A Prince is an unusual film in many ways, not least of which because it is told almost entirely through visuals and narration. Even where there is dialogue, it feels secondary, though it is not. Using a cast almost entirely comprised of non-professional actors, aside from the well-regarded French legends who provide the narration, the director, Pierre Creton, has created a work that is unlikely to find a large audience but which is worth sitting down to see. It is at once naturalistic and fantastic, a meditation and comment on connection, desire, independence, growth and death, as well as a photographic feast that luxuriates in the images it captures of the French countryside.
This is not a film concerned with plot and as much as it is ever concerned with character, they relate directly to the themes, which they reflect. It is a film that feels made to be experienced, more than talked about, and yet so much is in there to talk about. Do you begin with the fantastic elements, like the medusa penis toward the end of the film? Do you concentrate on explorations of time and place, particularly those lovely shots of the countryside? Perhaps one can examine the graphic sexual content in the film? Regardless of what you want to look at, there is a lot to pick apart, and given that the film runs a mere 80 minutes-including the credits-this is no mean feat.
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While the plot of the film is barely existent, exist it does and it is rather simple. A young horticulturist finds himself in a three-way relationship with two older men, after leaving home to get away from his alcoholic and delusional mother, and oblivious father. Yet, this is not really a story of a man running from his problems but having accepted them and knowing what is best. We watch as he lives his life, mostly happy, occasionally confused and always searching. What for? Well, if the scenery is as pretty as what we have here, does it really matter?
Creton, who also plays the older version of the main character, has been called a peasant artist, and lives as a farmer, with this film apparently bearing some semblance to events in his own life. Yet, while we get to see much of country life, of markets and greenhouses, of narrow lanes and open fields, we also never get a good grasp on who else was in his life, beyond his parents and his lovers.
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There is a character that remains unseen until nearly the end, about whom the film initially seems will be the focus, but when we finally meet him, there is disappointment, which might be the point but could also just as easily be a director who is not a full-time film maker erring with some shoddy execution.
As a whole, the film is well made and, if not exciting, has enough interest and care to remain engaging. The brief run time certainly helps. This is not to declare the film a slog, but it is glacial in places and yet something always feels like it is happening. This is one of the few films to somehow show interiority, which is remarkable when it occurs at any point in a film. Perhaps because the film, narrated as it is, feels like a set of memories, you can engage with it differently than you would a film or story depicted in current time.
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What is the film really about? It seems to this viewer that it is about living an authentic life, without being shackled to the pain of one’s past. While you cannot escape that pain entirely, you do not have to let it dictate the course of your life. You can grow and live and bloom in wild and unexpected ways and places, much like the rare flowers the characters pursue. Not for everyone, but, I say, give this one a look. If you can find it.
This sounds promising.
I will watch this.