Recommended movie: “The Five Senses”
Errors of the five erres
Those who have movies as a hobby are well aware that, in addition to blockbusters and countless commercial films, there are those hermetic films, which are difficult to be accepted by the general public, but sometimes achieve important awards. They are movies such as the Iranian “Taste of Cherry”, or the French “Under the Sun of Satan”, and even productions like “Apocalypse Now”, “sex, lies and videotapes”, and “Pulp Fiction”. A movie that can certainly be added to this list is the Canadian “The Five Senses” (CAN, 1999).
Fleeing from the traditional presentation, “The Five Senses” is not just a single story, but six, in an interlacing of lives over a period of three days. What serves as a link among all of them is the disappearance of a little girl of three years, lost during a walk in the park. The other characters have their personalities and expressions associated with the senses – hence the title.
Rachel (Nadia Litz), an introverted teenager, feels guilty for her father’s death.She is the only character who wears glasses, and who assumes the role of observer of the world, although living apart from it.For failing to look at the little girl, Rachel is considered responsible for her loss. On the other hand, she can perceive in a new friend, feelings and emotions, that even he had realized.
Ruth (Gabrielle Rose), Rachel’s mother, is a professional massage therapist, and earns her living by relieving the pains of others with the experienced touch of her hands. Despite this talent, after the death of her husband, she can not touch or be touched by anyone.Even her daughter is kept at a distance, in a cold and formal relationship. When required to maintain close contact with the mother of the lost girl, she is forced to touch the real world.
Richard (Philippe Volter), the ophthalmologist who treats his neighbor Ruth, is losing his hearing, and make a list of sounds he wants to preserve in memory.Sounds like rain, music, a simple conversation, the voice of the distant daughter, etc. It is through a prostitute, whose daughter is deaf from birth, that he realizes that there is more than one way to hear things.
Robert (Daniel MacIvor) is a janitor who loves his job.In recent times, he meets all his former lovers, men and women, to prove his theory that love provides a special smell.Disappointed by not finding the smell that he demands among them, he discovers to be loved by others persons.
Finally, Rona (Mary Louise-Parker), a pastry chef who makes beautiful cakes and sweets, but does not care about the taste they have.Despite the sharp taste, she thinks that only the external appearance is enough to satisfy people, as her own relationships, which never go beyond the superficial. When Roberto, an Italian chef she had met in Europe, reappears in her life, Rona lets herself be involved by emotions she has always controlled. To complicate matters, her mother is terminally ill with cancer, which causes her a sense of guilt over the distance between them.
The main characters – all with names beginning with “r” – are contained and introverted, full of problems, and trapped in their own worlds. The link between all of them with the little girl Amy, who was part of their lives in some way, even if by the memory that she inspires. The group is multinational: Mary Louise-Parker is American, Gabrielle Rose, Nadia Litz, Molly Parker and Daniel MacIvor are Canadians, Philippe Volter is French and Marco Leonardi is Australian. All of them are experienced actors and can give their characters the necessary emotional load.
This movie, unfortunately, was never released on BluRay. In the early 2000s, a DVD edition was launched with Full Screen format, audio in English and Portuguese 2.0, and subtitles in Portuguese and English. As Extras, a few notes on cast, synopsis, and director, plus the movie trailer, and nine minutes of cast interviews, with Portuguese subtitles.
“The Five Senses” is not a film of easy assimilation. It is a vision of the “normal” world through an “abnormal” view, showing common situations in an exacerbated way. It’s like a patchwork quilt, seemingly disconnected, but that leads to a reflection. It is worth watching, even if it is to get away from the common Hollywood products, at least once in a while. Try it.