THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
Italy/Ireland, 2011, 118 minutes, Colour.
Sean Penn, Frances Mc Dormand, Judd Hirsch, Eve Hewson, Kerry Condon, Harry Dean Stanton, Joyce Van Patten, David Byrne, Olwen Fouere, Shea Whigham, Liron Levo, Simon Delaney, Heinz Lieven.
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino.
Were there to be a competition for a list of most peculiar films, This Must be the Place would certainly find a place there. It is at times bizarre, comic, serious, deadly serious, enigmatic and never predictable. It also offers what must be Sean Penn’s most idiosyncratic performance.
If a reviewer simply said that the film is about an ageing, faded rock star who still dresses with make-up as in his heyday who goes to the United States from Dublin where he lives to find his family and then travels across America, with a touch of the Forrest Gump, on a mission of avenging his father and his concentration camp experiences, you would have a sketch synopsis – but a synopsis which does little value to the content and style of communication of the film.
And, if someone told you that they hated the film, you would not be surprised.
However, if you stay with the film and Sean Penn’s performance, then you will probably surrended, at least in part, to its strange story, its even more strange character, and the number of themes and issues that it raises. You may also surrender to the visual style, communicating the different parts of the States visited as well as the range of music, from quiet piano to rock and roll, but, especially to the songs of Talking Heads and more songs by David Byrne (who appears and sings the title song) and new songs by Byrne and Will Oldham.
Surprisingly, the Ecumenical Jury in Cannes 2011 awarded its prize to this film even though previous winning directors were represented (the Dardenne Brothers with The Kid with a Bike and Ari Kaurismaki with Le Havre, as well as The Tree of Life).
Sean Penn is Cheyenne, a pop star of twenty years earlier who lives in retirement in Dublin with his feisty wife of 35 years, played by Frances McDormand?. The point is made that Cheyenne has not really grown up. He has a tinny, rather whining voice, a hesitant manner even though he is particularly direct and honest in what he has to say. He seems to survive with some friends in Ireland and the good management of his wife. He is also friends with a mother whose son has disappeared and who sits at the window waiting for him.
Cheyenne, with his Gothic look, hairstyle and make-up, decides to go to his family in New York where his father, estranged for thirty years, has died. He learns about his father’s time in the concentration camp and a guard who had humiliated him whom he has tried to track down all his life. Cheyenne dcides to go searching, a road trip (with a businessman’s precious car which has a somewhat fiery end) which takes him to see an old teacher in Michigan, a single mother with a chubby son (who also sings the title song) and changes their lives with his kindness. He also meets a man in Utah (Harry Dean Stanton) who reveals that it was he who took out the patent for suitcases with wheels in 1988. (Having long thought that whoever this person was, he deserved a Nobel Prize for such an energy saving invention, I was in admiration of this scene which, like many in the film, is not essential to the plot but adds atmosphere and feeling.)
The moral moment is when he confronts the guard, now an old man, and hears about his father’s experience. What is he to do with the man?
The film is poetic, lots of symbolism and visual detail, that elicits all kinds of sense responses and emotions. It also offers much to reflect on, the pop music industry and history and the perils of celebrity, let alone broader issues of the United States in the 21st century and, still, the deep memories of the Holocaust.
This must be the place, especially in the lyrics of the song (which is played and sung in many versions throughout the film) is home.
The writer-director is Italian, Paolo Sorrentino, who has been a favourite of the art house and festival circuits, especially in Cannes. His creation of Cheyenne reminds us that he has created quite grotesque characters in his two previous films, L’Amico? di Famiglia (The Family Friend) where the central character is a completely unsympathetic and ugly mean tailor and money lender, and Il Divo, his portrait of once esteemed but mysteriously repellent Italian politician, Giulio Andreotti. Cheyenne is just as strange but much more likeable.
