Un autre bon film

Je viens de voir Another Year, le dernier et magnifique film de Mike Leigh. Je n’avais pas envie qu’il se termine, une année, c’était bien trop court. Un des personnages principaux, Gerri, est psychologue, mais en dehors de son travail, elle refuse de jouer ce rôle, ce qui fait que le film se refuse à toute psychologie. On y est tellement habitués (aux films paternalistes et nian-nian) qu’on s’attend à ce qu’elle conseille à un ami obèse d’arrêter de se goinfrer, ou à une amie de la famille d’y aller doucement sur la boisson – comme elle le dirait à un de ses patients dans son cabinet – et comme elle ne le fait pas, on s’empêche de le faire.Elle est assez complexe cette Gerri : comment peut-elle trouver bien l’horripilante copine de son fils ? Pourquoi dit-elle à son amie en détresse qu’elle aurait pu appeler avant de venir s’incruster ? Ce n’est pas Mère Thérésa, c’est bien simple, et c’est difficile de l’accepter, surtout au cinéma. J’avais vraiment des sentiments mitigés envers ce couple, il finissait par m’irriter, je ne savais pas comment démêler tous les sentiments que m’a fait ressentir Another Year. La critique de Peter Bradshaw (ci-dessous) résume parfaitement mon état d’esprit.

Since this film was shown at Cannes earlier this year, a division of opinion has emerged among audiences about its two lead characters (...). Some think they are simply what they seem: sane, nice people, and instead of being on the alert for irony, we could and should simply admire them. But there is an alternative view: namely, that Gerri and Tom are not all that admirable, but subtly complacent and self-satisfied, and we are misunderstanding the parasitism of their relationship with Mary. Could it be that it is Gerri and Tom who are addicted to the cosy feeling of superiority that poor mixed-up Mary and Ken give to them, while they sympathise, roll their eyes at each other and easily pour these poor souls drink after drink after drink? (...) Leigh and his cast have created a network of relationships that is more complex than it first appears, yet even here the conclusion might simply be that Gerri and Tom are adults who treat their friends as adults, no matter how damaged they appear to be: adults who must make their own decisions. Or perhaps it is that there is a quantum-economy of happiness in any group of people: the happiness of some means unhappiness in others. The power of this film creeps up on you by stealth; its dramatic idiom is admittedly mannered in the Leigh style but shy of caricature, and designed consistently to abrade the audience's consciousness without irritating – fingertips down the blackboard, not fingernails. And, yes, still an acquired taste. But I found Another Year a deeply involving, intelligent, compassionate drama of the sort only Leigh can create.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 4 novembre 2010