Calendar (film)

Infobox Film
name = Calendar


image_size =
caption =
director = Atom Egoyan
producer = Atom Egoyan
Arsinée Khanjian
Robert Lantos
writer = Atom Egoyan
starring = Arsinée Khanjian
Ashot Adamyan
Atom Egoyan
music = Eve Egoyan
Djivan Gasparian
Hovhanness Tarpinian
John Grimaldi
cinematography = Atom Egoyan
Norayr Kasper
editing = Atom Egoyan
distributor = Zeitgeist Films
released = flagicon|Germany Start date|1993|06|03
flagicon|Netherlands Start date|1993|09|09
flagicon|Sweden Start date|1993|11|26
flagicon|United States Start date|1994|03|11
flagicon|France Start date|1995|03|22

runtime = 74 min.
country = CAN
GER
ARM
language = English
Armenian
budget =
gross =
amg_id = 1:131108
imdb_id = 0106504

"Calendar" is a 1993 drama film directed by Atom Egoyan.

Plot summary

A photographer is sent to Armenia to take pictures of churches for a calendar. He slowly begins to realise that his wife, an Armenian translator, is falling in love with their driver. They grow more and more distant from each other and finally separate. Later, at his home in Toronto, he uses an escort agency to invite a number of women to dinner, finally settling on the one who looks and sounds most like his wife.

tyle

The film is narrated by the photographer. Interactions between the photographer, his wife, and their driver were largely improvised. [cite news
last = Sheley
first = Aaron
title = Art Film - Atom Egoyan's Calendar
publisher = Entertainment Today
date = 2007-01-18
url = http://entertainmenttoday.net/content/view/67/
accessdate = 2007-12-03 ]

Locations

The story is told almost entirely from only three locations: In Armenia, at the photographer's dining room in Toronto, and by the photographer's answering machine.

Armenia

Every scene in Armenia is viewed from behind a camera as the photographer prepares to take pictures of the churches; his wife and driver speak to him while looking directly at the camera. The scenes were shot with a video camera.

Dining room

The scenes in the dining room feature the photographer having dinner with women from the escort agency. Each date follows almost the exact same pattern: The photographer and his date converse briefly, the photographer pours the wine, and the date excuses herself to use the telephone in the next room while the photographer listens. It is revealed on the last date that this pattern was set up prior to each date, and that this is his way of finding a woman who sounds like his wife, although his motives for doing so are left ambiguous.

Answering machine

The photographer's answering machine sits beside the Armenian calendar, which marks the passage of time throughout the movie. We learn of the state of his marriage through the messages left by his estranged wife.

Critical reception

Despite its limited release, "Calendar" received mostly positive reactions. It has a 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes [cite web|title=Calendar (1993)|work=Rotten Tomatoes|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calendar/|accessdate=2007-12-03] and was nominated for Best Achievement in Direction and Best Screenplay at the 1993 Genie Awards. [cite web
title = Awards for Calendar
publisher = IMDb
url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106504/awards
accessdate = 2007-12-03 ] Stephen Holden of the "New York Times" said of the movie,

If "Calendar", like such earlier Egoyan films as "The Adjuster" and "Speaking Parts", has to be pieced together backward, it is so finely constructed and beautifully acted a movie that its game of detective is quite enticing. Seamlessly edited, the film sustains a visual rhythm that is as confident as it is edgy. [cite news
last = Holden
first = Stephen
title = Technology, a Tripod, A Romantic Triangle
publisher = New York Times
date = 1993-10-16
url = http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9F0CE6D6143AF935A25753C1A965958260&oref=slogin&oref=login
accessdate = 2007-12-03 ]

However, not all reviews were positive. Rita Kempley of the "Washington Post" said, " [Egoyan's] approach remains far too cerebral to evoke more than intellectual interest". [cite news
last = Kempley
first = Rita
title = Calendar
publisher = Washington Post
date = 1994-05-27
url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/calendarpgkempley_a0a462.htm
accessdate = 2007-12-03 ]

References

External links

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