SYNOPSIS: “Universal Language,” a new surreal comedy now playing in theatres, mixes and matches three stories of human connection set within Winnipeg’s Iranian community. Two young girls try to retrieve money frozen in ice to buy glasses for a classmate, a tour guide explores Winnipeg’s most absurd landmarks and a civil servant moves from Quebec to Winnipeg to tend to his ailing mother.
CAST: Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi, Sobhan Javadi, Pirouz Nemati, Mani Soleymanlou, Danielle Fichaud. Directed by Matthew Rankin.
REVIEW: Touted as a “surreal comedy of disorientation” set “somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg,” “Universal Language” takes place in Canada, but in director Matthew Rankin’s idiosyncratic vision French and Farsi are the official languages.
The three, seemingly unrelated stories, form a narrative tryptic about how fate, luck and chance are key components to creating connection between people. While episodic in nature, it dovetails together in unexpected ways by the time the end credits roll, completing the sense of togetherness that lies at the film’s soul.
”Universal Language” is whimsical, both visually and thematically, but Rankin, while playful, takes his ideas seriously. The sense of belonging infused into the trio of tales is heartfelt, but never maudlin. It can be surreal (Why so many turkeys?) but it’s never saccharine. Instead it’s a nuanced look at the value people bring to communities, and how humanity burns bright, even in chilly Winnipeg winters.
Academy Award winning Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand returns to theatres with “Testament,” a satirical look at cancel culture and political correctness.
Rémy Girard is Jean-Michel Bouchard, a world-weary 73-year-old bachelor living in a retirement home. To pass the time during the day he walks in the local cemetery and volunteers at a school. At night, thinking about how little time he has left, he has trouble sleeping.
One afternoon a protest happens outside the retirement home. “Respect our First Nations,” the assembled crowd chants. The object of the activist’s disapproval is an antique fresco that hangs in the home’s front hallway. In its depiction of the Iroquois people welcoming Jacques Cartier to their land, the First Nations are presented as uncivilized and sexualized, whereas Cartier is decked out in European finery.
The protestors call it a distortion of history, a depiction of genocide created from a Eurocentric point of view and demand the home’s director, Suzanne Francoeur (Sophie Lorain), have the painting removed.
“This whole painting is a disgrace,” they say, “and we’re going to come back here every day until you do something about it.”
Suzanne finds herself in the midst of two scandals as she orders the fresco to be painted over, hidden from sight, only to have the Deputy Minister of Culture Raphaël Saint-Aubin (Robert Lepage) declare that the painting’s artist was “the greatest muralist of the 19th century” and should never have been covered. “What you’ve done is unspeakable,” he yells at Suzanne. “There are no words. It was a D’Aubigny, you idiot.”
As the controversy roils, Jean-Michel has an awakening as his feelings for Suzanne take shape.
As a satire “Testament” aims for obvious targets—woke culture, political correctness, eager activists—and goes after them with a sledgehammer. The absence of subtlety in Arcand’s culture war screed mires the satire with a “get off my lawn” mentality that feels too easy, too mocking.
In one scene Saint-Aubin and Director of Fine Arts Emmanuel D’Argenson (Yves Jacques) indulge in a whataboutism argument that hits every talking point in the anti-woke playbook. Trouble is, it doesn’t play like satire, it plays like bad social media memes given the breath to speak. It’s not exactly cutting edge.
Better is Jean-Michel’s awakening. As Suzanne becomes a scapegoat for her bureaucratic bosses his gruff exterior fades away, revealing his feelings for her. It’s a late start for a man who never embraced life completely, and Girard displays those wasted years, those regrets with a subtlety the rest of the movie lacks. By the film’s end, he has something to live for, and realizes that change is possible, no matter your age. That should be “Testament’s” real message, its beating heart. Not the poking of a finger in the eye of ideology.
SYNOPSIS: “Universal Language,” a new surreal comedy now playing in theatres, mixes and matches three stories of human connection set within Winnipeg’s Iranian community. Two young girls try to retrieve money frozen in ice to buy glasses for a classmate, a tour guide explores Winnipeg’s most absurd landmarks and a civil servant moves from Quebec to Winnipeg to tend to his ailing mother.
