Title: Dante 01 (2008)
There was a time that the duo of Jeunet & Caro meant something. With "Delicatessen" and "City of Lost Children" under their respective belts, it seemed like they were going to blaze a cinematic trail for years to come. "Alien Resurrection" had a hand in changing things, with Jeunet bumped up to taking the directing reigns himself, while Caro was simply in charge of the respective art departments. Jeunet would go on to make "Amelie", "A Very Long Engagement", as well as most recently "Micmacs", and Caro has only "Dante 01" to add to his directorial notches.
The problem with Dante is that it could have been an excellent film. Early on it is noticed that Jeunet brought the whimsy and fantasy to the duo, and Caro brought the dark and grime. That would never seem to be a bad thing, yet since he didn't have the catalog built as his colleague, so his effort crumbles under the weight. It's simply a case, where the end of a film completely, utterly destroys any good will of the proceedings. Budget restrictions be damned, plenty of successful directors have made a weakness into a strength, using their creativity and cinematic knowledge to overcome, surprising everyone. To say that Caro misses the opportunity is not only sad, but just sort of depressing.
The film begins in the far reaches of space, at an experimental prison facility, where inmates have agreed to take part in corporate experiments, in exchange for clemency regarding their sentences. A new doctor shows up, hoping to test some of the corporations new radical protocols, as well as bringing a new unknown inmate along, who was found floating in a bloodied spacecraft alone. The atmosphere is rich, thick and dense with grime, darkness, and shadows. The low lightning not only helps distract from the low budget, but also sets the stage for the type of film he is hoping to make. The titular character is christened Saint-Georges by one of his fellow inmates. If you are smart you are noticing the name of the film, that characters name and you are wondering if there are any more religious or literary references. If so, you would be dead on. Details like that help the Dante immensely in it's early stages, from the minor pontificating by Persephone (you gotcha) and Elisa, or the introduction to the prisoners. Amongst them, Dominique Pinon stands out as he always does, as Caesar, the leader of the prisoners. Pinion is instantly recognizable from either directors films, along with his picture in the dictionary next to the definition for "unfortunate face". He glowers, and oozes the little power he wields, while recognizing he is only a minor cog, though relishes at a chance to snap "take care of them." What good prisoner leader wouldn't? Saint-Georges, meanwhile, in unable to speak. He spends his time seeing visions, whilst writhing in pain. No one thinks much of it. The a prisoner is near death, and who but Georges himself, miraculously saves him. There are many intriguing questions and strands brewing by this point in the film. On one side the doctor Elisa is eying the top spot in the station by administering the new protocol of using nanobots on the prisoners, for means of controlling their outbursts. The other concerns the weird insight/powers of Saint-Georges who seems to be eradicating nanobots of a different sort. Caro keeps everything close and tense, ratcheting up the intriguing with each passing moment.........Then, the last 10 minutes of the film happen, destroying everything. I had to go back a chapter a few times, checking the current time on the film to see if there was any skipping going on. There wasn't. Frustration, anger, disappointment grew inside me. It comes off as the biggest slap in the face ending I have ever seen. Had the film been poorly shot, horrendously acted, in the vein of "The Room", "Troll 2" or "Birdemic", then the ending would have been par. Dante 01 though felt as if it was going to be something else. Caro has said in numerous interviews that he was disappointed with the ending of the film, but that when the budget was cut from 8 million euros to 4 million, it's an understandable issue. Just makes you wonder, when he took that big of a hit, if he felt less inclined to work on the film, besides contractual obligation.
Who knows how the rest of the film would have played out. Hopefully it will be a lessened learned, because for all it's faults, "Dante 01", whilst an oddity, shows that Caro can still put a film together. Here's to hoping he can find a studio willing to back him all the way, next time.
** out of *****
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