Lux Aeterna (4 Stars)

"Lux Aeterna" is a French experimental short film that can't be slotted neatly into any genre. It's a film about a film. The cast and crew making a film about witches. Everyone in the film plays himself, or at least fictionalised versions of themselves.

The two main characters are Beatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg. They're both actresses, but Beatrice is directing her first film. The producer and the studio executives are plotting against her behind her back. They consider her incapable as a director, so they're looking for an excuse to fire her.

The two actresses discuss the film and witchcraft in general. They're constantly interrupted by others, for instance a reporter from a film magazine and a man who wants to make his first movie with Charlotte as the leading actress. The interruptions continue even as they're preparing to start filming.

When the filming begins there's a mutiny on the set. The cameraman refuses to take instructions from Beatrice. She shouts Cut, but he carries on filming. The films descend into chaos, by which I mean both films, "Lux Aeterna" and the film within the film.

The cinematography is unusual. It's experimental, to say the least. Most of the film takes place in split screens. Sometimes they're two scenes taking place simultaneously in different rooms, sometimes they're two different views of the same the same people in the same room. Today I watched the film in French with German subtitles, and I realised that was a mistake. The subtitles are shown in the screen to which they belong, but in many cases different dialogue is taking place in the two screens, so different subtitles are shown simultaneously on each side. My eyes were jumping from side to side, and I couldn't always keep up with the subtitles. I wanted to make a screenshot, but the software I use for watching Blu-rays on my computer, MPC-HC, isn't compatible with this subtitle format. All the subtitles are shown on the right side, wherever they belong.

Instead of a screenshot, I've taken a photo of the film on my television screen. The picture is poor quality, but it demonstrates the problem with the subtitles.

Left: "We're working here. I'm very sorry".

Right: "I'm financing the film with my advertisements".

It's impossible to follow unrelated conversations on two sides of the screen at once. Next time I watch "Lux Aeterna" I'll watch it dubbed into German. I expect that will make it easier to watch.

As I said above, this is a short film. It only lasts 49 minutes until the final credits roll. On the one hand, I wish it were longer. On the other hand, I can't think of any way to extend the film without unnecessarily bloating it. 49 minutes is a good length.

I enjoyed the film despite the chaos. Maybe because of the chaos. It hurt my eyes. For the last ten minutes the colours flicker at the full speed of 24 frames a minute.
Red-green-black-black, green-blue-black-black, blue-red-black-black. The colours continue to flicker throughout the two minutes of the final credits.

I think you can imagine how straining this is on the eyes.

At the moment the film is only available in Germany, but I've read that a Blu-ray release is planned in England later this year. Be patient.