Starring: Elia Suleiman, Gregoire Colin, Gael Garcia Bernal, Stephen McHattie
Distributor: Potential Films
Runtime: 102 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2020
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It must be Heaven. Not quite. And the question also arises: can there be peace on earth?
Those who know the films of writer-director, performer, Elia Suleiman, know that he is an expert at a particular kind of comedy, partly deadpan, partly satire and parody, partly gentle about human nature. But, all the time, he is also making political point.
He directed documentaries in the 1990s, especially about Palestine. He himself is a Palestinian who comes from Nazareth. Into the 21st-century and he made a number of comedies (which are worth recommending to those who might be coming to his work via this film; in 2002 there was Divine Intervention, in 2009, The Time that Remains).
Practically everyone makes the comparison with the French comedies of CJacques Tati, especially his character, Monsieur Hulot. Tati, early in his career, tall and gaunt. Elia Suleiman is rather shorter, a touch more rotund, distinctive with rather shabbier clothes, always a coat, always a hat. He is in middle-age. He is bearded, bespectacled. He barely says a word throughout the whole film. Tati was a master of mine in the eccentricities of ordinary situations. So too, Suleiman in his character ES, with his hands always behind his back, like Tati. But he generally stands, sits, observes. He can be described as enigmatic, quizzical, a spectator curious about the human race.
He sets a tone at the beginning with a religious ceremony, robed Christian clergy, the faithful, many of them very young, a cross and a symbolic knocking at the door of the tomb – but the man behind the door is refusing to open, the celebrant taking off his crown, going behind the scenes, sounds of a fight, the door opening and the faithful invited in. We are not (never) sure what it means but it does set the comic tone.
The first part of the film is quiet, ES in his native Nazareth, alone in his apartment, wandering the streets, sitting in cafes, visiting his wife’s grave, exploring the countryside. Then he flies to Paris – nervously looking out the window at what seems to be a shuddering wing. However, he becomes a tourist in Paris, the audience wandering and observing with him, the monuments, the sites, a menacing stranger staring at him in the metro, beggars in the street served food by workers driving an ambulance, nuns serving at an outdoor soup kitchen, a priest standing smoking and observing, all kinds of detail. However, there is a purpose in visiting Paris, to raise money for a film about Palestine, with a lot of discussion about how such a film could be made, how polemic it should be, how political – or rather should it be simply showing a character like ES visiting France and the US.
Because the US is his next destination, similar kinds of tourism and observing, an encounter with Gael Garcia Bernal as he goes to discuss production finance in New York City – and failing again. This time there are more explicit references to Palestine, a strong rally of exiled Palestinians, a conference and his sitting on a panel.
One commentator remarked that It must be Heaven is comedy of the absurd. It is. However, the commentator added “absolute nonsense – but in a good sense”.
Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
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