Time Regained: Movie Review, DVD Review (2000)

There are probably more challenging undertakings one could assume than mounting a three-hour production of Marcel Proust’s “Time Regained,” the sixth and final volume in his beast of a novel, “Remembrance of Things Past.” For instance, electing a new president comes to mind.

However, from a literary perspective, it’s difficult to imagine many novels as unsuitable for the screen as this, a work whose construction is so circular in nature--and whose themes, characters and ideas exist so firmly within the realm of a deeply personal internal landscape --the idea of bringing it to screen seems downright absurd.

It’s almost a shock, then, to see how well Chilean director Raul Ruiz has done in capturing the essence of “Time Regained”; just as in Proust’s work, Ruiz’s film is rich in texture, sumptuous in its images, beautifully surreal.

The film, which begins in 1922 with Proust (Marcello Mazzarella) on his deathbed, stars Catherine Deneuve as Odette de Crecy, Emmanuelle Beart as Gilberte, Vincent Perez as Morel and John Malkovich, of all people, as Charlus. It isn’t for anyone with a passing knowledge of the French novelist’s work; indeed, those who haven’t studied Proust will likely be lost in his allegorical search for truth.

But those aficionados of Proust will revel in how Ruiz plays with memory to intertwine the real characters in Proust’s life--those ridiculous, chattering, early 20th century class archetypes he found at swanky salons--with the fictional characters that spark his novel.

There’s no story told in “Time Regained”; just images and moments inspired by the book and Proust’s life. For some, that will prove maddening. For others, those who want to be challenged by the ambitious undertaking of an ambitious work, it’ll be sublime.