{"id":32827,"date":"2024-08-23T01:27:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T00:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=32827"},"modified":"2026-01-14T04:28:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:28:00","slug":"the-unenviable-bohemian-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/the-unenviable-bohemian-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unenviable “Bohemian Life\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Still from \u201cThe Bohemian Life”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following a series of programmatic <\/span><\/span>work<\/span><\/span>\u2014\u201c<\/span><\/span>Shadows in Paradise,” “Ariel,” and “The Match Factory Girl<\/span><\/span>\u201d\u2014<\/span><\/span>that laid <\/span><\/span>the foundations of <\/span><\/span>his<\/span><\/span>directorial method<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>Finnish auteur Aki Kaurism<\/span><\/span>\u00e4<\/span><\/span>ki makes his first <\/span><\/span>cinematic <\/span><\/span>foray into France. His characters, however, remain steadfast in their essence: lonely and alienated from the world<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>yet cognizant of how to indulge in the simple pleasures<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>a decent meal, gifts for their beloved<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>that sustain the soul.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Still from \u201cThe Bohemian Life”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c<\/span><\/span>The <\/span><\/span>Bohemian Life” can be classified <\/span><\/span>as <\/span><\/span>a comedy solely because its stoic artist-protagonists approach the ups and downs of the existential <\/span><\/span>roller-coster with a creative spunk<\/span><\/span>. For them, art is a method of survival, and survival is an art. The inherent romanticism of their being, tinged with melancholy, prevents them from completely losing touch with reality: when Rodolfo accidentally encounters Mimi <\/span><\/span>at<\/span><\/span> the threshold of his squalid apartment-cum-studio, he realizes that the world can no longer offer him anything more grand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The commune of artist-ascetics leads a semi-impoverished existence<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> oscillating between moments of <\/span><\/span>thoughtfulness<\/span><\/span> and bouts of <\/span><\/span>enlightenment<\/span><\/span>, subsisting on potatoes and wine<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>This precarious balance <\/span><\/span>seems<\/span><\/span> disrupted when<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Marcel is offered the position of editor-in-chief <\/span><\/span>at<\/span><\/span> the new women’s magazine “Iris Belt.” Flush with a <\/span><\/span>paycheque<\/span><\/span>, the first order of business is, of course, to visit a restaurant-cabaret, and the next day, with renewed energy, <\/span><\/span>to <\/span><\/span>enter a regime of strict economy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Still from \u201cThe Bohemian Life”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

Fortuna, capriciously commanding the servants of the muses, soon inflicts the first serious trial: Rodolfo<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>defenceless<\/span><\/span> before the law,<\/span><\/span> is <\/span><\/span>deported back to his native Albania. As<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Baudelaire, <\/span><\/span>his<\/span><\/span> forsaken dog, is taken <\/span><\/span>in by<\/span><\/span>Marcel and Schaunard, Mimi leaves for a wealthy admirer, the owner of a “normal” four-wheeled car (our heroes possess an “abnormal” three-wheeler). Yet<\/span><\/span>, so be it<\/span><\/span>: women come and <\/span><\/span>go<\/span><\/span>, money appears and vanishes<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>friendship endure<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>, and the <\/span><\/span>artists<\/span><\/span> will continue to live from one stroke of luck to <\/span><\/span>the next<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>Let<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s smile once more, and<\/span><\/span> Rodolfo, smuggled back to France in the trunk of a compact car, <\/span><\/span>will be reunited with Mimi, <\/span><\/span>for an artistic life on the verge of poverty alongside a stoic artist with a Maxim Gorky-style <\/span><\/span>moustache<\/span><\/span> is <\/span><\/span>better than<\/span><\/span> vapid comforts.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the film, everything is so unstable, so fragile<\/span><\/span> and fickle<\/span><\/span>, that the secondary role of the sugar <\/span><\/span>tycoon<\/span><\/span> is played by Jean-Pierre L<\/span><\/span>\u00e9<\/span><\/span>aud, the “golden child” of the French New Wave, who has worked with Godard, Truffaut, and Kaurism<\/span><\/span>\u00e4<\/span><\/span>ki himself. It is he, the messenger of Fortuna, <\/span><\/span>who <\/span><\/span>decides to become a patron<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>saving <\/span><\/span>Rodolfo<\/span><\/span> from seemingly hopeless situations<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>thrice<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>over. <\/span><\/span>As an old-fashioned deity, <\/span><\/span>Kaurism<\/span><\/span>\u00e4<\/span><\/span>ki delights in subjecting his <\/span><\/span>protagonists<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>to<\/span><\/span> hardships, only intervening when they, “having hungered,” are ready to despair completely. This sense <\/span><\/span>of<\/span><\/span> a watchful presence guiding their solitude allows the characters of the Finnish master’s <\/span><\/span>stories<\/span><\/span>to precariously balance <\/span><\/span>between<\/span><\/span> existence and madness.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Still from \u201cThe Bohemian Life”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unusually for Kaurism<\/span><\/span>\u00e4<\/span><\/span>ki, <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>The <\/span><\/span>Bohemian Life” <\/span><\/span>is shot in<\/span><\/span> black<\/span><\/span>–<\/span><\/span>and<\/span><\/span>–<\/span><\/span>white<\/span><\/span>. T<\/span><\/span>his black<\/span><\/span>–<\/span><\/span>and<\/span><\/span>–<\/span><\/span>white is the first step into<\/span><\/span> a<\/span><\/span> world of borderline contrasts: <\/span><\/span>bohemian <\/span><\/span>Paris <\/span><\/span>can <\/span><\/span>be mundane and dreary, <\/span><\/span>yet <\/span><\/span>it is only there that one can join the brotherhood of the oppressed, find love, and perhaps <\/span><\/span>achieve<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>a semblance of success<\/span><\/span>. Such a black-and-white cake, <\/span><\/span>layered<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>with<\/span><\/span> despair and <\/span><\/span>faint<\/span><\/span> glimmers of hope, is meant to be savored with tears in one’s eyes, <\/span><\/span>smile<\/span><\/span> on one’s lips, and occasional laughter in the face of Fortuna.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the heart of bohemian Paris, Irishman Schaunard composes a symphony titled “The Influence of Blue on Art,” Albanian Rodolfo finishes a painting in the art na\u00eff style (for which he will earn one-tenth of what he spent on paints), and French playwright Marcel harangues publishers with his 21-act epic. Their bond is forged by friendship and voluntary poverty\u2013a condition that, unfortunately in their case, is not the faithful companion of genius, but rather a consequence of their refusal to compromise the values imposed by society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":32816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[],"class_list":["post-32827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60030,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32827\/revisions\/60030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32827"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=32827"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=32827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}