25 degrés en hiver (2004) - film review

Miguel is a Spanish immigrant who has settled in Brussels.  He works for his brother, the owner of a travel agency shop, and is bringing up his young daughter alone after his wife left him to pursue a singing career in America.  One day, Miguel is heading to the airport to collect a client when he is caught up in a traffic jam.  The next thing he knows he is sharing his car with a strange woman, Sonia, an illegal immigrant from the Ukraine.  Against his wishes, Miguel is persuaded to take charge of the desperate woman and take her to her husband, who has settled somewhere in the country.

Stéphane Vuillet earned favourable reviews for his first full-length film, 25 degrés en hiver, an unusual kind of social drama which, despite its refreshingly original approach, doesn’t have the impact it ought.  Whilst the film has many attractive qualities – an engaging carefree narrative style, great acting and some imaginative camera work – the threadbare storyline and clunky auteur editing are more than a little off-putting.  The first ten minutes and last ten minutes of the film are extraordinarily effective, revealing a director with great talent and a genuine sensibility for human suffering.  Unfortunately, it’s the tedious, rambling, unstructured chunk in the middle which leaves the greatest impression, a film that is just too long and too padded for the story it has to tell.  Despite a faultless performance from Jacques Gamblin (the film’s greatest asset), the initial impression of stark realism rapidly melts away when the weakness in the characterisation and implausibility of the plot become apparent.  As a piece of drama, 25 degrés en hiver is grimly disappointing, but it does have some artistic strengths, notably a very individual style and raw humanity, suggesting a director who is capable of great things.

© James Travers 2007

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