Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong
Weerasethakul, 2001)
The essential lack of major
incident that makes Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Blissfully Yours so noteworthy also has a tendency to either drive
away moviegoers not prepared to deal with its sloth-like pacing or pull them in
with its intoxicating atmosphere. My first viewing of it last year was an
exercise in frustration as I dug in my heels and resisted any of its sensual
pleasures as I hoped that its thematic strands would cohere into some sort of
profound statement. It seemed they never did, and I left the screening irritated
by the seeming self-indulgence of the filmmaker. Still, time was kind to my
opinion of it, and upon revisiting the film with a better idea of what to expect
from it, I find it a reasonably diverting, if not entirely successful, venture.
Going into Blissfully Yours with
anticipation of plot or deep character development is asking for trouble,
because there’s little of either to be found. Instead, the film sets up a
single, almost simplistic theme (How difficult is it to forget it all and play
hooky?), and examines it from the perspective of three self-absorbed characters.
There are critiques of the elements of capitalism that they need to escape (one
character fakes an illness to get out of work, only to enter a car where
figurines similar to the ones that she’s paid to make decorate the dashboard)
and the political environment that they seem largely unaware of (they picnic
near the hotly contested boarder between Burma and Thailand and blunder
obliviously through an old military installation), but mostly the film seems
concerned with conveying the state of mind that is required to reach even a
fleeting state of bliss.
Blissfully Yours
is divided into two halves by its opening credits sequence (which breaks the
film’s hard-won mood with some out of place intertextuality and a brash
pop-song). The first scenes show things that happen before the characters’
picnic rendezvous and the latter those that happen during it. The early scenes,
in near real time, introduce the audience to the three leads as they shirk
responsibilities and try to move away from their problems temporarily. Not only
do these characters have to drive across the country, make
driving arrangements, concoct excuses to get out of work, and get pressing
issues (such as illegally getting a Visa) out of the way before they can relax
for the afternoon, but also once they do get to their supposed paradise, their
emotional troubles keep messing up their ability to escape from it all. Roong, a
young Thai girl, is way too willing to sacrifice her desire to please her
partner (she’s been in an abusive relationship and gives her partner oral sex
without ever demanding the reciprocation she so clearly wants). Her boyfriend,
the illegal Burmese immigrant Min, is using Roong and her money to expedite his
immigration process (as the inelegant superimpositions of his doodles and notes
and his voiceovers let the audience know) and has to contend with his painful
skin condition while trying to enjoy himself sexually. Their friend and
assistant in the immigration process Orn is annoyed that her partner doesn't
listen to her when she asks him to stay home and inconvenienced by the
motorcycle that she has to ride. Then, once she finally couples with her
boyfriend, their brief afterglow is rudely interrupted. The message here seems
to be that any happiness in a life filled with so many external and emotional
pleasures is fleeting and is to be cherished.
For a film that recognizes
the allure and sheer pleasure of eroticism, the eroticism itself is not really being examined
thoroughly here so much as how the characters get themselves into a mental state
where they can forget their baggage enough to enjoy the sex. The sex itself is
almost perfunctory, and I personally found it about as erotic as tooth decay
even as I recognized the effect that it had on the characters. As such, the
film’s aspirations of becoming a truly sensual experience come up a bit short
for me. Blissfully Yours is a film about sensory pleasures that really
doesn’t provide very many for this viewer (though there’s probably nothing
more subjective, so each viewer’s experience will inevitably vary). I wish it
were more gorgeous or more funny or more something, because as well executed as
much of this gambit is, it's tough to embrace it in its current bloated and
sometimes off-putting form, whatever honestly might exist in it. My first time
through it, I really enjoyed the opening doctor's office visit, and then faced
diminishing returns as the film droned on. On a second viewing, the framework
seemed a little more consistent to me (perhaps because I knew the interminably
long driving sequences would eventually end), but there are few things that feel
as stunningly beautiful as they should in it. Also, because it’s apparent that
Weerasethakul has plugged his characters
into a loose narrative, it becomes more difficult to remain patient with the
more meandering interludes that put off narrative development. Once
a film tells the audience to expect a destination, work toward that destination
becomes rewarding, even if the road is eventually revealed to be more important.
If there were no narrative buildup at all, perhaps the movie’s many lulls
would be more bearable.
As
well observed as Blissfully Yours is, while watching it I don't know that
I'm truly getting a fresh perspective. There’s so little information given
about the characters that I really didn't think I know them enough to judge
them, and the movie's coda certainly asks the audience to do that. There’s
ultimately not a positive appraisal of any of the three leads and that's a bit
of a shame because the movie’s desire to turn the characters into larger
thematic constructs that can serve as targets for political attack undermines my
ability to enjoy their pleasure because it makes them feel less like “real”
individuals. The sense that this is a moment out of time that's being taken at
the expense of productivity of the rest of their lives already contains implicit
political critique, since any situation in which happiness must be so diligently
worked toward is inherently flawed, so any additional political content feels
like overkill. Still, as much as I complain, it’s probably no small
achievement that such subject matter is smuggled into the deceptively simple
setup of Blissfully Yours though without upsetting the movie’s delicate
homeostasis (though this seems achieved mostly by featuring politically ignorant
characters). Because Weerasethakul
delivers everything in the movie with the same sort of caution, the viewer’s
reaction to the film seems extraordinarily subjective. I wouldn’t be surprised
if my third viewing of it found me declaring it either a dismal failure or a
truly great work. For
now, I'll settle for ambivalence.
* * *
02-15-03
Jeremy Heilman
