I am not sure I want to see ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, but there is François-Xavier Sauvage’s enthusiastic review on Facebook, and then a fight with my husband. Barricaded behind a small popcorn, I wait. Should have bought a large. Hey, it’s a Tarentino movie, and I am not even wearing a hat to protect myself against the violence
.
But I don’t find the violence in this movie annoying or invasive. It is mostly a spoof of violence.
But I see double. Brad Pitt is the double of Leonardo DeCaprio who, as a fading star, plays in Italian spaghetti westerns, themselves the doubles of American Westerns. The TV Brad and Leonardo watch together is itself a mirror/double of their past glory. The filmed reflect the emotions expressed in reality, making Hollywood a double of reality, but a sanitized double. (The king of Lysol reality or fairytale being, of course, Disney.)
What happens outside the roll of film if stardom cannot be maintained at its peak? What happens to one of the doubles? As DiCaprio’s character shows, nothing but self-destruction. For too long, the star and the roll of film have been one, part of the fairy tale, part of the illusion, here symbolized by Sharon Tate, always beautiful, always happy, (never tragic, never real). To go further DiCaprio’s reality is the roll of film. He is Sharon Tate (who also looks at her double at the movies), full of hope and shine within. Out of the shiny strip of film, he does not exist. What is reality, in fact? And we, the spectators, on the other side of the mirror, watching a movie within a movie? Are we watching ourselves? Are we realizing that reality too is an illusion?
Tarentino appears to enjoy his acrobatics between narrative and ideas, as shows the pace’s fluidity and the way his analysis of Hollywood and the story manage to never disconnect. Intellect and emotion hold hands. And yet, this is a highly watchable movie, highly entertaining and without a dull moment. This parable about Hollywood business and Hollywood narcissistic impact (the constant reflection, double) is also a moving, and at times humorous, drama.
Amidst the splendid cast, I don’t remember when I saw acting as faultless as DiCaprio’s; but watch for ten-year-old Julia Butters, who was part of my two favorite scenes and who has been compared to a young Meryl Streep. Also, pay attention to another powerful scene with Brad Pitt and Bruce Dern. Dern plays an old friend who is now blind---the significant blind man. Let me paraphrase what a young hippie tells Brad Pitt (/the double/Sancho Panza/the ordinary guy/you and me), afterwards: “It is not him who is blind, it is you who are blind!”
Last time I had a fight with my husband, the movie was delightful. This time, it was a tour de force.
Pierre, where are you? I need a
fight!
