Saw Three Thousand Years of Longing, a fabulous film about a woman who researches storytelling who finds a genuine genie in a bottle while travelling. The bulk of the film takes place in flashbacks as the genie tells his story of imprisonment and granting wishes. It's a sumptuous and pretty film. It reminded me of The Fall (which is one of my favorite films) only somewhat more upbeat.
The point of the film is to see strange, fairy-tale-like scenarios play out with courtesans and generals. The visuals are eye-popping and, even when we spend some time back in England, near the end of the film, the visuals are still amped, brining us a heightened, fantastical feel. I was most interested in the dynamic between the woman and the genie. She's never really sure that he's not some kind of monkey's-paw style ironical granter of wishes. Very often the wishes that are granted work out badly for the wisher or for the genie or both.
This delightful ambiguity resonates with an internet theory which didn't occur to me but which I think adds spice to the film: that the genie is a figment of the woman's imagination. There are many connections between the characters in the genie's past and the woman's own life. Not being able to tell if the genie is really real or not adds some level of magic to the film: that not only could we madden ourselves to the point of believing in magic, but it may benefit us in the end too!
An adorable film.
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