Altered Zones

Somewhere in the crazy string of contingent and partial events-- plans to move, plans to stay, various mini-tragedies, rave parties, fistfights, confessions gone unspoken, drunken joy, and so on-– that make up Claire Denis' film J'ai pas sommeil, this scene/song comes to pass on the screen. It's tenderness and melancholy is unbelievable. True love, a true bond, a true home, total enjoyment, satisfaction in any lasting form. Though these things constantly present themselves as totally illusory (or elusive at best), they nevertheless exert unbelievable and often devastating sway on our lives. Since I watched the film I keep hearing this song in my head. Maybe a live HTDW cover in the coming months...

The above version of "Le Lien Defait" by Jean-Louis Murat appears on the 1994 album Face Nord, but was recorded expressly for the film