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RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA 2003 Send This Review to a Friend
Each year there is a welcome opportunity to preview new films from France, thanks to the Rendez-vous with French Cinema program at the Walter Reade Theater in New York. The cooperative event is offered by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Unifrance, the French Film Office/Unifrance USA and the French Cultural Services, and films that I caught this time around (March 7-16, 2003) indicated lively stirrings among France's filmmakers, established and new.
For example, among my favorites was "Housekeeper" ("Une Femme de ménage"), directed by the distinguished Claude Berri. Jean-Pierre Bacri plays a middle-aged man living in solitude. When he puts an ad in a paper seeking a housekeeper, young and attractive Emilie Duquenne shows up playing the applicant, 20-year-old Laura, who, although having no experience, needs the job and is ready and willing. Her employer is strictly businesslike about the arrangement that ensues, but the housekeeper insinuates herself into his life and home and eventually comes on to him sexually.
Despite initial resistance against what he perceives to be a bad idea, the vulnerable loner finds his life re-arranged and is drawn to charm and youth. Can it last? Berri's mature film follows the trail entertainingly, examining other relationships in the process, and "Housekeeper" becomes a sensitive, wistful and pleasurable film that examines age and youth, illusion and reality. It is exquisitely performed, often humorous and rich in detail.
"My Idol" ("Mon Idole"), by directorial newcomer Guillaume Canet, heretofore best known in France as an actor, is a bold, often outrageously funny comedy set in the mad world of French television production. There is a hilarious beginning with a reality show called "Take Out the Tissues" in which the object is to reduce a participant to tears, thereby eliminating the contestant. The taunting of a nice old lady about the death of her cat is comically cruel. (I hope tacky U.S. television shows don't copy it.)
The production genius is a 50-year-old arrogant producer who views everyone as his slave and gets people to grovel and adjust to his professional and personal whims. It is a whirlwind role, played to the hilt by François Berléand, with Canet acting as a young employee who is willing to brown-nose his way to the top with consequences he can't foresee. The film ultimately gets too frenetic, but it is wildly entertaining most of the way and makes sharp comments about contemporary values. At a luncheon hosted by the sponsors, Canet said that having made several short films enabled him to gain the confidence of his producer with whom he had worked previously and with the approval of his screenplay, he was given this shot at directing his first feature.
Also in the satirical realm, "Monique" is the cleverly amusing work of director Valérie Guignabodet. Alex (Albert Duponte), in a boring marriage with a wife who is having an affair, finds his own resource in an extremely life-like inflatable doll, whom he names Monique. He grows to love the doll, have sex with her and even begins to squire her around. The joke goes beyond the obvious. The fun lies in seeing how his relationship with the doll upsets the lives of everyone around him and calls into question other relationships.
It is a witty film, which was no surprise when I met Guignabodet at lunch. She turned out to be very bright, with a sense of fun reflected in her approach to "Monique" as a film that could shake things up a bit. To my right was beautiful actress Marianne Denicourt, who brings beauty and class to the film as the bewildered wife Claire, and she and Guignabodet seemed to have a good rapport that showed up in the work on screen.
One of the most ambitious films in the series turned out to be "Carnage," a first feature by Delphine Gleize. It is a work that flits between various people and locations to make a mosaic of life that is thematically related. Its weakness is an attempt to cover too much, but the strengths add up to powerful visuals and dramatic sequences. There is a five-year-old girl whose presence is haunting, and whether the film is concentrating on a huge bull whose body parts are followed after its demise, or on adultery, it is engaging and searing in its portrayal of different facets of life. The cast includes Chiara Mastroianni, Angela Molina (whom I still revere for her performance in Luis Buñuel's 'That Obscure Object of Desire"), and Jacques Gamblin, among others.
Olivier Assayas's "Demonlover" plunges into the world of internet porn and video games with a vengeance. Competition boils over in an effort to make a deal with a key Japanese firm trafficking in porn and the film seethes with plotting and counter-plotting and a dose of spying in the quest for power and profit. The ultimate site involves torture and interactive participation. The film becomes much too convoluted and one can predict the outcome for one of the key players, but there is drive and visual seduction at work, and the cast is excellent, including Gina Gershon, Chloë Sevigny and Charles Berling. "Demonlover" is distinctive and creative despite its drawbacks and undertone of sadism.
Much lighter fare is Michel Blanc's "See How they Run" ("Embrassez qui vous voudrez"), which farcically deals with couples who decide to vacation together with a host of complications, romantic entanglements, jealousies and awkward situations. It is a comedy free-for all, some of it far-fetched, but much of it entertaining and nutty. Blanc himself plays a furiously jealous husband with no reason to worry except as a result of troubles of his own making. The cast is excellent, including Charlotte Rampling, Jacques Dutronc, Carole Bouquet, Karin Viard, Vincent Elbaz, Lou Doillon and Sami Bouajila. A word about Bouquet. She's another of my favorites dating especially to Buñuel's "That Obscure Object of Desire," in which she alternated with Molina as the same character.
A moodier film that focuses on a vacation area is "Seaside" (Bord de mer"), directed by Julie Lopes-Curval and examining various characters whose lives are rooted to the small town on the Bay of Somme in a stifling atmosphere. The local residents watch the summer visitors come and go, and there are challenges as to what might be possible if one attempted to escape. Bulle Ogier is particularly poignant as a woman addicted to playing slot machines and gambling away what savings she has. The stars include Jonathan Zaccaï, Hèléne Fillières and Ludmila Mikaël. The film is rich in atmosphere, which adds to the overall feeling of truth that pervades the understated drama.
A major disappointment was "Adolphe," a leaden period piece by Benoît Jacquot based on Benjamin Constant's 19th century novel. Isabelle Adjani plays Ellénore, a widow and kept woman who imperils her status by falling for Adolphe (Stanislas Merhar), an ardent younger suitor. Once he has completed his conquest, his enthusiasm wanes and she is left passionately pursuing him. The more she insists, the more he recoils, although he sometimes sends mixed signals. First of all, Adjani still looks so youthful it is hard to accept her as playing an older woman. The film also suffers from echoes of her role in Truffaut's "The Story of Adele H." But mostly, despite being beautifully shot and rich in texture, the film has dialogue that is heavy-going, and although there is the rationale of making it fit a period, dialogue that might be faithful to the printed page can sound awfully stuffy and even silly on screen.
A much stronger and much more interesting film is Jean-Pierre Sinapi's "Life Kills Me" ("Vivre me tue"), a story of two very different North African immigrant brothers with a strong bonds. One brother is fixated on body-building and finding jobs accordingly, all the while depending dangerously on steroids to help him in his quest for physical perfection that can be his supposed key to success. His brother has a more solid outlook but also has problems coping with the hand he has been dealt. The cast is tops, including Sami Boujila, Jalil Lespert and Sylvie Testud.
It will be interesting to see which of the films from the "Rendez-vous" event will make it to the general public here. Most of them deserve a shot.
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