Unless you live underground (and even then), you have probably not escaped the ubiquitous promotion of Marty Supremethe new film by Josh Safdie, in theaters since Wednesday February 18. Timothée Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, an arrogant and cunning ping-pong player, ready to do anything to become the champion of his discipline. His character is loosely inspired by Marty Reisman, a real table tennis player from the 1950s. But be careful, this is not a classic biopic and even less, contrary to what its marketing might suggest, a film about table tennis.
Between drama, thriller and comedy, Marty Supreme is not so much the story of a champion as that of a crook. A headlong rush as zany as it is anxiety-inducing, which never lets up the tension during its two and a half hours, while Marty lies, steals and scams everyone he meets in an attempt to achieve his goal.
Marty Supreme contains some remarkable sports scenes, in which Timothée Chalamet delivers an exalted performance (and tipped to win him an Oscar in mid-March). “I worked with Diego Schaaf and his wife Wei Wang, the ping pong consultants of Forrest Gumpfor four or five years between my other projectsthe Franco-American actor told us. During the last three months, I memorized the ping-pong sequences by heart, like a choreography, sometimes with fifteen or sixteen points to remember. Like the rest of the film, these few moments are of breathtaking virtuosity. But behind its sporting aspect, Josh Safdie’s story above all offers a brilliant reflection on the traumas of the post-war period.
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New York misfits as inspirations
Director Josh Safdie and co-writer Ronnie Bronstein were inspired by a group of marginal table tennis players from the 1950s, who eked out a living in New York despite their remarkable sporting exploits. “They never knew where they were going to spend the night, they didn’t have enough money and their only way to get on the subway was to cheat when no one was looking. And yet, the following week, we found them in Bosnia, in Paris, in Rome or in Cairo. They were international people.explains Josh Safdie.
The American filmmaker says he was particularly interested in the perspective of the silent generation, to which Marty Mauser belongs. Born in the 1920s, these men suffered the consequences of the Second World War without having participated in it, since they were too young to go to fight. “When I discovered the world of these young Americans, I was fascinated by their perspective on victory and what it meant to be American to them, at this moment in history.”
The Pacific War, ping-pong version
Behind the film’s ping-pong matches, a fascinating geopolitical revenge is in fact expressed. Endo, Marty’s great rival, is a young Japanese table tennis player who lost his hearing during the bombing of his city. À travers leurs affrontements, le long-métrage rejoue ainsi la guerre du Pacifique (1941-1945), Marty représentant l’arrogance impérialiste américaine. While for Endo and the millions of Japanese fans who support him, a victory is also an opportunity to reverse the humiliation of the end of the war.
The film takes place in 1952, as the United States ends its occupation of Japan. The travel restriction for Japanese nationals is lifted, allowing the country of the Rising Sun to send a team to the world table tennis championships for the first time since the end of the global conflict. A turning point for this nation united by defeat and still traumatized by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“The Japanese actually invented the foam paddle in 1952 and that’s when they arrived on the ping pong scenecontinues to trace Josh Safdie. C’est la première fois qu’ils sortaient de leur isolement et ils l’ont fait grâce à ce sport, qui leur a offert une forme de fierté nationale. We wondered how we could show the difference between these two types of players. With Marty, we have this character who represents the birth of the modern American mentality. And then Endo represents the Japanese mentality. But the strange thing is that it was the Americans who wrote the Japanese Constitution during the occupation. Their mentality was therefore infused with our own ideals.”
In the matches between Marty and Endo, each time it is the outcome of the 1939-1945 conflict which is replayed, as we can read in the eyes of the Japanese supporters, feverish at the idea of being beaten once again by the United States. “It’s fascinating because Endo, as the TV report says, has 84 million supporters behind him, while there is only one person behind Martycompares the director of the film. This is a people who were united by a historically massive moment, at the end of the Pacific War and World War II. And they have this new hero who is, in a way, the hero of a rather American script.” Because Marty Mauser may well be the eponymous hero of the film, he is also highly unsympathetic. Thus, the spectator himself begins to question his allegiance between this dishonorable protagonist and his adversary.
Troubled allegiances and identity affiliations
At every turn, the film thus underlines the complex network of identity affiliations and socio-economic hierarchies of the early 1950s. “With Ronnie, we talked a lot about the meaning of patriotismcontinues Josh Safdie. Is Marty patriotic? He’s proud, that’s for sure. He’s proud of himself and proud to be American in a way.” Ambitious, charismatic, proud, self-made man and ready to do anything to win: Marty carries modern American ideals within him.
However, he is hated and despised by almost every character in the film. It must be said that Marty Mauser is not WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant“white Anglo-Saxon Protestant”). C’est un juif new-yorkais maigrichon et couvert d’acné, qui vit avec sa mère dans un logement étriqué, partage une douche avec tout l’immeuble et vend des chaussures dans la boutique de son oncle pour se payer ses tournois de ping-pong. Tout comme son meilleur ami afro-américain Wally (Tyler «The Creator» Okonma), Marty appartient à une population états-unienne déclassée et a appris tôt à survivre par tous les moyens.
The recent wound of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism are also omnipresent in the film. Marty himself defines himself as “Hitler’s worst nightmare” and does not hesitate to be provocative by declaring that he will do to Bela Kletzki, his friend and adversary, “what Auschwitz could not do by finishing the job”. When Milton Rockwell, powerful businessman and main antagonist of Marty Supremenotices the tattoo Bela has on her forearm, he spits at her: “My son died to free you.” We learned just afterwards that in fact, his son was deployed in the South Pacific and had nothing to do with the Liberation.
The power of money
Le plus grand adversaire du film n’est donc pas un sportif, ni un Japonais, mais Milton Rockwell, un patron américain, qui incarne le pouvoir suprême: celui de l’argent. And who would prefer to side with Endo, an enemy during the Second World War, rather than for Marty, whom he despises. The character is also played by a real businessman, the Canadian Kevin O’Leary, nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful” and known in the United States for his appearances on the reality TV show “Shark Tank”.
His wife Kay, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is an actress has beentrapped in her marriage and forced to put her professional dreams aside to become a mother. Là où la maternité est vue comme un enfermement, voire une condamnation, pour plusieurs personnages dans le film, la paternité est quant à elle un moteur et un outil de rédemption, nouvelle preuve d’un déséquilibre cette fois-ci genré.
Josh Safdie confirms this to us: “Everyone is demeaned in the film. It’s democratic in a way (laughs).” Marty Supreme est une histoire d’humiliations et de contre-humiliations, où mentir, voler, embrasser un cochon ou encore être fessé à coups de raquette sont des avilissements nécessaires pour espérer atteindre les sommets. And where only money, in the end, ends up reigning.
“I think the idea of the American dream really gained strength after the waranalyzes Josh Safdie.
