Free fall: Michael Douglas is in the spotlight on Arte
After this thriller which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, the channel will broadcast a new documentary dedicated to the American actor and producer.
An American, who is indistinguishable from anyone else, waits interminably in the passenger compartment of his private car, registered “D-Fens”, stuck in a huge traffic jam in Los Angeles. It’s scorching hot. A fly buzzes. The man realizes that he is so late that he will not arrive in time for his daughter’s birthday. Taken by fury, he leaves his car and tries to make the journey on foot. He does not tolerate any obstacles. He devastates a grocery store, fights with thugs, gets his hands on an arsenal, machine-guns in all directions and does not leave a partition standing in a fast-food restaurant. Inspector Prendergast chases him. A perfectly mastered illustration of the contradictions and violence lurking at the heart of our civilization.
“What can I say about Free fall and its perfectly oppressive beginning with Michael Douglas in pressure cooker mode stuck in his car?, we wrote at the time of the death of its director, Joel Schumacher, in June 2020. The character, like the words, is borderline. We can see the thing as a wasp counterpart of Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee, released four years earlier, the story of losing his temper in unbearable heat. Racism, resentment, sweat, and an American society that is drifting. This is definitely the film that will stay on top of the pile.”
Thirty years after its release, Free fall is in the spotlight on Arte, as part of a special Michael Douglas evening. After the rebroadcast of this thriller also carried by Barbara Hershey and Robert Duvall, the channel will offer a new documentary, already visible in replay, entitled Michael Douglas, the child prodigy.
Michael Douglas narrates One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
A portrait signed by Amine Mestari (Claude Sautet, calm and dissonance, broadcast on the same channel) during which the American actor and producer speaks on camera about his career. He first talks about his childhood, his beginnings as an actor in the shadow of his father Kirk, then his emancipation through television via the hit series The Streets of San Franciscoand the production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nestwho achieved phenomenal success in 1976. His own triumph as a comedian would come two decades later, thanks to Wall Street which won him the Oscar, and between two notable films, Michael Douglas also talks about his personal life, the setbacks of his son addicted to drugs or his throat cancer, which he spoke publicly when Steven Soderbergh’s team waited to be able to tour together My life with Liberace, ten years ago. A touching documentary for a complete artist.
How Michael Douglas Created Gekko, Wall Street’s ‘Particularly Fascinating Villain’
