Flirt
(1995)
Hal Hartley story triptych is interesting and unique.
The director tries to tell the same tale in three separate
locations. The story is first set-up in New York. Here
it is a pretty typical heterosexual love trapezoid that
finds Bill Sage involved with a woman who is leaving
for Paris. She wants a commitment from him and he is
too unsure of himself and of the relationship to deliver.
He buys himself as much time as he can so that he may
contact a woman he has feelings for, although they have
barely acted upon them. The piece takes many twists
and turns and eventually has Sage meeting up with the
woman's recently estranged husband, Martin Donovan.
Eventually the day closes and we expect the tale to
continue. It is not immediately evident that this is
it's ending. Later, we will realize what Hartley has
done here. For now, we are instead transported to Berlin
German a year later. Soon we find the exact same tale
being played out, this time between two men. The plot
continues, using almost the exact same dialogue as we
have seen in the first segment. It's as if only the
pronouns have changed. Eventually, we do notice some
major changes and Hartley stops to insert a rather rambling
dissertation on just exactly what it is he is trying
to accomplish here. It's slightly amusing in that he
uses a sort of Greek Chorus comprised of three construction
workers to expound upon not only love, and here it is
the love between two men, but also on what Hartley himself
is doing cinematically here. There is a discussion of
the situation at hand, then the theme of the plot and
finally what the filmmaker is doing here. The workers
wonder aloud if the story must change simply because
the milieus do. It's a unique and interesting touch.
Finally, the third episode takes us to Tokyo, again
a year later. Here, Hartley changes the script wildly
yet still retains the basic elements of his plot. It
is unique and interesting. It throws us for quite a
loop. He introduces himself as a minor character and
the love triangle is now based upon a woman rather than
a man or a gay man. She is later revealed to be "Hal's"
girlfriend. By the end of the film, we realize that
each segment has indeed ended differently. This time,
the final segment ends more resoundingly in favor of
love, or at least a hopefulness of trying to commit
to it. At the last scene, Hartley places himself entrenched
and satisfied amid a assembly of film canisters. Not
only has his story been told, and maybe finally to it's
correct conclusion, but he has also finished his film
satisfactorily. It's a nice subdued moment.
"Flirt" once again finds Hartley doing what he does
best. As before, in previous films, his actors spit
dialogue out close to the manner in which we are used
to, especially in the New York segment. And since this
is a triptych of the same plot, we get a lot of his
infamous repetition of dialogue. It adds to his repertoire
here that the comments are the same but there meaning
is uniquely different in each instance here. They are
more than one-liners.
And most importantly, back is the unique and vibrant
music that has delineated Hartley's earlier films. Once
again Jeffrey Taylor and Ned Rifle (Hartley) create
terse and dramatic soundscapes that accentuate Hartley's
cinematics. This is a point that is sorely missed in
his "Amateur," even though the two did the music for
that piece as well.
"Flirt" is an gratifying stone in the path of Hartley's
career. He falls back much more easily on his trademark
style. Yet, the film is quite different from his earlier
works. We like what we see here. More importantly, Hartley
makes a statement about love. Each of his tales, although
based on the same plot, end differently. It is even
forgivable that the gay episode ends less satisfyingly
than the other tales. It seems obvious here that the
ending has nothing to do with the gender or the orientation,
but the character. And since Hartley has his main character
here use his real first name, this also indicates that
it is the person and not the circumstances that lead
to a conclusion. What happens to his gay character seems
right for that character. What happens to all of the
characters here, seems right. It shows an evolution
of Hartley's thinking that in the first episode, the
unsure lover chases the girl, in the second, the unsure
lover is hurt and left on his own, and in the finale,
he himself, the one who has placed this ultimatum upon
the unsure lover, remains to return to the girl. He
realize the ultimatum he has placed upon his character
is too harsh. More time is needed. It is not wrong for
her to be unsure. It is wrong for him to push her to
be sure before she is ready. Hartley seems to have found
the answer to his plot's original riddle. He, and his
story, have evolved and grown. Pretty remarkable stuff.
I don't know if Hartley filmed this in the exact times
that he lists here. If he did, this would be a three
year project. I don't know if he evolved the script
as he filmed or if it was set in stone before he began.
It might be neat if some of this were the case. But
in the end, it doesn't really matter. All that matters
is the finished product: What the film says. And it
says a lot.
Note:
Also with Robert Burke, Parker Posey, Elina Lowensohn,
Dwight Ewell and Miho Nikaidoh. I have read that it
is indeed Hartley playing himself. No American named
actor is listed in the credits for the segment in Tokyo,
so it is an uncredited role.
In English as well as German with subtitles and Japanese
with subtitles. There is quite a bit of English in the
German segment and not much dialogue in the Tokyo set
segment with a bit of English.
Hartley did release part of this film as a short in
1993, presumably the first part.
(Review written in 1998)
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