Absurdist drama can be interesting, provided with a lot of sardonic vigor, or, at least, silly energy. But such liveliness is not to be found in Blier's 1979 "Buffet".
Supposedly this is a dark joke at the expense of film noir. But one hardly gets the noirish atmosphere, nor even a "post-modern" mock version of it. Instead, we see a lot of evidence of Bunuel-ish "irony" (reading: failed jokes that only intellectual-wannabe's pretend to get), and Godard-like cold detachment (the kind usually found in the psychotice and impotent). The combined total effect is forced, listless and absent-minded.
But since Blier is the author here, there are "moments":
-The opening of the film, where the camera scans through an empty metro station, showing the listless gliding of the escalator: this is perhaps where 蔡明亮 got his idea for the opening of 天边一朵云.
-In the impossibly spacious waiting hall of the metro: here we see shot after shot of beautiful frames that, in terms of color tones, the light-shadow contrast, and the color tones, pay homage to Edward Hopper.
-The way Depardieu managed to freak out the ex-accountant with his attentive stare into the latter's back of head, and how these two total strangers quickly got into a discussion on violent death: probably the funniest scene of the whole film right there, 4 mins into the movie. Reminds me of the opening of heart of the driver who picked up Billy's brother, a hitchhiking stranger, after his ecsape from the gansters, in Truffaut's "Shooting the Piano Player".
-The apartment building and the inside of Depardieu's home are, again, impossibly spacious and deliberately surreal. Beautiful, though, in a noirish way, only in color.
All in all, this is a mischievous film, a naughty diversion for a great yet uneven director. The joke is not only at the expense of the bourgeoisie sentiments, their taboo and their common decency, but particularly at us "common" audience who have conventional Hollywood (film noir) expectations. At every turn of the plot, and with every mis-en-scene, Blier triumphantly defeats one expectation after another, leaving us unaccountably thirsty for "normalcy".
Therefore, a "zen-moment" in my film-watching experience.
Although I couldn't say exactly that I had a great time with the movie, tis kind of anti-film does have a "cleansing" effect. For that I am grateful. OK, now I am ready for my 5th re-watch of "Maltese Falcon"......
