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The Tulse Luper Suitcases
Directed by Peter Greenaway
Starring: J.J. Feild, Victoria Abril, Isabella Rossellini, Franka Potente
Script: Peter Greenaway
Running Time: 2:05
Country: USA, The Netherlands
Year: 2003
Official Site: The Tulse Luper Suitcases
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One doesn't give birth to a work by resting only on a profusion of average techniques and "did-you-see-me?" effects. With The Tulse Luper suitcases, the "epic" of a man whose adventures embrace almost an entire century, Peter Greenaway sins by excess of ambition. Drowned in an orgy of visual effects, his story goes straight down without any element, whether it's the mise en scène or the actors themselves, managing to help it. Unbearable to the point of nausea.
The idea could have been seductive. To follow the adventures of a writer from 1928, the year uranium was discovered, to 1989, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall, throughout the globe (from Utah to Kyoto, while passing through Europe, Manchuria and Siberia), justified much more than two hours in his company. The idea of using suitcases (92 in all, the atomic number uranium) as symbols of his voyages, or, like encyclopedic archives, showed an enthusiastic inspiration. Ambitious to the point of insanity, Greenaway presents this film like the first part of a trilogy, which is not limited to the big screen, since his project also comprises of a televised series, a DVD for each suitcase, a Web site and books.
Onscreen, a showy display of his visual arsenal, sprinkled with fairy dust, invades the screen without slowing down the rhythm. Frames within frames, horizontal and vertical split-screens, superimposed archival footage, screen printed inlays, postcards, etc. Not content with attacking our eyes, the film also goes for hearing. Voices are repeated into infinity, and the voice-over offers no respite. After throwing all of these elements in a mixer, Greenaway serves us his experimental dish. And bon appétit.
Greenaway shows in two hours that he has not digested the new visual languages, that he wanted to confront other more traditional ones. His film resembles the result of a sleepless night on special effects software, during which he forgets to check the manuals, satisfied to randomly click and clutter his screen. One easily imagines his illuminated face, marveling in front of the potential of modern information technology. Not content to take himself for James Joyce, the director self-congratulates by quoting himself from his works, like A Zed & Two Noughts or The Draughtsman's Contract. In front of so much energy spent in vain, one is desolate and hopes for only one thing: that he packs his bags.
Moland Fengkov
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The Tulse Luper Suitcases review
