Resisting Society’s Shackles

[Liam Lynch]

This movie was beautiful in many senses. The way the story was told was masterful in its use of all the elements of film. Its use of music, montage, romance, and the nonfictional performances it got out of its characters, as well as many even more subtle choices and elements that I will not go into, combined to make it what it was.
There were many stories interwoven within the movie, but the most compelling one to me was that of resistance to the confines of modern society. Philippe right away shows that he will not conform to standards, when he rides his unicycle in the streets of Paris, focused singularly on his passion. His existence is a resistance, a need for freedom, and a symbolic moment I thought was when, on the Tower looking for the fishing line, he strips to nudity, so that his physical being is truly free and he can feel his environment.
This idea culminates in the wire-walk, which is a singular act of beautiful defiance. Quickly police swarm the tower and are dumbfounded, as they have to somehow get him down. The event begs the question of how can something so beautiful be illegal? Our society keeps us safe, gives us security, allows us to live comfortably, but at the same time it restricts us, punishes our need for danger, steps on our dreams, inhibits beauty. The police officer interviewed visibly expresses this conflict, as while he has a job to do, to get him down, they are “spellbound,”
and what he is seeing is “once in a lifetime.” Philippe resists not only society and its institutions, but society from a personal perspective, as in the life or death situation he drowns out all of the city’s distractions and has the singular focus to survive, and looking at the sky, he connects to nature.

[Author]

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