THE “WORLD’S” OPINION – MUST SEE
The theatrical release of Life According to Ann, almost a year after its presentation at the Quinzaine des filmmakers in May 2023, invites us to ask the question: where is American independent cinema? Several of his latest adventures, born at the turn of the years 2000-2010, have since found outlets. The DIY vein of New York’s do-it-yourself style gave birth to the sensation of the Safdie brothers – at the latest news separated.
From the even more broken branch of mumblecore (“mumbled” cinema) gushed Greta Gerwig, who took control of the industry with the global success of barbie. And during this time, the A24 firm is redefining muscular auteurism by siphoning off new signatures for projects with high added conceptual value (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Beau Is Afraidrecently again Civil War).
Submission role
In this well-regulated market, is there any room left for these small, twisted and unclassifiable films, not immediately marketed, for which the field of independence was for a long time lavish? Life According to Ann proves it by engaging in a form of derogatory self-portrait, in the tradition of New York Jewish comedy. The one who lends herself to the exercise is Joanna Arnow, a young filmmaker from the Brooklyn breeding ground, who, not content with taking on the writing, directing and editing of her film, puts herself on stage in the skin of its heroine and the painting of an unconventional sexuality.
We know the propensity of comedians to interpret their films themselves, from Buster Keaton to Albert Brooks, including Guitry and Tati. But in the case of Joanna Arnow, the thing goes further, towards a vagrant exhibitionism, a way of “putting one’s skin on the table” in each shot, which, not sparing oneself, gets to the heart of the matter . The resulting laughter prevails through a frontal relationship with discomfort.
Ann, a thirty-year-old New Yorker, carries her apathy between a lackluster corporate job, where it is difficult to even define her position, her yoga classes and the returns to her apartment, where she sometimes hosts her sister. On occasion, she goes to the countryside to visit her parents, two oddballs who are custodians of the old working-class culture (they sing Solidarity Foreverpopular union anthem), who despair of seeing her settle down one day.
However, Ann’s sentimental life does not lead her towards the renewal of family patterns. She practices BDSM sexuality, where she enjoys a submissive role, which should serve as a relief from the dreary degradation of everyday life, but in many aspects prolongs it. She thus moves between several “masters”, more or less competent, always returning to Allen (Scott Cohen), a middle-aged man who treats her, outside of their sexual games, with polite boredom: a case of school, to what extent does the contempt displayed by the master contribute to the pleasure of the submissive? Before meeting Chris (Babak Tafti), a boy his age with whom a more consistent romance is established.
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