THE PEOPLE UPSTAIRS - CAMBRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL
Apparent Concorde at the meeting of neighbours
The Chef de Programmes quoted Billy Wilder in his brief preview talk to Sentiment/ The People Upstairs
“ If you want to tell someone something really serious, make sure you make them laugh - or they’ll kill you”
The observation fitted the this film perfectly.
It begins with the homecoming of a husband to his pleasant flat in a wide boulevard of the city. He is a music teacher at a Conservatoire and has been invigilating an exam.He takes in the signs of party preparation but has forgotten or fails to remember his wife Ana has invited the People Upstairs round for drinks. His disapproval, is wittily expressed - she had only said she might invited them not that she had, ‘it’s a question of tense’ he explains- as is his restless discontent with the idea of anyone for drinks, especially the annoying newcomers he professes to dislike for being so chatty in the lift. The prospect of a happy evening is vanishingly small. Attractive Ana is nervous. Julio has noticed a new rug she’s bought ‘without consultation’ and she feels more on edge than ever when he threatens to retreat to his telescope on the roof for the evening.
Julio is suave, intelligent, dominant and sour. Under the guise of sharp humour he presses his case for a cancellation . Ana in the end relents and calls the guests - only find it’s too late. The doorbell is ringing. Nevertheless Julio makes Ana promise to raise a highly contentious matter with them. He thinks it’s about time the noise abated.
The couple who await the evening ahead are wonderfully cheerful, and relentlessly friendly. She is radiantly beautiful and good-humoured, he doggedly upbeat.
Ahead lies an encounter full of hilarity surprise and laugh out loud outrageousness.
All the actors are brilliant but my favourite was the visiting neighbour who looked like George Clooney in the Coen Brothers’ underrated Hail Caesar an ingénu with a tin ear for subtle suggestions - as well as music “’Do you have any Country and Western?” he enquires of the cultivated conservatoire professor ,without a flicker of irony..
Like Abigail’s Party , the evening goes places you simply don’t expect.
Finally the words of Billy Wilder, resonate. We do laugh all the time. And in this sparkling (modern) drawing room comedy the deep seriousness finally emerges .
A brilliant watch.
Surprise is the core of humour
