In
The latestof French-based Gatlif's ventures into the world ofGypsy and Eastern European culture, Transylvania is at once romance,road movie, ethnological celebration, and vehicle for the unshackled ball ofemotive frenzy that is Argento at full tilt.Narrative patchiness and a sense that we've been here before with Gatlif - the film is very nearly a female remake of his1998 Gadjo Dilo- might limit the film's sales, but Argento's hipprofile, together with uniformly dazzling visuals, should give the film aboost, especially in
Despite thetitle, the film has nothing whatsoever to do with vampires - even though Gatlif plays a sly nod to horror conventions at the verystart, as three women arrive in a mysteriously deserted, eerily shotTransylvanian village.
Beforelong, however, the place proves to be teeming with life, and then some.
Argentoplays Zingarina, a young woman who has arrived from
When
AlthoughMarie tries to hustle her back to France, Zingarinaprefers to go on her own voyage of discovery, first with a little Gypsy girl,then in tandem Tchangalo (wolfishly charismaticTurkish actor Ünel, from Head-On), anadventurer who's trying to get a package of silver and gold to Germany.
Like many Gatlif films, this is a drama about a non-Romany undergoinga sort of Gypsification of the soul - learning totravel without passport, borders or fixed identity. Zingarina,who before long adopts traditional Gypsy garb, learns to love the life of theroad - and not a linear road, either.
One of thefilm's appeals is that conventional notions of space and time are wilfullythrown aside, as is any sense of straightforward narrative: the characters,like the film itself, travel for the sheer hell of it.
This is notspecifically a film about Gypsies but about a certain hybrid quality of EasternEuropean identity: a celebration of
The filmitself is equally hybrid in terms of language, with Argentoalone slipping jarringly between French, Italian and English, while the severalother languages of the region provide a backdrop.
This is notalways to the film's advantage, however, especially in the stilted multilingualdialogues between Argento and Ünel,and the whole unruly confection at times suggests the ultimate chaoticEuro-pudding.
Argento'sand Ünel's performances set a frenzied tone that onlyoccasionally lets up - Transylvania is filled with riotous music,plentiful boozing and repeated cathartic explosions of the soul.
There arenot many key narrative moments that stand out - the most memorable withoutdoubt being the sex scene that's inopportunely interrupted by a bear.
But Gatlif directs with the conviction of a man who's utterlysteeped in the moods and cultures of his chosen setting, and there's a certainheady pleasure to be had from a film that seemingly heads out without a roadmap and simply follows its nose.
One greatasset is Celine Bozon'svivid Scope photography, especially in the latter snowbound scenes, while adecided flaw is the way that Amira Casar drops out of the action so quickly, after providing acooler, more thoughtful counterpoint to Argento atthe star.
Productioncompanies
PrincesFilms
PyramideProductions
Internationalsales
PyramideInternational
Producers
Christian Paumier
Doru Mitran
Cinematographer
Celine Bozon
Editor
Monique Dartonne
Proddesigner
Brigitte Brassart
Music
Tony Gatlif
Delphine Mantoulet
Main cast
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