Thoughts on 35 Shots of Rum

 After watching No Fear, No Die in April 2021, I wanted to watch another Claire Denis film on Criterion, and saw that 35 Shots of Rum, her 2008 film, had the same lead actor, Alex Descas, and I wanted to see how he had aged nearly twenty years later from playing a young struggling immigrant to playing a middle-aged father of a young college student. I had seen the film before, but only vaguely remembered it. What I got was a really beautiful and slow family drama about a father and adult daughter (Mati Diop) living in a small Paris apartment, with a very average routine life, and her wanting to move on with her independence, while him not wanting to let her go, countering that they have everything they need and shouldn’t change. A cute long-haired boho neighbor (Gregoire Colin) is the catalyst for her wanting to leave, but it’s more about her wanting to break out of their co-dependent relationship and monotonous life.

The father is a train conductor, whose colleague has been pushed into retirement, and it’s clear that his friend doesn’t like the patronizing goodbyes and wanted to stay in his career. But his exit is also symbolic of the father needing to grow more in his life and not depend on his daughter as his only support.

I like how quiet the film is, and that there are no big dramatic shouting moments between father and daughter, that the climatic moment of the film is a dance at a cafe, where the guy cuts in on them dancing together to dance with her, asserting his presence in her life, and prior to that, the father dances with a woman his own age, a possible match after years of being widowed. It’s a stunning turning point in the film, included with this post.

Sometimes I felt like their relationship was too uncomfortably close, seeming like an old married couple, and I appreciated whenever the film backed off of any potentially icky moments between them.

Of Claire Denis’ films, I’ve seen this one, No Fear, No Die, Let the Sunshine In, and High Life. This one is likely my favorite, though I’d have to see her films with Isabelle Huppert to see how I’d feel, since she’s done some of her best work with her, like White Material.