“My story is true, but I will tell it as a fantasy,” says Althea at the beginning of “3,000 Years of Longing”. This indication may send us to decipher the world of the film as an allegory (like “Life of Pi”) or alternatively tell us that the truth in question is the truth of human existence – the same endless yearning in the title. Either way, George Miller’s film is rich in images, echoes, themes and implications and it envelops us with the yearning in its heart. Unusually in the 21st century cinematic universe, this is a fantasy for adults, not black people. In terms of essence, it is much more similar to “Never Late” (Emma Thompson fulfills a fantasy in the company of an escort boy in a hotel room) than to the Marvel movies. It’s a spectacular, messy, flawed and great film that will leave some viewers puzzled.
Althea (Tilda Swinton) is a narratologist who studies story patterns. She presents herself to us as a contented woman, who chose a life of seclusion (later we find out that she was once married, but her husband left her for another and she put what he left behind in a box in the basement). While visiting Istanbul, Althea buys an ancient glass vial in the market that intrigues her. After showering at the hotel, while she is still wearing a bathrobe and her wet hair is wrapped in a towel, she cleans the dusty vial and a demon, played by Idris Elba, bursts out of it.
As in the stories Thea investigates, the demon tells her to ask for three wishes, but she knows these stories always end badly, and declines the offer. The demon makes it clear to her that if she doesn’t do her part he will remain trapped forever, and after thousands of years of living in various types of confinement he longs to finally win freedom. Althea asks to know how he got into the bottle, and the demon tells her the story of his life, beginning in the 10th century BC when he was the companion of his cousin the Queen of Sheba (top model Amito Legum), through the other women he was associated with over the years. Each of them wanted very different things from life, and from him, and none of them let him go.
The film travels between the demon’s stories, designed in wonderful colors and highly imaginative effects, and the hotel room where he and Althea talk (she also talks about herself, but much less). Between the ancient demon and the aging academic, there are several threads that make them like each other – both know what it’s like to walk around the world and feel invisible. The occupation of the craft of storytelling also connects them – he tells, she analyzes – gradually he takes her out of the bottle in which she imprisoned herself. There are also echoes between Althea and the female characters in the demon’s stories, and she seems to be all of those women.
The theme of creating worlds through stories comes up again and again in the film, even in the demon’s stories (one of them deals with a murderous Turkish king who only loved the old man who told him stories). And even before Salthea even meets the demon, the name of the mythological storyteller Shahrzade appears in letters of light on some building on the horizon of Istanbul. In fact, its preoccupation with stories is also a film about the art of cinema, as hinted in the story of an inventor who developed a pre-cinematic toy in her room that animates still images. But most of all it is a film about the passion that the stories inspire, to be loved, a love greater than life.
Miller, most associated with the “Mad Max” films, is one of the most diverse and interesting film artists of the last fifty years. Among other things, he created “The Witches of Eastwick” (about three women who become pregnant by the devil), “Babe” (about a little pig who rebels against his destiny to become bacon) and “Move Your Feet” (about a young penguin who tap dances instead of singing), and it seems that Based in Australia, he gets decent budgets to do what he wants. This time he wrote the screenplay (with Augusta Gore) based on a story by the English author I.S. Beat., and enlisted the excellent people who worked with him on his masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road, including cinematographer John Seale, editor Margaret Sixel, and composer Tom Hulkenburg, who provided a melodic and evocative soundtrack.
Swinton is excellent as always, and this time also touching in her strangeness. And Elba, who left a huge impression in the series “The Undercover” and “Luther”, but his film performances so far have been lacking, finally wins the role that Bull sits on. And if you were wondering, yes, Althea is learning how to make the right wishes.
4 stars. Three Thousand Years of Longing Director: George Miller. With Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba.