Noise and Fury (film)

The film tells about the decline and fall of the Componson family, the once proud aristocrats living in the deep South in Mississippi at the beginning of the 20th century . The story reveals secrets and betrayals that have tainted the name and continue to haunt the Kompson sisters and brothers. Observing the formal division into three chapters, a single story leads on the fate of the three Componson brothers: Benji mute and lagging behind, Quentin is sensitive and melancholic, and cold and calculating Jason. Meanwhile, the fate of the only sister, Caddy, can be traced in all three stories. Noise and rage spanned three decades of the lives of the Compsons, using the example of a family to consider the relationship between time, memory, and history ^[4] .

The screenplay was written by James Franco with Matt Regger , also a graduate of Yale University ^[11] , who also worked with him on the project for the film “ When I Was Dying ” ^[12] . Filming took place in Boston , Los Angeles and Memphis ^[13] . James Franco, recalling his previous film on Faulkner, “When I was dying,” said that “one way or another, I am drawn to southern literature,” as an actor, thanks to “incredible characters,” but as a director, because “A challenge, an attempt to find cinematic equivalents of the way a book is written. She pulls me into new directions ” ^[14] .

In September 2014, the film “Noise and Rage” was shown in the out-of-competition program of the 71st Venice Film Festival ^[15] , and also in the program “Special Screening” of the 39th Toronto Film Festival ^[16]

Paul McInness of The Guardian stated that “William Faulkner’s deep, complex masterpiece was embodied in this trite and tasteless adaptation of actor / director James Franco,” adding that ““ Noise and Fury ”is not a cynical film, but simply awkward” ^[17] . Calib Afleyb of The Independent said that “Noise and Rage” is “Franco’s most ambitious project, his best film to date,” noting that “telling a story in three chapters rather than four books, he concentrates on the three brothers Compson, Benji (Franco), Quentin (Jacob Lowbe) and Jason Compson IV (Scott Haze). Simplifying the story in order to tell the story of the brothers through their thoughts, feelings and relationships with Caddy's sister (Ana O'Reilly), he did an impeccable job. ” ^[18] Robbie Collin from The Telegraph noted that “to say that this last, an adaptation of the famous novel of the Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner, felt semi-finished, would be an understatement. It’s barely or halfway launched, ”but“ some persuasive, textured works by Scott Haze and Ana O'Reilly as two members of the Compons clan, Jason and Caddy, mean that the film cannot be written off as a fiasco no matter how desperate it is ”when watching this “parody of Terrence Malick ” ^[19] .

Federico Gironi from ComingSoon said that the film “is too polished in awareness of its aesthetic potential (in the directions, photos), instead of being able to understand, digest and re-convey the inconvenient power of the Faulkner pages, normalize the narration and reduce its heroes to slightly more one-dimensional sketches, ”and“ thus, being unable to understand the blood of the heart of the novel, nor to find the key to the production, not because of complacency, “The noise and rage” looks like a film, this time, giving rise to detractors Franco: who saw him as a narcissistic delusion, the stifling ability of expression in another place by the too bulky pillow of his ego ” ^[20] . Andrew Barker in “ Variety ” noted that “while his ambitions often exceed their achievements - sometimes at a considerable distance - James Franco gets an undeserved amount of grief due to his various altruistic projects ... The second adaptation of Franco’s seemingly non-film-making novel William Faulkner as last year and a half, “Noise and Rage” is certainly nonsense, unable to capture the strange, entrancing, often unbearable atmosphere of the great writer’s elliptical masterpiece, but the prosperity of an excess of immature articles Udentov actors flourishes and unnecessary cameo, sometimes for an hour they give him the feeling of an amateur. But Franco, nevertheless, shows an improvement in comparison with “When I was dying” of 2013, and that is good, because it is difficult to blame him for it ” ^[21] . Jessica Kiang from Indiewire also drew parallels with Franco’s previous films, saying:

Perhaps the time has come to confirm our confidence that Franco, when not slobbering over the fence, undoubtedly has talent in many areas. But will we really believe that he is such an unprecedentedly talented scholar that he can create several projects at the same time and turn any / all of them into something really great? With all my energy, as in the previous “I was dying”, in “Noise and Rage” one senses a simple lack of thoroughness, and the fact that Franco actually made a mistake with the time of enthusiasm for Faulkner’s novel as well as with one of the best, most inventive filmed, but it is a novel that deserves at least respect. Of course, Franco probably has at this moment eight other things in production (among them at least three upcoming directors) who could explain why his “Noise and Rage” feels like maybe one-eighth of a film.

Original Text (eng.)

Perhaps it’s time to reiterate our belief that it’s not tangled in many arenas. It is a gifted polymath pattern. For all his energy, he wondered how he worked for his energy. It’s a little bit more respectful. Of course, it’s not possible to say that you’ve been making it. ^[22]