Movie of the Week: “A Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun”
The logic of film distribution in Brazil always favors Hollywood products over other less profitable ones. This prevents us from having access to such interesting films as the Belgian-French production “A Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun”.
This strange and long title already raises in the viewer some confusion about the subject of the film, certainly, a police plot. But in addition to a story full of twists, the film also brings an interesting editon that creates expectations and raises questions in the viewer about what is really happening.
The title character is Dany Dorémus (Freya Mavor) a shy secretary of a Parisian travel agency, in the early 1970s. Dany, though young and beautiful, is ridiculed by her co-workers for her total absence of social life.
Dany has a crush on his boss, Michel (Benjamin Biolay), who was hooked by her former roomate Anita (Stacy Martin).Now, Anita and Michel were married and had a daughter.
One day, Michel asks Dany to type an important report for him. As it is was an important report, he asks her to do it at his house, since she should have to work most of the night. Besides, he said, she would also have the chance to see her friend again.
Dany accepts the request, and spends most of the night involved in the job. The next day, there is another request from Michel: he wants the girl to drop them at the airport and drive the car back to the mansion.
Although she finds it all strange, Dany accepts the task. However, after leaving the family at the airport, the young woman decides to take advantage of having a supercar available and makes an unauthorized trip to the south of France to realize her dream of seeing the sea for the first time.
What appears to be a simple mischief begins to take form of mystery and threat, as everyone seems to know her by name, she is beaten, robbed and intimidated, and she discovers that there is a corpse in the trunk.Although she knows exactly where she had been the night before, she herself begins to doubt her own sanity at so much strange evidences.
This script, very well written by Gilles Marchand and Patrick Godeau, is based on the book of the same name by Sébastien Japrisot. Japrisot, a well-known French writer and director, was responsible for such diverse scripts as “The History of O” and “Rider on the Rain,” great successes of the 1970s. The current film is a remake of a production of the same name of 1970, starring Samantha Eggar and Oliver Reed.
What attracts attention in “A Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun”, in addition to the curious story, is its very dynamic edition that employs the flashforward feature, giving the viewer quick clues about scenes that are still around come over.
The recreation of time is excellent, and brings a feeling of nostalgia to those who lived those days. Huge cars, short clothes, big glasses, and odd hairstyles, refer to an era with very different problems from today.This film won the Best Costume Design category at the Magritte 2016 Prize in Belgium.
But what awakens the attention of the viewer is the dubiousness of what we are seeing on the big screen.Is the character really innocent as we believe it to be? The construction of the character reminds a little of the duality magnificently created by Jorge Amado in his book “The Death and Death of Quincas Berro-Dágua”.
The credibility of the central character is very much due to the beautiful Scottish actress Freya Mavor, who made here one of her first films in the cinema, having acted a lot on television.
“A Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun” is an interesting movie, out of the ordinary, and sure to appeal to lovers of the thriller genre without having to listen to endless sequences of shootings and explosions.
Original Title: “La dame dans l’auto avec des lunettes et un fusil”