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Cavale
2002 Thriller / Crime / Drama
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Credits
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Director: Lucas Belvaux
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Script: Lucas Belvaux
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Photo: Pierre Milon
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Music: Riccardo Del Fra
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Cast: Lucas Belvaux (Bruno Le Roux),
Catherine Frot (Jeanne Rivet),
Dominique Blanc (Agnès Manise),
Ornella Muti (Cécile Costes),
Gilbert Melki (Pascal Manise),
Patrick Descamps (Jacquillat),
Olivier Darimont (Francis),
Alexis Tomassian (Banane),
Yves Claessens (Freddy),
Christine Henkart (Madame Guiot),
Jean-Henri Roger (Neighbor in Burning Apartment),
Elie Belvaux (Jeanne's Son),
Hervé Livet (Jean-Jean)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 117 min
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Aka: Trilogy: One; On the Run
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Summary
Bruno Le Roux, an extreme left-wing activist, escapes from jail and intends to resume
his campaign of terror against French capitalism. But things have changed greatly
during the 15 years he has been locked away. His former partner Jeanne has
become a respectable schoolteacher, with a husband and children; she wants nothing of
the life he now offers her. With another of his erstwhile associates dead, killed
by the police, Bruno has no option but to carry on his struggle alone…
Review
Cavale is a masterfully composed film noir which
belongs to a trilogy of three films directed by Lucas Belvaux. The idea is that
the storylines of the three films run in parallel, overlapping at various points, thus
giving an unusual sense of depth and realism to the film’s protagonists. The other
two films in the trilogy are:
Un couple épatant and
Après la vie
(2002).
Cavale stands out as by far and away the
best film in the trilogy. As a film in its own right, it is a compelling, stunningly
realised work, and very probably the best French thriller for over a decade. It
is the latest in a long and distinguished line of hard-edged existentialist thrillers
in French cinema, and it bears comparison with some of the finest examples of the genre,
including Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le
Samouraï (1967).
Whilst respecting the conventions of film noir,
Lucas Belvaux doesn’t slavishly follow an existing, well-established format. Perhaps
the most surprising thing about Cavale is its
sense of realism and its humanity. Unlike the vast majority of thrillers, the film
has believable characters, with real lives, real failings, real emotions, and this adds
to the film’s relentless tension and darkly oppressive mood.
As well as directing
the film, Belvaux takes the leading role – reportedly because he was unable to find anyone
suitable to play the part. His portrayal of the obsessive activist Bruno is harrowingly
real – there’s more than a hint of psychosis, yet we also see a glimmer of compassion.
Belvaux’s co-stars are just as impressive, particularly Catherine Frot, who gives one
of her best dramatic performances to date in an emotionally challenging role.
The most striking thing about Cavale, however,
is its hugely effective cinematography, which alternates between the chillingly atmospheric
and the hauntingly poetic. Familiar situations are interwoven with shockingly brutal
crime scenes, adding further layers of grim menace and tragedy to a tense drama.
Watching this film after the comparatively whimsical comedy Un couple épatant
merely emphasises the dark undercurrents in this film, particularly when seemingly
innocuous scenes in that other film are revealed to be much more significant than we first
thought…
© James Travers 2006
See also:
Un couple
épatant
Après
la vie
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