Faux fuyants (1983) - film review

After he has run down and killed a young man, Serge, a 40-something business man, becomes guilt-stricken and withdrawn.  He tracks down the daughter of the dead man, Rachel, and contrives an elaborate scheme to gain her confidence.  Meanwhile, he befriends a young man who has aspirations of becoming a writer.  With realising it, Serge’s new friends end up doing him a good turn…

This first film from Alain Bergala and Jean-Pierre Limosin presents an unsettling portrait of guilt and manipulation.  The film’s style is as uncomfortable as its content, somewhere between Robert Bresson and Eric Rohmer.  The film’s apparent realism – an illusion created by use of natural locations and a lack of the usual dramatic devices – is at variance with the almost total lack of emotion shown by the actors.  Was this intentional or merely the result of some bad casting decisions?  It is hard to tell.  Whilst the film is difficult to watch – because it is so flat, dialogue-heavy and undramatic – it is unquestionably an original work and makes some disturbing comments on the perversity of human nature.  Jean-Pierre Limosin went on to make some equally distinctive films, many of which won great praise from the critics.  Faux fuyants is clearly a lesser work, but an interesting and provocative one all the same.

© James Travers 2004

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