Malcom & Marie

"I know that Zendaya loves a challenge and I thought about the registers she hadn't yet explored. And I realized that I'd never seen her play a smart, funny, confident, and fighter" - Sam Levinson

In today's society where most cinemas are still closed in the United States or even totally closed like in France, moviegoers are still fond of discovering new films and we can only thank streaming platforms like Netflix for being able to offer us unseen works that could have been released in theaters and easily meet their audience. While the coronavirus crisis had to stop the filming of the series created by Sam Lavinson and whose main female role is played by Zendaya, the film Malcom & Marie was able to see the light in a very short filming time (16 days).

Written and directed by Sam Levinson, whose first two films Another Happy Day (2011), Assassination Nation (2018) not only caught the public's attention but were also acclaimed by critics, Malcolm & Marie easily stands out as a brilliant exercise in style magnified by the presence not only of Zendaya but also of John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman: I've infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan (BlacKkKlansman) (2018), Tenet (2020)).

The restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic seem to be at the very origin of the project of this film as the subject matter and the form of this film leave many production constraints that the director and screenwriter had to manage and cope with to give birth to a project as strong as it is unique. We can thus easily understand Sam Levinson's desire to build a film with deceptive appearances and which damages American cinema in which the future of a director can be played out on a film and on critics who can both bring success to a film and mean public and critical failure. The conception of the film Malcolm & Marie deserves to be told because it would allow us to better understand its purpose.

From the very first minutes, the set is set. We discover a beautiful residence near the sea where a filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) arrive. They return home after the premiere of his film, whose reception heralds a critical and financial success to come. This success seems however in turmoil because the couple is going through a real crisis and the qualities and defects of this couple will serve as a basis for a long exchange on both success and failures but above all show that Malcolm's success as a director is linked to the inspiration he draws from his half. The great quality of Malcolm & Marie is to rely on an inspired staging, striking dialogues that catch our attention but especially on a duo of actors showing once again how Zendaya and John David Washington are excellent actors.

Far from the blockbusters in which they were able to impose themselves (we think in particular of Tenet for John David Washington and Spider-man (2017-2021) for Zendaya), these two exceptional actors find here their best role and give themselves without any concession. The result is a film that escapes the trap of falling into simple theater filmed with care to resemble more an intense cinematographic experience about a couple on the tightrope and whose many unspoken words finally come out and give way to a tenacious resentment, to unspoken thanks. One understands how personal this film is for Sam Levinson and that he finds with his two actors on whom this whole film is based an important extension of himself. A way in which an artist sees his work slipping away from him and time passing by at full speed without realizing the beauty of life.

Certainly Malcolm & Marie will not please everyone because it is not easy to access and in a way goes against what has become Hollywood nowadays. Far from offering a great show of total efficiency, Sam Levinson goes back to what Hollywood was in the 60s (the use of black and white confirms it), an ingenious cinema that managed to be inventive, to give life to great interpretations but above all that gave the audience food for thought. Zendaya delivers here an interpretation just as remarkable as John David Washington and his presence gives this film all its grace and fragility.

Malcolm & Marie
Written and directed by Sam Levinson
Produced by Kevin Turen, Ashley Levinson, Sam Levinson, Zendaya, John David Washington
Starring Zendaya, John David Washington
Music by Labrinth
Cinematography: Marcell Rev
Edited by Julio C. Perez IV
Production company : Little Lamb, Fotokem
Distributed by Netflix
Release date: February 5, 2021
Running time: 106 minutes

Viewed on January 25, 2021 (Netflix press access)

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