1. The impact of the film? Strong opinions for? Against? Unusual? Peculiar? Symbolic?
2. The title, the song by Talking Heads? The lyrics? Cheyenne singing it? Rachel’s son? David Byrne? The other versions? The significance of home – the various homes? Home for Cheyenne?
3. The musical score, the songs by Talking Heads, the range of songs, their lyrics, meanings?
4. A film of the imagination, characters, story? Dublin? The pop star world? The United States, the Jewish background, the cross-country trip, New Mexico, Michigan, Utah? The background of the Nazis and the concentration camps?
5. The film as unpredictable, enigmatic? Suggestions of characters, brief portraits? Places? Incidentals? Passing characters? The different environments? People in their environments? The Nazi pursuit, the motivations, the achievement? The end?
6. The work of Paolo Sorrentino, bizarre and grotesque characters? The allusions to Robert Smith and the Cure? Cheyenne as a version of Robert Smith?
7. Sean Penn’s performance, his appearance, hair, makeup, the voice, childish and childlike, stupid and wise, direct? His experience as a pop star? The continued adulation of his friends, getting photos, autographs, talking with him, his having sung with Mick Jagger? Memories of his career? His career over, living in Dublin, some stockbroking? His royalties, Tesco? His home and his wealth? His occupying his time? With himself? Shopping, the mall, the discussions with Jeffrey about sex? His friendship with Mary? Mary’s mother? The meetings with Desmond? Setting him up with Mary? The meal? Mary’s reaction? Desmond and the discussion about the empty pool? The young group wanting him to produce their album?
8. Jane, lively and robust, thirty-five years married, her love, care, direct in talking, her suggestions, fighting the fire – and waving to Cheyenne? The humour of the tai chi exercise and her distractions? Her life with Cheyenne? His phone calls to her?
9. Mary, her mother, Anthony having left home, the mother waiting? Cheyenne and his talking, the contrast with Anthony? His coming to the grave, the young men who had committed suicide because of his songs, the parents at the cemetery? Cheyenne’s comments, guilt?
10. News of his father, his decision to go to America? Jane, seeing him off, at the airport, the phone calls, the adventure?
11. New York, the relatives, the discussions, his father’s death, not having talked to his father for thirty years? The effect on Cheyenne, the ceremony, the rabbi? The information about Auschwitz and his father’s tormentor?
12. Cheyenne and a new goal, his discussions with Mordecai Midler? The Nazi hunter and his experience? Time passing, the 21st century, the Nazis being old? The encounter with Ernie Ray? The discussions, money? His lending him the car? Their discussions – and the irony of the car later burning?
13. A road film, the range of the United States, the highways, the cars, service stations, people and their reactions to Cheyenne?
14. Going to visit the teacher, calling himself John Smith, the history classes, the two women in the house, the reaction to his appearance? The discussions? Bringing up the issue of the Holocaust? His leaving?
15. Going to New Mexico, the search for the Nazi, his skills in getting information, going to the bar, meeting Rachel, the discussions, going home with her, her reaction to him? Her little boy, the absent father? The boy and the guitar, singing This Must Be the Place, going for the swim, the boy afraid of the water, Cheyenne getting the pool made? No sexual relationship? The effect of his doing good? The delineation of Rachel’s character, that of the boy?
16. The car, the driving, the garage, getting help? Mordecai turning up?
17. Going to Utah, the encounter with Robert Plath, the discussions about wheels on luggage? Plath helping him to find the Nazi?
18. Mordecai going with him to his father’s tormentor, the old man, his life, the irony of his wife being the teacher, in the United States? Telling the true story – a rather smaller incident but the father never having forgotten or forgiven?
19. Cheyenne buying the gun, the shooting, threatening the old man?
20. Cheyenne exiting the hut, the old man naked in the snow, humiliated? Sufficient revenge?
21. Cheyenne going back to Ireland, home, going to see Anthony’s mother, the change, growing up, dealing with life? His father’s life and the healing of the relationship? His ability to help others?
