Isabelle Eberhardt (film)

Isabelle Eberhardt
French theatrical film poster
Directed by	Ian Pringle[1]
Produced by	Daniel Scharf Jean Petit Isabelle Fauvel
Written by	Stephen Sewell
Starring	Mathilda May Peter O'Toole
Music by	Paul Schütze
Cinematography	Manual Teran[2]
Production company	Les Films Aramis Seon Films Flach Films
Distributed by	Palace Entertainment
Release dates	1991
Running time	113 minutes[3]
Country	Australia France
Language	English
Box office	$14,323 (Australia)

Isabelle Eberhardt is a 1991 Australian-French biographical drama film directed by Ian Pringle. The film follows the adult life of Isabelle Eberhardt and was filmed in Algiers, Paris and Geneva. It stars Mathilda May as Eberhardt and Peter O'Toole as Hubert Lyautey. It received financial backing from the Film Finance Corporation Australia and was nominated for three awards at the 1991 Australian Film Institute Awards. It was screened at the 1991 Melbourne International Film Festival and was also released in cinemas in Australia, though did not have a home media release. The film received mixed to negative reviews.

Plot

Isabelle Eberhardt (Mathilda May) travels from North Africa to be with her father, who is dying in Geneva. Shortly after his death, the wife of Marquis de Mores summons Eberhardt to Paris. de Mores has disappeared in North Africa, and his wife wished to hire Eberhardt to track him down, as she is familiar with the region. Eberhardt settles in Algiers, though she quickly abandons the search for de Mores due to interference from the French authorities, and assumes that de Mores is dead. Eberhardt often journeys into the desert, and writes about her experiences there for her publisher Victor Barrucand (Claude Villers). She falls in love with Slimene (Tchéky Karyo), a French Foreign Legion soldier. Through Slimene, Eberhardt makes contact with the secretive Sufi brotherhood, the Qadiriyya.

Eberhardt attracts increasing attention as her writings become more political, a reaction to her witnessing the abuses of the French colonists. A French military officer named Comte (Richard Moire) imprisons Eberhardt and abuses her. An Arab swordsman viciously attacks her, and Eberhardt believes that Comte is responsible for the attack. Comte arranges for Eberhardt's deportation, though she returns to North Africa against Slimene's wishes. After her return she meets another French officer, Major Hubert Lyautey (Peter O'Toole). The two become friends, however, when Lyautey asks Eberhardt to report to him on hostile Arab groups, she faces an ethical dilemma.

Themes

Writing in "Australian Film 1978–1994", Raymond Younis attributed many themes to the film, saying it encompassed "the search for identity and the creative constitution of the self; the nature and role of the writer in a tumultuous world where values are compromised or surrendered; the issue of complicity in dishonourable political and military processes and in the brutality of colonisation; the paradox of tribal conflict among the indigenous people; the need for love and companionship; and the desire for oblivion under a sky which seems to be indifferent to the fate of such restless and tormented wanderers."^[2]

Writing in her 1999 book "Feminism and Documentary", Diane Waldman said the film referred "only schematically to the complicated religious and political climate" in North Africa at the time, and no explanation was given for the Arabic reaction to Eberhardt's Arab persona. Waldman noted that costuming and make-up for the film highlighted Eberhart's femininity, showing her in profile so that her breasts appear beneath her robes and portraying her as wearing lipstick and eye make-up in the desert, something that Eberhardt would not have done.^[4]

Production

Isabelle Eberhardt was a joint French and Australian project. The Film Finance Corporation Australia invested $1.9 million towards the film's production.^[5] It was shot on 35 mm film and filmed in Algiers, Paris and Geneva.^[2] Ian Pringle said he read about the life of Isabelle Eberhardt about ten years prior to filming, and was fascinated and intrigued by her. Pringle said for him production was both exciting and sad. Exciting because he was finally telling her story, though sad because as filming progressed he realised no film about her life would do her justice.^[6] Salacious sex scenes which "read like erotic fiction" in the script were shot but not used in the final cut of the film.^[7]

Music

Paul Schütze was commissioned to compose the music for the film. Tracks were recorded in 1990. Schütz released the tracks on 1 January 1994 on an album entitled Isabelle Eberhardt: The Oblivion Seeker. Schütz stated he worked with three styles of music for the album: "Romantic European style melodic pieces for the world Isabelle leaves but which never really releases its grip upon her, stylised pieces with a strong Arab flavour which link her to her beloved desert, and pieces in which the two elements conflict to mirror the heart of her dilemma." The album included several pieces of music which were not actually featured in the film.^[8]

William Tilland from AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying the "music slips back and forth between European romanticism and a restrained ethnic exoticism which includes touches of synthesized Middle Eastern oud and modal scales. Several pieces combine the two elements in an ambivalent, unresolved fashion, suggesting the tension that exists in the life and mind of the film's principle character", concluding the album is "a rich and majestic piece of work."^[9]

Release and reception

The film was shown at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 1991 and the Verona Film Festival in 1992.^[10] It grossed $14,323 at the box-office in Australia.^[11] It was not given a home media release.^[2]

Josh Ralske from AllMovie gave the film 1½ out of 5 stars, saying it was "a flawed docudrama, but the woman whose life it depicts was such a fascinating subject that the film can't help but be somewhat interesting", concluding "unfortunately, the film is not quite good enough to recommend to those who aren't familiar with Isabelle Eberhardt's life and work, and those who are familiar with her are likely to be disappointed."^[12] Younis called the film a "hodgepodge", saying it lurched from "one sub-plot to another, while the really interesting material is submerged for significant periods". He praised the film's cinematography and art direction, though concluded the film "undercuts the figure who most represented the creative individual. Somewhere in this meandering film there is a fascinating story about a fascinating person that deserves to be told in more coherent and cogent terms.^[2]

Accolades

Isabelle Eberhardt received three nominations at the 1991 Australian Film Institute Awards.^[13]

References

Bibliography

• French, Lisa (2009). Shining a Light : 50 years of the Australian Film Institute. St Kilda, Victoria: Australian Teachers of Media. ISBN 978-1-876467-20-3. 
• Murray, Scott (25 January 1996). Australian Film 1978–1994: A Survey of Theatrical Features (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-553777-2. 
• Verhoeven, Deb (April 1999). Twin Peeks: Australian and New Zealand Feature Films. Damned Pub. ISBN 978-1-876310-00-4. 
• Waldman, Diane (1 March 1999). Feminism and Documentary. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-3007-3. 

External links

• Isabelle Eberhardt at the Internet Movie Database
• Isabelle Eberhardt at the TCM Movie Database
• Isabelle Eberhardt at AllMovie