Taglines: Revolution just beginning.
Something in the Air, the movie of Assayas, which opened in 1971, tells the story of a group of high school youth struggling for student rights in the political environment of May 1968. As emphasized in many articles written especially in June, it is possible to establish a link between Gezi Park Resistance and student uprisings in Paris in 1968.
This emphasis of the “Something in the Air”, which was opened with a written notification informing the audience that the story they will follow passed in Paris in 1971, brings along the claim of being a period movie. Thus, the audience has the expectation that Assayas will reveal the spirit and political environment of the period with all its authenticity by applying traditional methods of expression.
However, the film blends footage distribution and action plan work, street protests and police attack footage with actual camera movements and fast transitions, summarizing the situation of the streets in ten minutes with an action movie. Contrary to what is expected, the political depth of “Love Smell” does not go beyond this.
In fact, the main purpose of the movie is to continue the story by focusing on the private lives of the characters after this animated introduction. However, it is not possible to reveal the inner world and everyday life of the political high school student Gilles and his close circle at the center of the story, independent of the social, cultural and political environment of the period.
Therefore, “Something in the Air” has to be supported by Gilles and his friends’ different choices of multi-layered political discourses, each of them being the subject of a separate film, while directing their lives during the high school summer vacation. However, unfortunately, this political stance, which turns into cacophony while gradually becoming superficial, cannot adequately nurture the development of either the characters or the story.
In the “Something in the Air”, which was said to have traces of his youth, French director Olivier Assayas, who was born in 1955, it is possible to say that the camera and editing technique, which makes his presence felt at all times, also challenge the viewers. This preference, which keeps the viewers almost consciously away from the emotional and thought world of the characters, seems to weave a wall between the viewers and the story with the contribution of the distance performance of the actors. The performance of Clément Métayer, who appeared in the role of Gilles for the first time with this film, seems to prevent him from looking at the camera, making it more difficult for the viewers to enter the story.
“Something in the Air”, which gives the feeling that Assayas has reconstructed some memories as a diary, by bringing together the memories of his youth exactly as it is in his memory, is the story of the director going in different ways with his circle of friends in high school years.
The film, which aims to emphasize how political preferences and the struggle for life diverge the youth of a period differently, is a production that cannot establish the desired heart bond with the audience, even though it has theoretically made a meaningful narrative. It is important to remember that the name “Love in Resistance Days”, which is given to the desired heart bond, causes us to attach too much meaning to this heart bond and add distance to the distant narrative of “Something in the Air”.
All about Something in the Air movie.
Something in the Air (2013)
Directed by: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Clément Métayer, Lola Créton, Felix Armand, Carole Combes, India Menuez, Dolores Chaplin
Screenplay by: Olivier Assayas
Production Design by: François-Renaud Labarthe, Paki Meduri
Cinematography by: Eric Gautier
Film Editing by: Luc Barnier
Costume Design by: Jürgen Doering
Set Decoration by: Dorota Okulicz
MPAA Rating: None.
Studio: France 3 Cinéma
Release Date: May 3, 2013
Visits: 56
