Versalles (Versailles with an untranslatable pun) is Andrés Clariond’s third feature, and enjoyed its world premiere in the main competition at the Black Nights Film Festival. Chema (Cuauhtli Jiménez) is a highly ambitious politician who aims to become the country’s president. When he loses the chance of achieving his goal due to a sexual encounter, he withdraws with his beautiful wife, Carmina (Maggie Civantos), to a sun-bleached hacienda somewhere beyond the reach of history. What first appears to be a tedious exile gradually shifts to something entirely different. They start behaving like royalty of an imagined kingdom, and make their servants act as courtiers. The poor staff will, involuntarily, be part of a world of random punishments and absurd rituals.
If this sounds like something that will alert your Lanthimos-meter and quickly leave the cinema, that’s perfectly understandable. However, these poor things never become as inane and contrived as the creatures of the most annoying excuse of a director working today. It is not the only PÖFF competition film set in a political context. Peter Naess’s No Comment is another example, but the films couldn’t be more different. That could partly be explained by the different political landscapes in Norway and Mexico, but more important are the stylistic differences between the films. Also, the Norwegian movie has no discernible style at all.
Is Versalles set in today’s world?
Regarding Versalles, the stylistic differences exist within the film itself, which deploys divergent styles depending on the setting. The relatively naturalistic style of the political arena yields to tableau vivants once the couple retreats to their hacienda. It is a bold choice on the director’s part to juxtapose such alternative techniques, but the main question is whether it ultimately pays off. It does provide a certain variety, but how significant that is remains more uncertain. There may be references to Mexican politics in the film that this spectator overlooked.
The two thespians can’t be faulted. Cuauhtli Jiménez and Spanish actress Maggie Civantos throw themselves into their respective parts. The fact that the actress (and the character she plays) is Spanish is a factor in the film, but it can be discussed how much significance Versalles manages to achieve with that fact. The lack of substance is a general issue in the film. One could command the director to make critics who are desperately looking for simplistic contemporary political references disappointed, but, to be honest, there is not much else going on in this superficial film either. It is nowhere near as provocative as it sets out to be.
Versalles was presented in the Main Competition of this year’s Black Nights Film Festival, but it didn’t win any awards.
