The
Town is Quiet (La ville est tranquille) is
about the impact of globalization on Marseilles, a once-bustling
port now used primarily by fishing vessels. The focus is on
the impact upon the people of a proud city that has become
redundant. In search of new sources of employment-from research
thinktanks to tourism-politicians of the left and right have
come together, while the working class is left out of their
calculations. Using the "shortcuts" cinematic method,
director Robert Guédiguian, a former member of the
Communist Party of France, lets us peer into the lives of
several ordinary persons, nearly all of whom are so despondent
concerning their fate that they seek scapegoats. The central
character, Michèle (played by Ariane Ascaride), gets
up at dawn to work in the fishmarket, while her husband is
on the dole. Their teenage daughter Fiona (played by Julie-Marie
Parmentier) does tricks for the cash to buy heroin. All three
express anger at each other, but only Michèle cares
for Fiona's illegitimate baby. Michèle tries to get
medical attention for Fiona, who needs to be institutionalized,
but receives only pills that her daughter refuses to take.
Ultimately, Michèle buys heroin from a former boyfriend
Gérard (played by Gérard Meylan), who has become
a drug middleman and contract killer because his once-crowded
bar is empty. For cash to pay for Fiona's craving for a hit,
Michèle sells her body to Paul (played by Jean-Pierre
Darroussin), a former dockworker who has become a taxidriver.
When Paul gets too many traffic tickets, however, he loses
his taxi license but continues his business illegally if less
profitably. Yet he cannot keep up payments on the taxi to
a loanshark, who fortunately refrains from inflicting physical
violence upon him because he was a buddy in the French Resistance
with Paul's father. Paul's father, meanwhile, has become a
compulsive househusband, driving Paul's mother crazy. Even
the middle class is adversely affected. Viviane Froment (played
by Christine Brücher) teaches music to the disadvantaged,
including African Abderamane (played by Alexandre Ogou), who
comes after her when he leaves prison for a short drug offense.
Viviane's husband Yves (played by Jacques Pieiller), a rich
developer, bores her by philosophizing about the fate of the
city but doing nothing to help, so Abderamane is easily able
to score. However, tragedy inevitably strikes. Political organizers
from the Far Right mobilize support on the premise that foreigners
are the cause of their troubles, and soon Abderamane is shot
dead. Michèle, frustrated that Fiona's habit is beyond
her means, decides to deliberately give her daughter an overdose
of heroin. Gérard assassinates Claude
(Pierre Banderet) and later commits suicide when a pedestrian
shows anger at him. Music provides a sharp contrast with
the
darkness of most of the story. Viviane gets her pupils to
sing with real spirit. Abderamane's pals are eloquent rap
musicians. And the movie begins and ends with beautiful classical
keyboard music played by a child prodigy from Georgia, who
starts the film by playing in a park, asking for donations
to buy a grandpiano. The movie ends as his new piano is delivered
to his home, an apartment building occupied by expatriates
from the Caucasus who are ecstatic that one of their own
is
bringing Mozart to Marseilles. Indeed, the enterprise and
joy of the Georgians, in sharp contrast with the lethargy
and angst of the French, eloquently refutes the claims of
the Far Right that immigrants are to blame for the economic
downturn. Nevertheless, the most acerbic criticism in the
movie is directed toward politicians, who are clearly not
responding to the needs of the masses. As a film that clearly
argues the need for greater democracy, the Political Film
Society has nominated The Town Is Quiet for
an award as best film of 2002 in promoting the need for greater
democracy. MH
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