Barely presented in Cannes that alreadyFirebrandseems accused of classicism. A prosecution case that may be too quickly ignoring the very contemporary feminism notes of this successful adaptation of the bookQueens GambitElizabeth Fremantle. Brazil's latest feature filmKarim Ainuzthus traces the ordeal that Catherine Parr, sixth wife of King Henry VIII, endured, whose end of reign was marked by the seal of terror. Presented in competition,FirebrandIs there really an umpteenth historical drama about the one called Blue Barbe?
The heir of the Tudors
Firebrandin line with the works on the tumultuous life of King Henry VIII. After the seriesLesTudorsand feature filmTwo sisters for a kingThe Renaissance gave rise to many sulphurous adaptations of the youth of the one who will become a fervent opponent of the Reformation. After Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Eric Banna, it's the turn ofJude LawTo camp the role of the mad king. Unrecognizable, the actor incarnated his character up to the marrow. Indeed, during the conferences of the Chinese presses, the actor revealed a fun anecdote. He admits that he used a special fragrance with a pestilential smell during the filming in order to stick as close as possible to Henry VIII, affected by an infection that caused carabinated necrosis. The British actor explains his atypical approach while he assures "that one could feel Henry VIII up to three pieces of distance". :
"So I thought it would have more impact if I felt bad myself. An extraordinary mixture of blood, fecal matter and sweat."
Exit the frascs of the Monarch's youth therefore, since history takes place from his last relationship, that is to say with his wife Catherine Parr. Henry VIII was affected by malady obesity that confined to morbidity over the past few days. He would have weighed 178 kilos at his height! Transformist, Jude Law has a particularly heavy role to play here and that is to say little. A lame character, with a twisted look and greasy laughter that never falls into the trap of the caricature of the tyrant.
While the end of the reign of the one who considered himself the "Lieutenant of God" differs greatly from his first years of lust, Henry VIII is known, in addition to his defense of the Church, for having beheaded two of his six successive wives. That is to say how much Death occupies a central place in the reign of the Tudor heir who will not hesitate to burn heretics or execute his close advisers like Thomas Moore who will pay the costs himself.
Despite a remarkable performance, it would be wrong to believe that the logre played by Jude Law eclipses the rest of the casting. Always right, all the actors deliver a convincing and very spontaneous performance, especially during banquets where tension can arise at every moment and faint from a simple court song.Alicia Vikandertakes on the role of Catherine Parr with brilliance and manages to highlight a character far more complex than a simple wife under the grip of a bloody husband, who from one second to the next seems ready to switch into dementia. His replicas are distilled with intelligence, while being able to face the weight of the words involved in the relationship to a at least susceptible king.
The Queen's Game
Initially, the queen knew how to play her relations to channel Henry VIII, before the pressure crescendo. Her assurance leads her to imprudence as her positions more open to reform appear. The mistrust of Henry VIII takes on paranoia and the spectator finds himself stifled like the queen in this castle where the king's court seems to advance his pawns every day to evince.
Weared by an elegant photograph reminiscent of the light-obscurity of Renaissance paintings, there is always a source of fawn light that maintains this sieved atmosphere sometimes reassuring away from political imbroglios, sometimes threatening when the royal score derails. Many sequences have benefited from a singular composition reminiscent of painting. The background bathe in a light artistic blur that leaves its place to the suggestion. The scenes of intimacy - or rather of marital rape - are a suffocating coldness so that the feeling of claustrophobia gains the viewer as the etal closes to the queen. WithFirebrandWe discover another Henry VIII, diametrically opposed to the fiery figure he would have incarnated during his youth.
The rare outings outside the castle are puffs of freedom for a queen psychologically under house arrest by Henry VIII who scrupulously searches his reactions to everyday life. This complex and possessive relationship, marked by the trauma of the monarch's marital executions, is perfectly represented by Karim Ainuz. The Brazilian director, acquired from the feminist cause, shows a particular sensitivity to give another angle of the royal couple. The director had already treated the theme with his filmThe invisible life of Euridice Gusmão, a pamphlet against the machismo of Brazilian society of the 1950s. By adopting this time a historical perspective exclusively carried by the character of Catherine Parr, the realization feeds a burning empathy.
Rage against the patriarchy
The sorority relationship with the queen's maidens reflects a bubble of resistance in this deeply patriarchal universe. Like a sword of Damocles that could fall down at every moment, male domination just exhausts the spectator to the generic. And it is probably on this point thatFirebrandExcellent. Karim Ainuz never falls into the pitfall of anachronism. Yet it is not easy to represent the status of women when centuries separate us from our post-me too era.
Like the excellentThe Last Duel(read ourcritical) but with a more suggestive approach,Firebrandoffers a new light on the fight of women under the Tudor era. Political intrigues combine perfectly with Catherine Parr's emancipatory will. It is also the symbolic meaning to be given to the propagation of reformist thought, while believers seek to free themselves from the authority of the Church, who was careful not to translate the Bible or spread the divine word other than by its privileged guardian: the King, the first representative of God on earth whose authority is fed by the Latin preaching of the Church.
The daughter of Henry VIII played by the youngJunia Rees(which sometimes recallsSophie Turnerfor her role as Sansa Stark with insolence and ice), serves as essential support, she who was taken under the Queen's wing, while her mother had been beheaded by the king for treason. It is also she who inaugurates the narrative sequence of opening and closing. A simple look towards the viewer, as an address to those who resist every day a society forged by and for men. The one we will later call the «Virgin Queen» will also be the last representative of the Tudor Dynasty.
Firefly lights in the dark night, a black screen and alternative rock songDown by the Waterreminds the spectator in our time when equality still too often remains an understatement. It is finally all the ambivalence of the wordFirebrandof which:translation English betrays two senses to the obvious symbolic power. It is as much the brandon that will feed the flames as the name that was attributed from the beginning of the 14th century.ndcentury to heretics condemned to the drinker for defending their ardent passions.Firebrandis a striking drama, as much as a spark on emancipation and a ray of light for the feminist cause. Not so classic.
Composed of (sublime) paintings straight out of the 16th century, this portrait of powerful woman(s) of sorority dynamite the patriarchate and turn away from the « historical reality » written by men. And in the dresses of this great figure of history,#AliciaVikander(in flame) does not bend before the repugnant croquemitaine#JudeLaw(Harvey Weinstein of the Middle Ages) In mirror of our present society, beautiful feminist cinema.
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