YES
UK, 2004, 100 minutes, Colour.
Joan Allen, Sam Neill, Simon Abkarian, Shirley Henderson, Gary Lewis, Samantha Bond, Sheila Hancock.
Directed by Sally Potter.
For some years, Sally Potter has directed a range of films that have been excitingly experimental (Orlando) or more pleasingly mainstream (The Man who Cried). This time she has returned to the experimental mode while offering a narrative that tells the story of the emotional changes in a middle-aged woman. It takes a few minutes to realise that the screenplay has been written in verse, iambic pentameter, more frequently than not, rhyming. It is to the credit and skills of the cast that this seems minimally artificial. Sally Potter also experiments with colour and monochrome, stop-motion sequences and unexpected angles and editing. She has also composed the score. The audience is conscious of the art and artifice, responding to the narrative thrust while reflecting on the issues and themes.
Most of ‘Yes’ seems more like ‘No’ in its outlook on women, men and relationships. Ultimately, however, the film moves to an affirmation of being alive.
Joan Allen has been one of the US’s most striking actresses (The Crucible, Nixon, Ice Storm, When the Sky Falls, The Contender). This is really her film. She portrays an Irish-American? woman, allowing herself to be trapped in a loveless marriage, infatuated by and then needing the affection of an immigrant Lebanese cook. Simon Abkarian is the cook. Sam Neill is the cold husband. Sheila Hancock is her dying aunt, with a performance that is principally voiceover.
The stylised dialogue provides modes for each character to express more philosophical reflections. The central character is a scientist, so the film offers quite a lot of thought on science, the universe, what it is to be a human being and the relationship between science and religion, the presence and absence of God. There is a very powerful conversation late in the film which raises questions of equality between peoples, where the Lebanese man expresses frustration at the condescension of Western affluent society (‘we know your songs, do you learn ours…?) However, the film has a kind of chorus of cleaners (led by Shirley Henderson) who use the mundane details of bedroom and bathroom cleaning to reflect on dirt, mortality and constant change.
This is the kind of film that critics who say they want films that go beyond the banal but, when faced with a film like ‘Yes’ dismiss it as pretentious. ‘Yes’ is not an easy entertainment but it is worth a thoughtful response.
1. The impact of the film? Its ambitions? Achievement?
2. Sally Potter and her work, experimental, independent, experience, vision?
3. The setting, authentic London, suburban homes, fashionable mansions, dinners, apartments? Lebanon, Ireland, Cuba? The blend of the realistic and exotic?
4. The musical score, the change of moods, the classics, modern music?
5. The importance of the visuals: the camera, angles, pace, stop and freeze-frame? Editing and pace, a language for this particular film?
6. The importance of the verse, the iambic pentameter,, the rhymes? The couplets? Audiences noting the verse, the recitation by the cast? Obtrusive or not? The modulation? The quality of the language?
7. The voice-over, She, Anthony, the whispers, what was real, the monologues?
8. The title, yes being the opposite of no, - for an individual, society, the affirmation of yes, the affirmation of life at the end?
9. The credits, the science background, life, creation, the preservation of life, fostering of life? She as a scientist, her lectures and her work?
10. Communication, physical presence, psychological presence, body language, talk, silence, smiles, touching and not touching, kissing, sexuality, tenderness, using others? Mechanisms: phone, mobile phones, film and video?
11. The film’s use of conventions for relationships, falling out of relationships, marital betrayal and break-up? The film being different?
12. The initial focus on the Cleaner, talking to the audience, at the beginning and end? The reality of dirt, the washing, the beds and her comments on the stains, names for the cleaners, knowing secrets, the toilet, reflection on moving dirt, knowing about people, the other cleaners – and the forming of a chorus? Moral comment?
13. She, her age, the background of her marriage, her personality being somewhat cold, the notes for each person, her dress, dinner, the watch, her being hurt? The dinner and the soup? The encounter with He, as a character, flattery, flirting, the card, the washroom, the phone? The meeting, the need, the work and the phone call, changing? The jogging, his stop? The hurt, meeting again, the talk and the truth? The background of Lebanon, the voice-over? She and her aunt, her aunt’s death? The effect? Going to Cuba, the experience of freedom? The arrival, the beach – and the affirmation of life?
14. He: flirting, his work in the kitchen, his card (*or cart??), the meeting, the sexual encounter, the other members of the kitchen staff and their verse? His Lebanon story? His being a doctor? The past? The effect on his life, coming to London? The fight in the kitchen, his being fired? His being hurt, especially as regards information and relationships? The songs? His going home, the wedding, the scalpel? His reflection? Going to Cuba?
15. Anthony, cold manner, looking in the mirror, the meals, Grace?
16. The relationship with Grace, her age, her body language, size? The talk, the affairs? The relationship between Anthony and She? The sadness?
17. The role of the jogger, dramatically, thematically?
18. The kitchen, the language, characters, their interactions?
19. The issues of God, religion, She and her visiting her aunt, the priest coming to give her the final sacraments?
20. Themes of humanity, identity, individuals, community, commitment, males and females? Life, religion, death, communication – and hope for a future?
