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| Reviews of Blemish |
| A short film about
ageing, attraction, memory and much more. Two old people meet
up after a long time. He says he has come to compare skin, and
they drink “to wrinkles per square inch”. Once long ago they were attracted to each other. He watched her dancing at the edge of the sea, and she knew, from the way her husband looked, that he wanted more. She claims not to remember the episodes he recounts, but is not sure – “perhaps …”. |
| They compare the
changes of ageing: she had caught a glimpse of his hairy bum
on the beach, now, he tells her, it’s
more like a baby’s bottom. Her skin is no longer as smooth;
she has blemishes. |
| The afternoon progresses and we wonder how far they will be
able to take this new phase of their relationship. |
| Funny, affectionate, moving, the film has triggered some big
questions for me about how we manage our changing perceptions
and memories of others and ourselves as the years accumulate. |
| The short format and slightly theatrical delivery add to our
sense that this is something special and unusual, almost poetic.
We are offered a fleeting look at a private world; like the heroine,
I would love to believe it. |
| Margaret Banfield, psychotherapist |
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| I have seen this
film twice and had a different response each time. The first
time I thought it was pretty brilliant and loved it, but found
the woman somewhat wooden. The second time I did not think that
at all. I thought she was great. In fact I found the whole film
was a piece of poetry in motion. It was poetry in how they spoke
to each other, looked and touched each other. A great tenderness,
mixed with humour and human-ness, in the dialogue, the actors
presence and how the camera is used. So touching. I loved it.
A rare gem of a film. Buy the DVD! |
| Josefine Speyer,
53, psychotherapist |
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| I found this both
moving and funny - and in these days of glowing youthful limbs
as the basis of the image to stir our hearts, something that
I wish we could see much more of. I recommend this little film
to both old and young. It is a sensitive exploration both of
old skin and of the potential romance between these two old people. |
| Julie Christie |
|
| “Without a
blemish” is a phrase in which the word blemish sits
comfortably - and is often used to emphasize a character without
stain, the perfection of a countenance, flawless skin. |
| On
its own, “Blemish”,
used as the title of this film, draws attention to itself. It
conjures up words like fusty, archaic and things found in my
gran's attic. Its only rhyming mate is Flemish (and squeamish
at a pinch) - but these associations help me, on reflection,
to chart some of the uneasy fascination I experienced with this
film about a love affair. |
| The blemish in the
affair is that the couple are older. Older than what? Than me?
Not much. A bit too close if I'm honest. Older than we are used
to seeing on the screen -- undoubtedly. |
| The story is about
the renewal of a relationship from once-upon-a-time. It has all
the elements of stirring romance, the regrets of what might have
been in the intervening years, and the it's-not-too-late happy
ending. Sensitively portrayed on screen. |
| But, I said to myself
as I watched the film, this is a good thing, it is time that
ageism was challenged in this arena, to be proclaimed or at least,
as it is in this film, eased into public view. |
| So what is the unease? |
| Now that I am 64,
my hair has gone, I get the odd valentine, birthday greeting,
bottle of wine.... I can be handy mending a fuse... Sunday morning
go for a ride ... |
| ... but for the
record (not the Beatles') I have a full-blooded lovelife, despite
my grown up children's aversion. (denial?) |
| And yet I found
my own (intermalised?) aversion: to the idea, the mere thought,
of lovers making love without flawless skin, or sculpted bodies,
or athletically outrageous lovemaking. Is this just the thought
of seeing it on-screen? - which, to be clear, we never do
in this film! I suspect it's something in me that I was unaware
of until I saw “Blemish”. Something I want to fathom. |
| David White |
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