Laurent is one of the most expressive and sensitive actresses of her generation. I must confess this is the first of her directorial effort
I've seen, and I am completely blown away. The first 20 minutes are
just extraordinarily beautiful; they remind me of Malick's very
spiritual _To the Wonder_. After that _Plonger_ gets much, much darker.

Paz (an always fascinating and regal Maria Valverde) is a free-spirited photographer searching for herself, for breakthrough in her art, for transcendence. She falls madly in love with Cesar, but his needs and
her pregnancy prevent her from an opportunity on the Arabian peninsula.
Years later, feeling increasingly trapped and depressed, she leaves
family behind and runs off. The film becomes a mystery, with Cesar
eventually tracking down her destination: a diving resort in Muscat,
Oman.

Thus halfway through the film, the narrative and point-of-view
completely shifts from the woman to the man. Prior to that, we
don't even know what Cesar does for a living; this perhaps highlights
the tunnel visions these two young lovers labor under. The audience
now search for Paz and her story with Cesar. There is no happy
ending, but a sort of epiphany emerges in the form of a shark Paz
has "adopted" and has tracked via a GPS device! The ending fittingly dramatizes the deep need of its artistic generation Xers to expand
their consicousness, connect to the whole wide world, even if it means endangering their links to their own roots.

The subject matter is clearly not for everyone, and I have to applaud
Laurent;s courage in choosing such a risky subject and narrative structure.
The film is supposedly based on a novel; it reminds me of the
screenplays in a couple films by Andre Techine and Nicole Garcia. The philosophical bridging of internal and external universes also reminds
me of Wenders' _Submergence_, but frankly _Plonger_ (or "Diving") is a
far greater film. The editing, the lighting, choice of music (or
silence) are all masterful, incredibly well thought-out, and designed
to make every scene unique. I am stunned that a busy actress like
Laurent can find the time to construct such a meticulous, visionary
film. It seems to have emerged whole and entire out of nothing. She is
a major, major talent; every film she directs from now on is a must-see.

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Incidentally, I saw Melanie Laurent in _Rafle_, about Vichy France's
rounding up of Jewish childern. Laurent, who is Jewish, plays a heroic Caucasian nurse trying to protect the children in vain. (Almost all the thousands rounded up perished in Nazi death camps in real life.) It
is a very successful film in France; in cinematic terms it is rather pedestrian. However, it has numerous gut-wrenching scenes, the most
powerful of which finds soldiers and policement forcibly separating
mothers from their children -- which was shamefully reenacted in the U.S.
this year.


(for A.)

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