Jean-Michel Bertrand, IFM lecturer and consultant, comments the latest film directed by Martin Scorsese for the new perfume Bleu de Chanel.

Watch the film:
http://www.chanel.com/fr_FR/parfums-beaute/Universe-Bleu-de-CHANEL-117752

Jean-Michel Bertrand's commentary:

When it comes to playing with media image, shifting clichés, the advert for the launch of the latest men's perfume from Chanel is exemplary.

A simple story?

The story is really simple, even though it takes a few viewings to figure out the pieces of the puzzle. A man, two women, one dark and familiar, the other blonde, a model or an actress that he apparently met on a recent shoot.

The small passion play on which the film, on first viewing, appears to be based manages to avoid the pathos or the sentimentality of the classic hesitation between two women and instead shows the strong character of a man who firmly and a touch harshly, makes the choice of (self) affirmation.

There is not a trace of indecision: the break-up scenario, unlike any other is literally taken over by the seduction scenario that is open and all to play for. An affair comes to an end, wordlessly, but the encounter gives rise to a succession of intense moments.

Each woman corresponds to a world, as well as to a different type of relationship. The different way each relationship is shot gives the film its style and rhythm. The break-up scene is shot in one decor and is slotted in between very brief, fast, choppy images of the encounter with the young blonde woman, like a series of insightful flashes. The break-up scene is one on one, over the remains of breakfast. Looks, distance, an attempt to get closer… But when the actor gets close to the dark-haired girl's face (with a beautiful camera movement coupled with an almost total reversal of the point of view) he doesn't see her face, instead he sees memories of the young blonde woman. Scorsese whisks us with virtuosity from the current situation to the mental and virtual images of the « hero » (virtual does not mean unreal) with a series of discontinued flashbacks. This flow of images means words or confessions are not needed: the dark-haired woman feels what's happening, gets up and leaves.

So the film seems to be built on a very strongly affirmed series of binary opposites reflected by the women : dark/fair, affair/break-up, one stiff and tense the other in constant movement, carefully-shot interiors, « rough » images shot on the run, moving, continuity and fragmentation.

Complexity and references

But the too obvious, almost systematic series is given depth and consistency thanks to two essential elements that give the clip its singularity (whether we like them or not).

The first element is the narrative and above all temporal complexity that obliges the spectator to work a little to (re) edit the scenes into a chronological order. Forcing the spectator to make an effort is no longer that common in the cinema, but it is often the condition for giving a film an edge that is more than strictly consumerist. Obviously this may not please all those who think advertising should sell immediately to the broadest public possible. A risk has been taken, on purpose or not: while a number of spectators will be put off by the film, others will be encouraged to watch the ad again and again as the first viewing by no means exhausts its meaning and possible levels of comprehension.

In addition, the strength of the film lies in the use of cinematographic references rather than the use of the classic situation and the opposites; the knowing use of the well-known scene of the photographer « shooting » the model in Blow up and above all the repetition and adaptation of the final scenes of Notting Hill. Scorsese starts off by using the press conference where Julia Roberts states when answering a question, that she will not stay in Great Britain but is to leave the next day, before she notices Hugh Grant and asks for the question to be repeated. Her second answer is as good as a marriage proposal. Here, there is no promise made to a woman, just a man who, after a pregnant pause, says: « I'm not going to be the person I'm expected to be anymore ». This phrase, unlike Julia Roberts' declaration, is not without ambiguity, as we don't know who he is talking to: to the young blonde woman, who is in the audience waiting with bated breath or to the media and beyond to all those who expect a certain type of behavior? This uncertainty makes the declaration seem more like a general principle. His determination to throw off the shackles of convention and to stop toeing the party line becomes a cry for freedom. Indeed, this man is not "merely" a free man (there are so many!) but a man who demands something rarer and more precious: freedom. So the spectator is invited to see themselves and project their fantasies on this affirmation rather than on the situation (the series of oppositions) and the immediate details of the plot.

Finally, we could ask the question if, by a sleight of hand, Chanel is also demanding and supporting this refusal to correspond to the public's expectations. Is it indirect means of making a point about this perfume, the film that promotes it and an approach that markets an offer rather than trying to conform to clients' expectations?

Only time will tell if this risk has « paid off »…

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