Perfect Sense

Perfect Sense (2011) is a small-budget film directed by David Mackenzie, and starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green. It tells the story of two lovers caught up in a worldwide epidemic of people gradually losing their senses, one by one.

Susan (Green) works as an epidemiologist, and comes to work one day to find a patient who has lost his sense of smell after having a nervous breakdown. Slowly, it starts happening to everyone across the world. Then over the course of the film, people lose their sense of taste, hearing and finally vision.
Michael (McGregor) works as a chef at a restaurant opposite Susan's flat. They slowly form a relationship, and the film explores that loss of the senses through them. The lovemaking scenes are quite good, they tenderly explore each other's bodies as the realisation dawns that they might lose more and more senses and to savour the experiences they have left.

The film is set in Glasgow, but has snapshots of Africa, Asia etc showing people around the world reacting to the disease, to give it a bit more of a global scale. A narrator interjects at points to describe what's happening. Some people online found the narration overbearing, but I quite liked it as it does give a sense of pathos to these scenes of people losing their minds and thinking that the world is ending.

But really the film focuses on the relationship of Susan and Michael. At first it's hesitant, then passionate yet tinged with sadness at the loss of the various senses. They are driven apart by a violent outburst from Michael before he loses another sense, but they reconcile at the end of the film, just as they both lose their vision and the screen fades to black.

It's a really poignant film, no grand adventure or action, but more a focusing on the smaller things- the little details. And of course in a film about losing the ability to sense those details, that works rather well. The cinematography is assured, with rusting dockyards, muddy estuaries, and a great sense of people's faces and acting. The scenes of how people compensate as they lose their senses, like making spicy or colourful food, or street performance art inviting people to remember smells of fields, are great. The sound editing when people lose their sense of hearing is also very well executed.

It's the kind of film that will make you think about what you take for granted in the world around you. The central performances by the two leads are brilliant, they imbue them with a real sense of character and the distress as this illness hits them is very well done. I hope more people will catch this on DVD, it's a quiet sort of film that won't appeal to some audiences, but taking the time to slow down and watch it for 90 minutes is well worth doing.

The rock

If you have a free summer's afternoon, there's a fun place you can go to in Bristol. Nobody knows it's there, except perhaps for some rock climbing engineers and noisy crows.

Walk along Cumberland Road, heading downriver towards the bridge. Cross over the old railway, and walk over the old iron latticework bridge. It's pitted and rusted, but it's in pretty good nick considering it's probably about a century old. Big chunky beams and rivets, painted grey and stained red-brown from the rust. Follow the path alongside the river, crossing under the Plimsoll swing bridge. There's a bench there with a really great view of the bridge, and across the river the houses of Hotwells and the des res manses up on the cliff.

But don't stop there. Keep walking, you will go past the police mounted and dog unit. Presently, you will pass under the beautiful bridge, suspended in the air hundreds of feet above your head. You can get a really great view of the underside of the bridge, with the criss-crossing supports underneath the roadway. You can also get a great look of the huge brickwork structure supporting the nearest end, and imagine the vaults and chambers within.

Keep walking, dodging puddles and cyclists and joggers. After about 20 minutes or so, you will come to a big landslide, with one huge boulder, and a series of smaller rocks and debris. Make sure no-one is coming, and climb over the rubble pile. There's a smooth section of exposed rock, probably caused by the landslide, but don't try and walk up this, instead go up up the little rocky path beside it. Gloves are useful to help with grip as you scramble up the slope. 

Now this is where it gets tricky. You used to be able to just carry on walking up to the spot, but they've put in a big chain link fence secured to the cliff face with bolts. What you have to do is hold on to the fence, and pull yourself across the top of the exposed rock face, and up to where the fence ends. Now all you have to do is squeeze past a few brambles, and sit and have a well deserved rest on the big flat rock up there. 

It looks kind of precarious, but actually it's totally solid and has been there for at least ten years that I know of, so it's unlikely to careen down the hillside with you sitting on it. Anyway, up here you have your lunch and ponder the world, while watching the cars stream past on the Portway below. The rock isn't really visible from the road, and there's plenty of foliage cover in the summer. It's so much fun to just watch the traffic and occasional people, and wonder why they never look up in your direction. I love it, it's got to be the most secluded and private place in the whole of the city. There isn't anyone around for half a mile and no-one knows you are there. It's a great place to go to when you feel overwhelmed by city living, and even one of the many parks isn't secluded and natural enough. You can sit up there on top of the world, and chill. I always feel great after doing this little adventure, though I don't do it that often.

Now as for getting back down, don't try and go back down the way you came. There's a path going further up towards the top of the cliff that's pretty easy to spot from the rock. Be careful going up there though, as it's a sheer drop down to another old quarry on the other side. Once you get up to the top, there's a path that winds back down towards the river, it's quite steep and hard work, especially if it's muddy. Or, you can go right and walk through Leigh Woods and come out at Ashton Court, then you just have to walk across the suspension bridge back to Clifton. It's pretty fun to see it from above and below in the same afternoon, using just your own two feet.

Make sure to enjoy the view, and keep a look out for the deer!