Storming the cinematic castle
Say, whatever happened to Keyvan Sheikhalishahi, that amazing young French filmmaker who made the stunning short films Vesper and Nox a few years ago? Well, it turns out he’s been busy with a subsequent short film, but the word “short” doesn’t really do it justice.
It may have only a half-hour running time, but by the end of it you feel like you’ve watched a full feature-length Hollywood flick. By that, I don’t mean merely that he’s handy with a camera. This movie’s the full package. It has big-name stars, an international cast, and the look and feel of a polished studio release.
Divertimento’s poster
It’s called Divertimento, and for the past couple of years via social media I have been watching it make its way through film festivals all over the world. From the 2020 Paris Art and Movie Awards (where it won Best Short Film) to the 2022 San Antonio Film Festival (where it won the Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short), it has been just about everywhere. So far, it’s tallied 65 film festivals—with a few more yet to go—and has picked up some 52 awards.
This is no seat-of-your-pants shoestring student film. It was made with a sizable crew and cast and shot on location at the formidable Château de Champlâtreux, an 18th-century castle north of Paris. The actors are real stars led by Americans Kellan Lutz (star of several TV series but perhaps most familiar to a certain cohort as the vampire Emmett Cullen in the Twilight movies) and Torrey DeVitto (One Tree Hill, The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Chicago Med). Also on board is Sweden’s Ola Rapace, whose international roles include parts in the series The Last Kingdom and in the movies Skyfall and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. There are appearances as well by Germany’s Götz Otto (another Bond movie veteran, having appeared in Tomorrow Never Dies) and France’s Agnès Godey, who both appeared in Sheikhalishahi’s Vesper.
But enough about prizes and participants. What about the movie itself? From the opening shot to its somewhat devastating climax, it is evident that it’s no coincidence the ensemble includes 007 connections. From the lavish, worldly setting to the characters’ formal attire—not to mention the manliest of men accompanied by the most beautiful of women—and the central theme of a game being played with the highest of stakes, Divertimento simply feels like one of the classic Bond movies. Once again the music of Gréco Casadesus and Gregory Cotti effectively sets the mood and at key points raises the tension.
Lutz and DeVitto share a screen moment
Speaking of music, in English a divertimento is a light instrumental chamber piece, but here the word is used more in its original Italian meaning of amusement or pastime. It is the name of an elaborate game played in the mysterious château, apparently some sort of sophisticated murder mystery evening for wealthy people seeking a thrill. There is, however, another game going on—an intense chess match between determined rivals. We cut from one game to the other and wonder. Are they both real? Is one game in flashback and, if so, which one? Or are these even the right questions?
As with Sheikhalishahi’s other films, this is not a simple straightforward narrative of “this happened” and “then this happened.” The action involves memory and the psyche every bit as much as much as physical action. For all the attention to the visuals, the real work here is mental.
The movie’s IMDb page tells us that his actors Lutz and Otto compared Sheikhalishahi to a young Spielberg, and we can see why they might have said that. His films are clearly the work of someone who deeply loves and has relentlessly studied movies—and who has done everything he can to master the visual language of cinema. Just as Spielberg’s first 35mm effort at the age of 20 (Amblin’) showed a natural understanding of this language, so has Sheikhalishahi’s first few films. (Divertimento was made when he was 21.) There are a few moments in the movie where we jump because of effective manipulation. One such scene involves an impressive use of visual effects that leaves no doubt we’re not watching an amateur movie.
As with his previous two films, key questions remain. When will Sheikhalishahi give us a true full-length work? And what other ideas and themes will he go on to explore? What new cinematic ground will he claim as truly his own?
Let’s hope that we don’t have to wait too many more years to find out.
-S.L., 7 September 2022
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