The confession is a film by Greek director Costa-Gavras, starring Yves Montand in possibly his best role, and his wife Simone Signoret. It is based on a book of the same title by Artur London, describing the Prague trials in 1951-2 Czechoslovakia, in which he was one of the defendants.
I had a really hard time watching this film. After first 5 or 10 minutes it was just too revolting, what was going on in the film was so out of sync with today’s world I live in, contrary to all principles of democracy, freedom, human rights etc. The fact that the story was real, not just from the scriptwriter’s imagination, of course didn’t offer much consolation. But somehow I forced myself to see it till the end – I still found it easier than reading similarly revolting comics (there are a few that I found excellent, but still have to get further than page 5), probably (1) because you can just sit down and watch the film, while you have to turn the pages of comics, and (2) because the film just goes on, while you can stare into a single page of comics and think about it for as long as you want.
When I saw it the first time I got the impression it’s not particularly creative, just the story of the book put into film. But while I was watching the rerun a few months later, I knew the story already and noticed so much more: the camera angles, zooming, and other technical elements that together masterfully created the perfectly claustrophobic atmosphere. Maybe it’s simply a too powerful film to grasp everything in a single viewing. Or maybe it’s too difficult just for me :-) Certainly the first time all my thoughts were occupied with the (hi)story.
The curious thing about this film is that it’s made in French, which I found a bit funny, as here’s no doubt where the events take place, unlike in Z for example.
(random) LINKS:
an article (in French) discussing the events in connection with the film
criticism (in French) of Amen., 2003 film by Costa-Gavras, including also criticism of L’Aveu, concerning its manipulation with historical accuracy
0 Responses to “The Confession (L’Aveu)”