Othon (1970)

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a.k.a. Eyes Do Not Want to Close at All Times, or, Perhaps One Day Rome Will Allow Herself to Choose in Her Turn

Directors: Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet

Based on the stage play by Pierre Corneille

Cast: Adriano Aprà as Othon; Anne Brumagne as Plautine; Ennio Lauricella as Galba; Olimpia Carlisi as Camille; Anthony Pensabene as Vinius; Jean-Marie Straub as Lucus (as Jubarite Semaran); Jean-Claude Biette as Martian

With Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet again, we have here a legitimately difficult film, an adaptation of a stage play by Pierre Corneille set in Ancient Rome, a series of political and romantic strafes set within the short-lived rule of Emperor Galba, in which ambitious senator Othon finds himself next in line in the power, his mind distracted by being unable to love the woman he desires, who has been forced into the arms of the infamous Roman Emperor Nero. Two young women, Camille, Galba's niece, and Plautine, daughter of the senator Vinius, are in love with Othon. Unfortunately a series of manipulations and power plays will everyone dissatisfied or corrupted, particularly as Lacus (co-director Jean-Marie Straub) wants to keep Orthon in power, and Plautine's father Vinius is trying to manipulate Orthon for his and his daughter's sake even if it means sacrificing both his daughter and Camille.

All that is witnessed is intentionally set as having universal illusions to the follies of people - emphasised as whilst the cast are actors in appropriate dress, they're filmed in regular Italian environments of the time, right in front of backgrounds of cars and streets below, immediately jarring and creating an effect on the viewer. The initial scenes on a hill overlooking the metropolis behind these characters, far from comical, actually have a great effect in showing these characters existing in a timeless state, like ghosts, whose ancestors would keep finding themselves in these scenarios regardless of time and dress.

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Orthon, for me, is an artistic failure but with not want of ambition, an admirable attempt at breaking audience connection with the work to pieces and rebuilding the relationship. Orthon is dense - even next to Robert Bresson's minimalist (and amateur-cast) performances, the dialogue is quickly spoken here, even hastily spoken at a rapid fire, bluntly with little emotion, with the added factor that Danièle Huillet was interest in having the subtitles drop out of purpose which has continued on past her death in Orthon's screenings, leaving (in the version I saw) entirely un-translated scenes. It is almost all minimally shot, though tracking shots of the cast walking around do occasionally happen and stand out artistically as we follow their lengthy conversation in motion. There is also, unintentionally funny at times but also possibly an intentional influence from (of such unexpected a place) Straub's love of directors like Ernst Lubitsch and Charlie Chaplin, a tendency in the midst of long scenes for new participants to abruptly appear on camera as if they have waiting in the wings patiently, a technique that I have to confess is a distinct and creating style you would have to consider using as here rather than abruptly allow to take place. Again, despite the directors' reputation for sternness through the tone of Orthon, it still has a precise style. This is more so as, later on, the locations leave the city panoramas to within woodland, by old fountains, and locations which feel closer to these Ancient Romans even if jarring to our perceived image of them.

The issue is that, the cast always stood still or sat still, you need to engage the viewer even if you desire to obfuscate and/or frustrate them, or the art is pointless. This is another film from these creators which needed to be rewatched, which does help clarify the drama, but unlike Not Reconciled (1965), which innovated in narrative presentation, Orthon especially on another viewing feels pointlessly obtuse. There is no real sense of gain for them from being this flat, rather than minimal, when Robert Bresson's style lead to a stripping away of artifice to find real emotion. Orthon's visual style is still standing out, deliberately contrasting period drama to the then-modern day, but the issue for me is that, whilst a strange suggestion, so much of the cast is just sat or stood around when there should have been minimal drama just from some more movement or some attachment to the material beyond what is seen. Instead, the experience is like watching living statues with a lack of specific reason for their placement.

Again, I view Orthon as a noble failure, as it's a concept which I see the intention of, the universal nature of its drama not dissimilar to the modern day, the juxtaposition infesting to me too. Even the drops in subtitles, like Jean-Luc Godard's later 2010s work, force the viewer to focus on those you do have onscreen and the images when the text vanishes. The structural ideas meant to obfuscate the viewer actually focus one's attention, leading you to avoid the usual habit, which afflicts even me with some films, of drifting off in other thoughts and keeping one alert to properly engage with the material. The stiffness of the performances, however, feel inappropriate, especially as films like Not Reconciled have gained so much more from a minimal but still emotionally engaging acting style that suited Straub-Huillet and still kept to their desire to clearly strip it of all contrived heightened emotion. One little flaw is enough to mar a great concept with Orthon as a result.

Abstract Spectrum: Avant-Garde/Minimalist

Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None

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