I recently watched "Legends of the Fall" the other day and I found myself dropping a tear as Brad Pitt dramatically screams "no" as he watches young, idealist Henry Thomas plummeted with bullets from a primitive machine gun. The scene itself is minimally moving to me, but it is always the music that triggers those water ducts. "Legends of the Fall" is a well-crafted and picturesque melodrama distributed in 1994. With good looking men and replacement point love triangles, this film garnered 3 Oscar nominations (1 win for Best Cinematography). Not bad for a film that grossed double its budget ($66 million grossed domestically on a $30 million budget according to imdb.com). On the foreign industry front, "Indochine" was released in the States in late 1992 and was a moderate foreign success here. Playing with the classic love triangle, "Indochine" was heavily anchored by the beautiful and sweeping cinematography which even had a slight edge over Catherine Deneuve (and those stylish costume changes).
Both films have many similarities. The plot differs, but the concept of the love triangle is evident. The cinematography in both films is stunning and the music is moving throughout the course of the two films (the length of each film runs over the 2 hours and fifteen minutes mark).
What happened to the melodrama? Hollywood seems to heavily dip in genre films and then dump them once the iron gets hot for another genre. Does it not make economical sense (there are no crickets on this one)? Take a good look at the decline of melodramas and the pick-up of musicals and biopic genres and you will see the shift. Or maybe the musical/biopic genre has become the melodrama genre. All have quick swifting mood set cinematography and all, more or less have those arcing story lines that deal with a triangle dynamic. If you are dealing with a musical biopic, (you can theorize the triangle as Cash, Carter, and drugs) the viewer is always going to be bombarded with some anti-euphoric low at some point and then hit euphoria some twenty minutes later.
The melodrama is just not a la mode right now. But then again, Almodovar knows how to put a delightful spin on a genre that is endlessly critiqued in making films such as "Talk to Her" and "All About My Mother." Another reason could be that the standard "epic" melodrama is a costly one. The talent is another question too. We have yet to stumble across another Brad Pitt and not to take a shot at him but he even stated recently that his face is aging now that he is in his forties (what did you think four kids would do to you, man?). Films such as "Indochine" and "Legends of the Fall" were steered by good-looking actors-Julia Ormond and Catherine Deneuve fortressed the female roles while Brad Pitt (you can throw in Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas if you would like) and Vincent Perez were the respected male seducers. Perhaps some optimism in bringing back the melodrama is found in the 'tweeny' romantic genre found in the sleeper hit, "The Notebook" which launched the sky rocketed the careers of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams (although "Mean Girls" did give her much praise even though she was somewhat overshadowed by Lindsay Lohan). Don't worry, the genre of melodramas is not yet dead, it just needs time to resurface, preferably when audiences begin to get tired deceased (but great) musicians and sing-alongs at cineplexes.
SOCIETAL NO-NOs TO CINEMATIC YES: Examining "Legends of the Fall" and "Indochine"
1. IT'S OKAY TO SLUT YOURSELF- You're a good whore: Ormond's character was engaged to youngest son, Henry Thomas. Then went googly eyed for the rebel middle child. Somewhere in the midst of young one getting killed and oldest child becoming rich in the big city of Helena, Montana...Ormond found time to have sex with two of the three brothers, chop off her long hair, and shoot herself because she either felt 1)guilty because she slutted herself around a family of boys 2) just could not deal with the fact that she never got "the one" that she truly wanted. Nonetheless, when the love triangle comes in play, nobody is at fault. Our society which condemns this sort of promiscuity (we do not stone people like the Puritan days--but then again adulterous women in other cultures, not quite the same story) for the skank 1920s whore that she is (ok most of the film is pre 1920s), we have to sympathize with her in the movie because she is just so darn good-looking and compelled by tragic incidents...Also, who could deny the seductive 'wild bear' spirit of Brad Pitt?
Catherine Deneuve is a little miss whore who is so attractive that even her servant and the 100+ crew of Asian extras eye fuck her over the course of this 2 1/2 hours film. Her sluttiness is more strategic than Ormond's who pretty much stays on the ranch with Anthony Hopkins or up in a Helena mansion. Deneuve engages in a relationship with an older dude (but is a tease because she never gave him any) and because she lacks so much sex in that hot Vietnam weather, that she takes up a chronic nose-bleeding naval officer. Now Vincent Perez's character does not exactly possess the same 'wild bear' spirit as Pitt's character, but he's a bit of a rebel. Yelling, slapping, and challenging authority...Although rebelling is a classic trait in films, his actions especially in the beginning when he commands a fire to be set on a boat are well 1) quite irrational and 2) just firmly establishes him as a little loony. But remember, Perez is not as loony as 'wild bear' Pitt scalping Germans in the dark.
2) IF YOU'RE WILD AT HEART AND DON'T SUCCEED WITH THE HAGS, IT'S OK TO PREY ON THE YOUNG ONES:
Ormond was not old, but Pitt obviously did not want to deal with her after he deflowered her. I guess once he had her, he just lost complete interest. So what does he do after he travels god knows where...he comes back (ok so Ormond got rejected badly. Do you blame her for shacking up with Quinn afterwards?) and starts getting it on with Isabelle. Lets not forget that this is the same little twelve year old was around in the film before...When Pitt comes back from his self-realization tour, he deflowers her (she's 19 or 20) and they have children. Just goes to show, if you find yourself in a position where the older ones are not cutting it, you can always pray that the young ones grow up to be pretty looking.
Perez liked Deneuve. Deneuve became a bitch and just dumped Perez out of thin air. Perez had one of numerous tantrums and what happened. He saved Deneuve's adoptive, Asian niece...Not really. There was a shootout with officers and an escapee and---escapee was shot and killed but poor Asian girl was pinned to the floor with a dead body on top of her. Perez cleans her and Asian girl believes he's her savior. This strangely cute couple eventually have sex (deflowers her of course!) and become fugitives together...oh, and they have a baby on the way too. Not too shabby. What did we learn from this film with regards to this particular display of love...it's acceptable to pull a Woody Allen.
3) OPIUM IS THE COMMON CURE FOR-NO IT JUST MAKES YOU DEPRESSED:
Wow, a film that actually tells us that drugs will just make us--dazed and confused about the people that we have slept with...Pitt acknowledges that he is 'dead' while in the midst of sleeping with 'exotic' women and advises Ormond to marry another. Deneuve is an opium addict who has distorted visuals when she looks at her boyfriend who is---a foot away from her (she eventually breaks up with him a few minutes later). Finally some accurate insight in a film genre that never seems to strike any reality!
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