Lancelot of the Lake

Lancelot of the Lake has a decapitation within the first minute. And a crotch stabbing soon after. Too bad the movie gets boring soon after. Well, not boring, but not nearly enough violence for the middle hour. Lots of violence at the beginning, lots of violence at the end. In the middle is a look at a screwed up idea of loyalty. And that the entire myth of the Knights of the Round Table was just a pipe dream of impossible ideals. Although the use of cramped locations and ridiculous costumes just points out how most views of the Arthurian legend are not realistic at all. And I liked that it uses the French names and locations, because that just reminds me of Marie de France, a Frenchwoman probably living in England in the 12th Century. I read her lais back at summer camp. A week of mythology was a week of the most fun I had in a long time. I loved the stories, I loved that we watched Star Wars and Joseph Campbell (and I wrote a paper about the mythology common to them both), and wrote bad poetry (well, I just love writing bad poetry in general...). It was also the first place I remember learning anything about Freudian symbolism. A bunch of 7th graders discussing phallic symbols just led to a lot of giggling, but I do remember it all. Makes me giggle just thinking about it. Anyway, Bresson again pulls out all the stops with no acting and closeups of hands and legs. It just wouldn't be a Bresson film without them.