company fulfills the different needs of different people with its own actors/actresses. William Faulkner, Hemingway, Salvador Dali, Mussolini – the company also arranges meetings with anyone on demand. They are a whole team of stage director, visual artist, makeup artist, acting artist.
And this group is introduced to the central actor of the story, Victor. Over sixty years old. But in his married life of so many years, separation has come. The relationship appeared on the verge of breaking. Victor is survived by his wife Marion. Shocked Victor reluctantly agreed to the group’s proposal. Victor also has a connection with the founder of the group. Victor wants to go back to one of the most important weeks of his life. A week in May 1974. He meets the one and only love of his life, Marion, at a cafe called ‘La Belle Époque’.
Everything is arranged according to Victor’s needs. An actress was also recruited to play the young Marion in 1974. But there is trouble when Victor starts looking for the real young Marion in this Marion-like actress. Victor is disoriented by his past. He makes everything complicated by forgetting the difference between past and present. Despite his age, another emotion found him. A conflicted entity is created in itself!
‘La Belle Époque’ (2019) is undoubtedly a movie with an ambitious concept. Ideas aside, the film does not attempt to echo the dreamy feelings of first love, but explores the psychology behind falling in love. And Nicholas Bedos, who is also the director of the movie, has helped everything in this work. The screenplay written by him is the biggest strength of the movie. Love and relationships aren’t always the same, at least on the surface. Its manifestations constantly change with time. Complications arise over time. That’s the rule. The natural law of human nature. But how to sustain love and relationship in all circumstances, against all odds – that is the main theme of this movie.
The screenplay by Nicholas Bedoss is written in a very ‘Charlie Kaufmanian’ style. Amazing, mystical ideas from movies like ‘Being John Malkovich,’ ‘Adaptation,’ ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,’ ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,’ ‘Synecdoche New York,’ ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things.’ And the screenplay is written by Charlie Kaufman. He has a unique style. There is language. So the ‘Kaufmanian’ term is used to explain that.
And, the nostalgic aspect of this movie establishes it as the opposite of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’. It also has the ‘crowd-pleasing’ feature of Richard Curtis’ (‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, ‘Love Actually’) screenplays with the typical humor. However, this movie reminds me of ‘The Truman Show’ in creating complications between reality and fantasy in the last act. The shadow of Jim Carrey can be seen in the role of Victor in this movie.
The Victor archetype who has a snub to the modern world and technology seems to be an obstacle character, but in reality it is not so because the character type is realistic. Because of the one-dimensionality and detailed writing, the characters in the movie automatically feel like real-world characters. The female characters’ steadfastness in their own decisions, independent spirit carries the familiarity of the ‘post-me-too’ period. The world of La Belle Epoque becomes unimaginable in the eyes of the audience as the secondary characters are also covered.
The movie has a strong screenplay and actors as well as very charming filmmaking. Nicolas Bedos delivers more mature filmmaking than his previous work. Each of his visual flairs have a stylish aesthetic as well as a classic vibe. Along with that, the fast and paced editing made the movie more enjoyable and smooth in terms of storytelling. Elaborate and efficient production design makes the movie rich without a doubt. Every set piece does its job here as a visual detail. Along with this, the French movie ‘La Belle Epoque’ (2019) gives a heartwarming experience besides bringing a smile to the corner of the lips.