MORVAN CALLAR
UK, 2002, 104 minutes, Colour.
Samantha Morton, Kathleen Mc Dermott.
Directed by Lynne Ramsay.
Scottish director, Lynne Ramsay, received acclaim for her first feature Ratcatcher, focussing on a young boy and tragic circumstances in Glasgow. Adapting a novel by Alan Warner (who worked in a supermarket), she offers a portrait of a young adult, Morvan Callar (who works in a supermarket), who finds herself in extraordinary circumstances when he boyfriend suicides but leaves her the manuscript of his novel for her to get published. Her immediate reaction is to ignore the death, then to conceal it, then to go on one of those boozy, sex holidays to Spain. When she receives a large payment for the book, to which she has put her name, a different future lies ahead of her_ A younger audience will get involved with Morvan, her background and the dipping into the 'rave' culture. Older audiences will be tempted to look on her with a more jaundiced and critical eye.
1. The work of Lynne Ramsay? Her Scottish perspective on people? Her focus on the young? Her adapting a novel for the screen, a character study?
2. The Scottish settings, the hills and the mountains, the town, the houses and the clubs? The railway station? The contrast with Spain and its hotels, beaches? The open spaces in Spain? The musical score, the range of songs, The Mamas and the Papas ending the film?
3. The title and its focus on Morvan? The film as a character study, trying to get inside her mind, the ordinary young girl, strange situations, taking initiatives, not understanding what was going on?
4. The opening on her face, her caressing her dead lover? Her attitude towards his death? Reading the information on the computer, telling her not to be sorry, telling her that he loved her? Leaving him be on the floor? Going out? With Lanna, the club and the singing and the dancing? The boys? The return to the house, opening the Christmas presents? The jacket, the other gifts? Finally covering his body? Cooking a meal and it burning?
5. The prospects of the novel on the computer, her decision to send the manuscript to the publishers? The return mail with the offer of interest? Her going to Spain? The publishers visiting Spain, the big money outlay, the effect on her, her bewilderment, shrewdly fending them off, telling them the truth but their not believing it?
6. Morvan and her deciding to get rid of the body, in the bath, cutting it up, taking it to the mountains and burying it? The decision to go to Spain, taking Lanna with her?
7. In Spain, the taxi, arrival at the hotel, the welcome by the man at the door? Meeting the boys? The high time, drink, music, dancing, sex, drugs? The overdosed girl? The inarticulate boys? Their pretending to be Swedish? Morvan and her going to the room and finding the boy's mother had died, the sexual relationship with him? Lanna and the boy?
8. The decision to leave, Morvan forcing Lanna to hurry and pack, searching for another hotel, out in the deserts and open spaces of Spain, spending the night on the road, Lanna's resentment? Morvan and her deciding to leave her, go to another hotel, meet the people from the publishing firm?
9. The return to Scotland, talking with Lanna, offering her to come with her, Lanna finding that all her friends were there in Scotland, and it was the same as anywhere else? Morvan and her desire to find a new world?
10. How strong a character was Morvan? Initiative or reacting? Changing and developing through the situations, taking charge of them? From the supermarket worker to pretending to be the bestselling author? The effect of moving out of Scotland, the effect of Spain? The background of her stepmother and offering to tell the story of her death? No attachments - and starting a new life?
