En avoir (ou pas) is a French romantic film drama first released in 1995, directed by Laetitia Masson.  The film stars Sandrine Kiberlain, Arnaud Giovaninetti, Roschdy Zem, Jean-Michel Fête and Didier Flamand.  It has also been released under the title: To Have (or not).  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


When she loses her job at a fish canning factory, Alice, a young woman from a socially deprived background, decides to make some major changes in her life.  She leaves her seaside home and boyfriend and takes the train to Lyons, where she hopes to find a new job.  In the hotel she is staying at she meets Bruno, a man of about her own age who has also just been made redundant.  Although Alice and Bruno are attracted to one another, their recent experiences prevent them from starting a relationship...

Laetitia Masson’s first full length film is this thoughtful and inspired drama which takes an unconventional slant on the familiar boy-meet-girl story.  The social realist style adopted by Masson gives the film an almost documentary feel, particularly in the film’s powerful and evocative first half.   Sandrine Kiberlain’s haunting yet restrained portrayal of a young woman brought to the edge by circumstances beyond her control provides the film with its most enduring images, an aching visual elegy in which optimism waltzes nonchalently with despair.

Where the film is slightly less satisfactory is in portraying the relationship between the two lead characters.  Despite two very credible performances, the attraction between Bruno and Alice is never entirely convincing and consequently the film’s ambiguous happy ending doesn’t quite hit the mark.  Nevertheless, En avoir (ou pas)  is a very creditable effort which amply demonstrates Laetitia Masson’s potential as a film auteur.   Kiberlain won an award at the 1996 Césars for her performance as Alice (in the most promising young actress category).  Also, watch out for acclaimed director Claire Denis, playing Kiberlain’s mother in the film.

© James Travers 2003

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