Marseille (2004) - Angela Schanelec

Sophia, a young photographer, exchanges flats with a woman from Marseille in order to presumably escape from her current life.  Her reasoning for coming there is uncertain, with Sophia herself not having a strong explanation as she drifts through the city taking photographs.  She meets a young car mechanic and the two share a blissful evening at a bar enthralled in conversation.  She leaves soon after, returning to Berlin immediately immersed in the complications of her life.  Sophia has love for Ivan, who happens to be her best friend's husband, a love that will never actually come to fruition.  Angela Schanelec's Marseille is a character study that sets out to capture the trivialities, unexplainable emotions, and confusion of feelings that encompasses all of our lives.  This is a film that many are certain to find jarring, being intentionally shot in a way that leaves the viewer as merely a spectator in this young woman's life.  The film gives very little information about the characters intentions or her plans and I think that's the point .  Many of us, just like the characters in Marseille, aren't entirely sure what we want and Schanelec goes to extreme lengths to capture this melancholic sense of uncertainly.  Much of the film is meticulously photographed, intentionally leaving the viewer at a distance from the actions of its main protagonist.  It's certainly off-putting but a fascinating creative decision for sure.  Marseille is tough piece of filmmaking that effectively captures a young woman who like all of us at one point or another is unsure about many aspects of life.
8/10

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