A Life in Suitcases-Theater (Cannes)

A Life in Suitcases (2005), Dir. Peter Greenaway

Greenaway has stated in the past that cinema has been "100 years of illustrated text.", and holds out hope that it will eventually become an artform unto itself. This aesthetic ideal is apparent in his most recent film, "A Life In Suitcases". With a narrative structure serving as a thread for the visuals to cling to, he gives himself free reign to experiment with various forms of storytelling, graphic representation, and the idea of perspective.

The first element that marks this film as uniquely Greenaway is the constant references to numbers. Greenaway has long been fascinated with numerology, and this film is organized through constant series of numbers that unify it almost as thoroughly as any narrative structure could. Through these systems of numbers, Greenaway also puts forth an idea of trying to organize life and the universe according to categories and numbers, very nearly like scientists categorize various forms of life. The difference is that Greenaway's categories are the sum of one person's life; that of Tulse Luper, and ends up as artistic installation in the form of 92 suitcases, each one representing a section of Luper's life. They vary widely, with such suitcases as "Frogs", "55 Men on Horseback", and "Body Parts".

Greenaway also bends our ideas about storytelling be recalling the Tulse Luper story in a cinema verite style, as if it were something you might see on the Discovery, A&E, or History Channels. With a specifically graphic design style of picture-in-picture, various "experts" tell us the story of Tulse Luper as we see it unfold-in the style of many a reenactment. Through the explanation of screen events, Greenaway frees himself to show us images that are often expressionistic and theatrical in their presentation. In fact, the opening sequences of the film are shown as if they were in a theater, with obviously artificial sets, theatrical lighting, and the kind of exaggerated acting that is necessary if the balcony patrons are going to see it.

In the story of Tulse Luper, Greenaway creates a character that we are never sure of, who sometimes seems like a villain, and sometimes seems like a hero, depending on where you might be standing. Through this, Greenaway also creates a person who is colorful in his adventures. Luper seems to stumble through his adventures much the same as anyone would; with cleverness, stupidity, betrayal, and a little bit of luck, both good and bad. To drive the concept of subjectivity even further, the film is set during the 20th century, spanning across both world wars. How we view Luper is a direct result of how we view the wars, fascism, rascism, religion, homosexuality, and all things that make us human.

As in most human stories, Luper's is filled with nudity and sex, violence, and injustice. At first it may seems jarring, until one remembers that a vast majority of art depicts these things. Greenaway's film is as dramatic as a gargantuan David; except for the simple fact that Greenaway's subject are moving.

With this film, Greenaway is definitely pushing his audience to question what they know as cinema, as well as what they know as human. It is definitely a must see for anyone who wants to join the fight against pandering, lowest common denominator filmmaking.