Iradj Azimi is not a prolific director:only four movies in 40 years ,only the last one "Le Radeau De La Meduse " can be regarded as "an accessible work"
In "Les Iles " Fabrice divests himself of all possessions;in "Utopia" Julien goes in search of Lost Time" :he tries to find his friends ,but as a woman says ,"they do not leave,they have just disappeared ".It's only natural that the hero wants to see his former schoolteacher ,but he ,too, has no answers,showing the desks:"they come and go,I do not know what has become of them".Then Julien replaces the school master and talks to the children ,an unfathomable teaching ,which leads one of his pupil to tell his dad "we must change to be happy and to sing" "but " we have anything we need,what do you want to change ?"it seems that the spirit of 1968 is still alive in Julien's mind :when the others (the friends of the beginning)may have given up on the "it's forbidden to forbid" message,he persevered .But the establishment who eventually won in 1968 is still here and makes their presence felt in the shape of the PTA and the primary school inspector.The ending may be,according to your sensitivity ,pessimistic(Julien failed and he gets drowned in the sea) or optimistic (lots of children invade the beach) .
"Utopia" can be considered a poetic fable,with music which alternates gloomy sounds and religious canticles ;it stars cerebral actors such as Laurent Terzieff (who in 1961 dared to play the part of a conscientious objector in Autant-Lara's "Tu Ne Tueras point" )and Dominique Sanda as well as a short appearance by maverick thespian Gerard Blain.'Not for all tastes" best describes its appeal.
In "Les Iles " Fabrice divests himself of all possessions;in "Utopia" Julien goes in search of Lost Time" :he tries to find his friends ,but as a woman says ,"they do not leave,they have just disappeared ".It's only natural that the hero wants to see his former schoolteacher ,but he ,too, has no answers,showing the desks:"they come and go,I do not know what has become of them".Then Julien replaces the school master and talks to the children ,an unfathomable teaching ,which leads one of his pupil to tell his dad "we must change to be happy and to sing" "but " we have anything we need,what do you want to change ?"it seems that the spirit of 1968 is still alive in Julien's mind :when the others (the friends of the beginning)may have given up on the "it's forbidden to forbid" message,he persevered .But the establishment who eventually won in 1968 is still here and makes their presence felt in the shape of the PTA and the primary school inspector.The ending may be,according to your sensitivity ,pessimistic(Julien failed and he gets drowned in the sea) or optimistic (lots of children invade the beach) .
"Utopia" can be considered a poetic fable,with music which alternates gloomy sounds and religious canticles ;it stars cerebral actors such as Laurent Terzieff (who in 1961 dared to play the part of a conscientious objector in Autant-Lara's "Tu Ne Tueras point" )and Dominique Sanda as well as a short appearance by maverick thespian Gerard Blain.'Not for all tastes" best describes its appeal.
