Franck Spadone

Hi Aki,

Tonight we watched Franck Spadone, a truly uninvolving, abstracted, BAAAAAAAD gangster movie from France. The story is such a cliché that the director tries to slow things down, minimalize, stylize. Some of the compositions are really powerful, but he is only really good at static compositions, so the movie is almost a collection of stills. I would guess this director is a fashion photographer turned director. The casting is really good for the look of people, the faces are perfect. But the dialogue (what little there is) is banal or bad, and the structure of the story…well, it just doesn’t come to an end, it stops.

I ordered it because it features Monica Bellucci. One interesting facet of the movie is that she is a glamourous stripper/prostitute, trapped in relationship with a mean gangster, but there is a handsome young pickpocket who gets involved, kind of, with her, and she uses him to escape, kind of, only there’s no resolution so, kind of, nothing happens. Nothing really ends.

Anyway Monica is actually quite a bit older than she looks, she’s in her 40s but she is playing these ultra hot sex-girl roles. And she is good in them, with a killer body, but also a powerful face. If I were casting her in the ideal role it would be an updating of Medea, that’s the kind of face she has, a very sad face, a face for deep, high tragedy.

But what was interesting about this casting, is that the pickpocket is obviously much younger than Monica is in real life. Odd twist on the old ‘middle-aged male star teamed with cute young actress’ kind of story. Here the guy is young and the girl is older.

But as I say Monica can still get away with playing supersexy hot babes, so she doesn’t look older. She does look more experienced than the guy, though.

(written around 26 February 2009)