Alice et Martin (1998) - film review

Immediately after the death of his father, 20 year old Martin goes into hiding for three weeks, living rough in the countryside.  He then reappears unannounced on his half-brother’s doorstep in Paris.  His brother, Benjamin, is pleased to see him and allows him to share his flat.  Benjamin, an aspiring gay actor, is living with a struggling ill-tempered musician, Alice.  Martin’s fortunes take a turn for the better when he gets a job with a modelling agency.  He and Alice fall in love and enjoy a passionate love affair.  Then Martin reveals his terrible past...

As in his earlier film Les Voleurs, Techiné uses the trick of telling part of the story out of sequence – in this case to reveal Martin’s terrible secret.  This device works to some extent but disrupts the narrative flow perhaps needlessly – and what is revealed adds little to what has already been eluded to earlier in the film.   Also, the film has a noticeable bias towards the Martin character, to the detriment of Alice, whom we hardly get to know at all, despite an exceptional performance from the superlative Juliette Binoche.

Whilst flaws such as these are all too easily noticed – and doubtless critics will use these to lambast the film – the film manages to ride such faults very well.  This is a film that plays as much to the eyes as to the heart, the sombre lurid beauty of photography capturing very well the turmoil and unrest that tortures the lives of the fragile Alice and the bruised Martin.

Alexis Loret’s performance as Martin is both engaging and commanding, despite his inexperience (this is his first major screen role).

© James Travers 2000

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