Clara et moi (2004) - film review

Antoine is 33, a struggling actor living in Paris.  Outwardly, he appears happy and satisfied with his life; inwardly, he is tortured by solitude.  One day, he gets up and decides to find a woman with whom he will start a family.  The challenge proves to be a lot easier than he imagined.  In the metro, he makes eye contact with an attractive young woman, Clara, who gives him her phone number.  The two meet up soon after and they instantly discover they are made for one another.  Of course it is inevitable they will get married and have children and live happily ever after.  But then Clara discovers she is HIV positive.  How will Antoine – an idealistic and self-centred young man – react to the news?

Clara et moi is an engaging French love story, a film with great sensitivity and charm which marks a very promising directorial debut for Arnaud Viard.  The first and second halves of the film are strikingly different in tone and emotional impact.  The film at first resembles a near-parody of a traditional French romantic comedy, and even includes a musical sequence that appears to have fallen out of a Jacques Demy film.  Whilst this part of the film is certainly appealing, it isn’t until the second half when the emotional force of the drama begins to take hold.  Antoine’s reaction to the news that Clara has AIDS is written and performed with great conviction, and it’s heart breaking to see Antoine struggling to assert his true feelings for the woman he loves over his instinctive cowardice and ingrained narcissism.  Ultimately, the film is less about romantic love and more about a man painfully discovering his humanity.

Although the film is shot in Digital Video, it looks stunning, and Viard’s cinematographer really does succeed in capturing the mood of the drama, subtly underscoring the feelings and emotions of the principal characters.  Above all else, it is the faultless, perfectly judged performances from the lead actors – Julien Boisselier and Julie Gayet – which most makes this such a memorable and truthful film.  Although it is unashamedly a tear-jerker of the classic kind, Clara et moi stands apart as a particularly good example of the genre because it is so refreshingly understated and so honest in its portrayal of human emotions.

© James Travers 2006

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Reviewer James Travers nailed this gem of a movie right on the mark. There is very little, if anything, to add. The feel-good song and dance scene along the Seine was an unusual pleasure. With a complete lack of hubris, I have to say this is one of the most memorable films I have ever seen.
Joseph Stapen (Santa Barbara, California) 

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