‘Scarlet’ Review: A Serene, Romantic Tale of a Young Woman’s Dreams Coming True
Courtesy of Kino Lorber.
"No one believes in magic anymore. No one sings anymore except you." These are words spoken by a forest sorceress to a young girl called Juliette, the charming and caring heart at the center of Scarlet, Italian filmmaker Pietro Marcello’s latest work. Loosely adapted from Scarlet Sails by the Soviet-era novelist Alexander Grin, Scarlet is a lush, whimsical berceuse that taps into the dark and light of the world, much like its fairytale-esque source material. Shifted from its original Russian setting to the countryside of Normandy, France, during the interwar period, Scarlet serves as a continuation of Marcello's fascination with a bygone era where artisans were revered, and people still used their handcrafted talents to create the most beautiful facets of their lives. The director's follow-up to the critically-praised Martin Eden from 2019, Scarlet functions with varying degrees of success as a movie concerned with its brilliant female protagonist's emotional and spiritual liberation from a world closing in around her.
In 1918, a man called Raphaël returns from French military service to his home in a tiny rural village, only to hear his wife has died in his absence under tragic circumstances. In this moment of grief, Raphaël learns he has a daughter named Julliete, born while he was at war. Raphaël is taken in by Madame Adeline, the owner of a crumbling farm, and together they raise Juliette in an uncommon household full of music, creativity, and love. Years later, as a young girl, Juliette hears of a prophecy concerning her future: "One morning, you'll spot scarlet sails in the sky. They'll be for you, and you'll fly off with them to a magnificent land." As Juliette endures the highs and lows of growing up, she never forgets the prediction of the scarlet sails set to change her life.
After Martin Eden, Scarlet serves as a continuation of Marcello's fascination with the proletariat class. The film's central characters use their own two hands to make an honest living for themselves, and they find much inspiration and solace in their quaint country surroundings. As Scarlet spans the years between the World Wars, rising insecurity is built around the disappearance of true artisans in an increasingly industrialized world, shown through Raphaël's initial success as a maker of fine wooden toys that ultimately become obsolete as they go out of fashion in favor of modern, motorized ones. Marcello's work brims with nostalgia for forgotten days, which he combines with a dreamy femininity for the first time to develop an exciting creative departure in Scarlet.
Courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The leading cast in Scarlet contributes extraordinarily to the movie's dazzling atmosphere. Newcomer Juliette Jouan was just twenty at the time of her casting as Juliette. Nevertheless, she expertly produces the nuanced emotions her radiant character necessitates, even singing her own parts when Scarlet takes on a near-musical quality in its second half. With a beautiful heart-shaped face, Jouan meets the beauty surrounding her, regularly captured by the tight close-ups of the film's camera. As Juliette's father Raphaël, Raphaël Thiéry, (who will appear in Poor Things from Yorgos Lanthimos), holds the film's beginning as a pained creator, completely gnarled on the outside but feeding the audience with moving glimpses of his sensitive core. French icon Noémie Lvovsky also serves in a memorable role as Adeline, becoming the outspoken, powerful matriarch that holds Scarlet's unlikely family unit together. In a pleasant surprise, another French superstar makes an appearance as the movie draws to a close –– literally falling from the sky –– the eternally boyish Louis Garrel, serving as the adventurous, romantic counterpart to Juliette's grounded essence.
As reflected in Scarlet's enchanting look, visual language is essential to Marcello's filmmaking. Working with Italian cinematographer Marco Graziaplena for the first time, they shot the film on Super 16mm, producing film grain, deep saturation, and an overall filter that amplifies the movie’s dream-like imagery. Graziaplena's camera movements never detract from the simplistic, storybook qualities of the narrative, with handheld camerawork and a few zoom shots being the boldest chances taken. In connection with both Martin Eden and his reverence for the past, Marcello utilizes archival footage during moments of Scarlet, most strikingly in the film's introduction, as Raphaël returns from war: Using historical footage from Armistice Day at The Bay of the Somme. Unlike other films that attempt to integrate archival footage only to create unintentional visual disconnection, Marcello's sensibilities align seamlessly. He even mentions in press notes that he finds it cheaper to incorporate historical footage versus ramping up production budgets by recreating period set pieces.
Courtesy of Kino Lorber.
While Scarlet's mood and tone contribute to its triumph as a cinematic experience, the film falters in some thematic approaches. In opposition to the masculine sensibilities of Martin Eden and its "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" protagonist, Scarlet translates as a much softer, more feminine film in its look and feel. Yet, its components of female emancipation have moments of complication. In many ways, Juliette flourishes to become a young woman emboldened by her intellect and magnetism. Still, ultimately she is portrayed as an identity indistinguishably tied to the men in her life, whether her father or her love interest. The film harbors an almost clashing theme at the expense of women in an attempt to depict the cyclical nature of violence, all but disconnected from the rest of the work. One of the movie’s longest scenes is particularly misguided with its gaze, as Garrel’s character Jean observes an unknowing Juliette while she naps by a pond, attempts at romance that come across more creepily than intended. Furthermore, the trajectory of Scarlet’s narrative becomes less interesting when it concerns itself with Juliette's fairytale ending and spends too little time focused on the fascinating concept of "chosen family" explored in the first portion of the movie.
Like a summertime breeze, Scarlet is a cinematic experience that will gently flow over audiences in the most gratifying manner. The film's admiration for a bygone era of creativity and its splendid female protagonist come together to create a simple yet moving work from Marcello, one of the most intriguing filmmakers of our time. After making its world premiere as the opening movie of the Directors' Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, Scarlet will finally be released theatrically in North America by Kino Lorber. Beginning on Friday, June 9, Scarlet will play in New York City at Film at Lincoln Center and the IFC Center before rolling out to other cities in the following weeks.
4/5
For more information about Scarlet, visit Kino Lorber’s official website.