BY JOHN CARTER JR
In celebration of International Student Week, the International Student Union is hosting film nights throughout the week. The selection is a slate of international films with each night representing a different language (French, Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese). The films being presented include Marguerite, Duckweed, Sin Nobre, and Like Father, Like Son in their respective languages. Yesterday’s featured film was Marguerite, a French film seemingly based on the story of American singer Florence Foster Jenkins.
Baroness Marguerite Dumont is a french socialite, philanthropist, lover of music and the stage. The Baroness has devoted her life to music, in particular, singing, and supporting musical art. She hosted her music club at her home, she went to see great theatrical performances and even sang a little bit herself. Now to say that this film would be completely different if it had been about a character with a different kind of singing voice then that would be a major understatement because the driving factor in this film is simply Marguerite’s voice chalkboard scratching levels of bad.
The film, however, is more than just that and discusses a few major themes throughout including how lying to someone for so long can lead to serious delusions of grandeur, how the loneliest of people just want to be adored, and the direct confrontation of the ignorance is bliss idea. The saddest thing about her story is perhaps why all the aforementioned themes are so prevalent, simply stated Marguerite is a wonderful person. She is kind, rebellious, full of life at points throughout the story or at least she seems to be. Throughout the story she is either being used by some individual, hurt by her cheating husband, or simply lied to by those she trusted the most.
In conclusion, the story of Marguerite Dumont is the story about living a great and tragic lie. It is the story of a woman who’s life has been a complete fabrication and it drives her delusional. It is a truly tragic piece of cinema and is impressive in that regard. The film stands to be a great one for its excellent performances, mise en scene, and sound design. The International Student Union will be presenting more films this week and up next is the Chinese Drama Duckweed.