Sitcom
(1997)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: B-
Francois
Ozon likes to push the barriers of human sexuality, and it gets tricky when
taking on television comedies. Sitcom (1997) wants to take on the
conventions of that staple of commercial TV.
The first problem is that situation comedies, their perceptions and
progress have changed over the years and vary from country to country. British TV has more sexually open series,
while the U.S. sitcoms have been oppressed (late
1940s – late 1960s), progressive (1970s into the early 1980s), and very, very
regressive (just about all of them junk to date). French TV leans towards the British style,
but that does not stop any of these types from having oppressive conventions to
survive the inevitable TV grind.
One other
common denominator is the dysfunction family, a worldwide phenomenon. Writer/director Ozon begins the film with a
one-joke send-up, then tells the rest of the film in flashback to seemingly
explain how the characters got there.
However, the film treats that as a fake trapping and goes off into other
directions. There is no way to tell how
Ozon specifically sends up French TV, since it is not even released on DVD in
the U.S., but the film pushes sexuality
into taboo areas. The problem is that
merely doing that, which is sadly becoming a bigger joke every day, is rarely
to be taken seriously and is very hit or miss here. Some of it is outrageous, then tries to skirt
what it has done by playing with the idea of what is or is not the reality of
the narrative. This willingness to go
all over the place is not just a way of avoiding responsibility, if that is
what Ozon is doing (his name is on it, so if so, he is kidding himself), but to
try to negate the impact of what has been presented. Actual sitcoms do this all the time, but the
way it is done here is not any kind of response, nor do two wrongs make a
right.
One of
the things that is right is the cast, including the parents (Evelyn Dandry as
the somewhat oppressed mother, Francois Marthquret as the even more troubled
than obvious father), the suicidal daughter (Marina De Van), her suddenly ready
to admit he is gay brother (Adrien De Van), and her emotionally unstable
boyfriend (Stephane Rideau). They are
the thing that saves this film from mediocrity.
Whether Ozon has seen them or not, we have seen everything a sitcom can
do to be crude (beginning with Married…
With Children) and all the conventions of sitcoms and soap operas were more
deeply and cleverly addressed in the still-great U.S. TV classic Soap.
That leaves us with a film that has some moments, but still needed to
add a mouse to further the nuttiness, which seemed desperate when all was said
and done. Only Ozon knows what he was
trying to accomplish with this film, and that is the problem. Sitcom
is not everything it should be, but will no doubt amuse those who like sexual
comedy, no matter how pointless. That is
the kind of audience that does not take sex, or themselves, seriously. There could be a few other things to find
good about this film, but simply not enough.
The
anamorphically enhanced image is a 1.66 X 1 image in the center of a 1.78 X 1
frame, meaning that the image is bookended, as well as letterboxed. The result is a bit softer, oddly, than
expected, off of what looks like a PAL transfer. Color holds up better, though, and
cinematographer Yorick Le Saux does not explicitly go for the flat lighting
that permeates the usual TV sitcom. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has very healthy Pro Logic surrounds, with music by
Eric Neveux that is also not trying to emulate situation comedies on TV. Dolby lists the film as being a digital sound
release film, but that does not necessarily mean a 5.1 mix, and especially not
a guaranteed good one. This sound is
fine. The only extras are the trailer, 4
trailers for other New Yorker releases, and the six-minutes-long silent film Photo de Famille that Ozon shot back in
1988. This was the basis for Sitcom and is a silent short. It is amusing and gives us ideas of the other
directions Ozon could have gone with Sitcom.
Ozon is
now on a streak of films that are getting picked up for national distribution,
so more and more people are going to want to see his other work. It is worth a look, for even in its failures,
it is not a disaster and at least dares to try to take a stand. Even this critic was not happy with a few
events in the film, but Ozon is a smart director and it will be interesting to
see more of his work.
- Nicholas Sheffo
