I thought nothing could surprise me (which was pretty ignorant) until I’d seen this delightfully shocking film. I was one of the immature people up the front having a giggle fit over the latex-clad mating dance, during Monsier Oscar’s brief role as an action movie hero. Overall, I really enjoyed the film, and especially appreciated Dennis Lavant’s ability to slip into wildly different personas having mastered his characters physically.

Monsieur Oscar’s third appointment as an eccentric, galloping, leprechaun-like sewer dweller was the highlight of the film for me. As someone who thinks about death a little too often, I found his mocking of mortality refreshing and his child-like curiosity charming. The camera tracking “leprechaun man” through the cemetery, ravishing flowers neatly placed on gravestones is so socially unacceptable; I found it thrilling. To me it commented on our superficiality and obsession with beauty even after death. Stumbling upon a supermodel shoot as the photographer senselessly muttered “beauty, beauty, BEAUTIFUL” he disrupted something that we find so normal. The “ugly” sewer dweller to me who was “so weird”, made the press and conventional beauty of the model seem so wrong and artificial. I felt I could relate to him more than the “normal” people as he stared blankly at them.

The repetition of him so attentively putting on a face and a costume, becoming a character, then coming back looking exhausted and dissatisfied was the only constant through the narrative. (Along with the chain smoking and seemingly random plot twists.) The closest thing I can relate it to is a circular narrative, that gave the audience a structured experience.The line where the character he was “playing”, and the person he was, became almost nonexistent towards the end. It was like I know he’s an actor walking off stage, but I’m just not sure where the stage is. He progressively grew weary (drinking more and passing out), like with each person he became he lost pieces of himself. Small details also linked in pattern such as the use of wigs and cigarette smoking. I wasn’t able to develop any real expectations of the film as it covered a wide variety of genres (musical, fantasy, drama, action, horror, crime) I found myself engaged whether I was uncomfortable, shocked or pleased by the inventiveness.

Yesterday when discussing the extent to which the media, particularly social media affects our ability to connect with others, the conversation of facebook friends arose. Thus, so did the question, “are facebook friends even real?”

I began thinking about the hundreds  (I don’t mean to brag) of friends I have on facebook, and whether I’d say “hi” to them on the street, let alone have a coffee with them. The short answer is no fricken way. It has come to the point where I’ll add someone if I vaguely remember them from an old photo in kindergarten or if they are a potential “love interest” my (real life) friend wants me to stalk and give the tick of approval to. So basically we aren’t all friends in the traditional sense of the word.

But on the bright side;facebook has allowed me to befriend, and become close to many people I would not have approached in real life. I have friends who I chat with regularly on facebook, but never seem to see in real life. Online chatting removes that awkward barrier in real life conversations making me feel like a social master in disguise. Theres no worry of making too much eye contact or choking on my last word of “do you want to hang out some time?” With my exclusively online friends: the level intensity varies from sending vile stickers back and forth to emotive “deep and meaningful” conversations of life stuff. These friends are always there for me (active on chat) and I feel secure when I see that green dot of comfort meaning that they will respond in at least a minute. If not, that would just be rude because I KNOW THEY ARE THERE.

In the end, we have to accept that a new kind of intangible but ever present ‘friend’ has been created by the digital age;and remember that facebook chats may allow you to say more, but it also allows you to hide more.