Ceci est mon corps
2001 Drama
|
Credits
|
|
|
Summary
Antoine is a brilliant student from a comfortable middle class background who has a promising
business career ahead of him. To the chagrin of his family, he decides to take a
break from his studies to play the lead role in a film by the controversial director Louise
Vernet. Antoine learns that the role had previously been offered to another young
man, Lucas, who killed himself after a stormy affair with Louise...
Review
Ceci est mon corps is the first full length film
to be directed by Rodolphe Marconi, who previously won the 1999 Cannes Jury Prize for
his impressive short film Stop. Whilst
photographed with maturity and sincerity, the film's threadbare narrative and tendency
to replay tired clichés prevents it from having any real impact. Despite
the combined talents of an impressive cast, too many scenes fail to convince, and the
editing is unnecessarily arty in the rare moments of dramatic intensity. Jane Birkin,
in her first French film role for four years, appears to have as much difficulty with
her character as her lines, but her presence gives the film the wry introspection and
weight which are lacking elsewhere. Louis Garrel – son of director Philippe
Garrel and grandson of actor Maurice Garrel – shows talent in his portrayal of the
lead character Antoine, but, again hampered by a weak script, he just fails to make his
character believable. The film’s misleading title (which was vehemently attacked
by Christian fundamentalists) and its French poster boldly imply raw eroticism and a sense
of “enfant terrible”-style provocation, two things which are strikingly absent
from the film.
© James Travers 2004 Write a review for this film... |
|