"Somewhere, and I don't know where, I turned a corner and there was no turning back. Somewhere I made a mistake"Siesta a Film Soleil Noir was Directed by Mary Lambert. The Film stars Ellen Barkin (
The Big Easy (1986),
Sea of Love (1989)), Gabriel Byrne (
Miller's Crossing (1990)), Jodie Foster (
Taxi Driver (1976),
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)), Martin Sheen (
The Incident (1967)), Isabella Rossellini (
Blue Velvet (1986),
Wild at Heart (1990)), Grace Jones, Julian Sands and Alexei Sayle. Written by Patricia Louisianna Knop (screenplay) and based on the novel by Patrice Chaplin. Cinematography was by Bryan Loftus and the score is by Miles Davis and Marcus Miller.
Siesta is a updated version of a woman's noir. The story is told exclusively from a woman's perspective and in a non linear fashion. It's art house, experimental, surreal, symbolic, dreamlike, erotic, low rent Lynchesque, if you will. The film has got in-your-face style.
The film begins with what looks like a discarded manequin, clad in a red dress laying in a field of burnt grass. A jetliner zooms into the frame overhead and we see that we are looking at the end of a runway. The manequin is a scantily clad woman, Claire (Barkin) sucks in a deep breath and awakens from a siesta.
Claire eyes herself, her dress is dirty, torn, rumpled, and darkly stained, the stains look like blood. They are blood. She panics and pulls up her dress to examine her body. She is nude beneath but unmarked. Another jet screams down to land on the runway and Claire jumps up and begins to run. She stops next to a drainage ditch with running water. The water is muddy but she strips off the dress and rinses out the blood. She washes the dirt and mud from her body and then lays down to sun dry. Jet planes are replaced by spiraling vultures.
Dryed off Claire runs to a nearby road and flags down a taxi. While riding in the back seat Claire trys to remember what happened and with flashbacks, flashforwards, and jump cuts. we the audience, and Claire begin to piece the past five days together.
Taxi driver (Sayle) Claire (Barkin)
Augostine (Byrne) and Marie (Rosselini)We discover that Claire for the last seven years has been a professional daredevil, her slogan is "Claire On A Dare". She is married to her promoter Del (Sheen) and they live in a airplane hanger. They are planning a 4th of July stunt in Death Valley a skydive into a burning net, but Claire after receiving a letter from her old lover Augustine (Byrne) who is living in Spain, gets a wild hair up her ass and decides to take off for Europe five days before the stunt.
Claire looking over the bruises on her body and remembering the blood on her dress begins to believe that something terrible may have happened. She thinks she may have killed somebody, but has no idea who. She continues to flashback.
Arriving in Spain, we see various episodes in Claire's life that occured during the last five days, or did they, are we seeing actual events, wishful daydreams, or acid trip hallicinations. The characters she encouters are odd, twisted, slightly off. The quirky taxi driver with metal teeth. The shaggy maned Julian Sands as Kit, a jaded artist and his sugar momma Nancy (Jodie Foster) sporting a British accent. Byrne playing a Spaniard is also interesting and convincing. I'm reminded of Charleton Heston and Marlene Dietrich playing a Mexicans in Touch Of Evil.
Claire tracks down Augustine but discovers that he has recently married Marie (Rossellini). Claire is unperturbed and boldly approches Augustine who initially pushes her off but finally relents. The result is catostrophic.
Noirsville
Nancy (Foster) Claire (Barkin)
This is a gutsy performance by Barkin, who is both mesmerising and compelling as the obsessed amnesiac searching for the events of her life during the past five days. The film is odd, whacky, atmospheric, and mind tripping. It's full of religious symbolisim and ancient mythology. It definitely needs to be watched more than once to fully appreciate it. Each character Claire encounters are more than they seem.
The end has a twist but most of us will sort of guess it in advance, I know that I did. Miles Davis performs the haunting score. Sex And Death - Siesta. Worth a watch especially for Barkin fans, a 6-7/10.
