Something Organic

Introduction by Bertrand Bonello at 9:30pm screening

Paul and Marguerite have been married for five years. They live in Montreal—he works the night shift at a zoo, she wanders around without much direction, and they both try to stave off the cold. His father, an aging Greek immigrant, needs constant care; their son, terminally ill, lives in a hospital ward. Bonello’s rarely screened first feature, anchored by a pair of remarkable performances by Romane Bohringer and Laurent Lucas, starts with the basic materials of the domestic drama and rearranges them in invigorating, startling new configurations. Even in 1998, Bonello’s eye had a calm, curious lucidity entirely its own—whether observing the hanging of dirty laundry, the movements of a caged tiger, or an orgy in the snow.

Screening with:

The Adventures of James and David
Bertrand Bonello, France, 2002, 11m
Bonello made this laidback comedic short—about a Canadian DJ’s visit to his brother’s new hair salon and the quarrel the two men get into over what is it exactly that makes a good cut—between The Pornographer and Tiresia, but the movie turns out to be closer to the territory of his first feature: an affectionate, charming ode to a little-seen corner of life in Montreal.