Hell (2006) - film review

Ella, known as Hell to her friends, is an 18-year-old rich kid who abandons her studies to pursue a hedonistic lifestyle which consists of shopping in designer stores and get stoned in hot Parisian nightclubs.  When she learns that she is pregnant – the result of an endless series of one-night stands – she buys herself an abortion.  It is at this point that she becomes aware of the meaningless of her existence.  And it is at this point that she meets Andrea, a nice guy in a Porsche.  Like her, he comes from a wealthy family and burns money faster than an ocean liner burns oil.  Like her, he is looking for meaning in his life.  Perhaps they are made for one another.  Or perhaps they are made to destroy one another...

Hell marks a surprising change of track for director Bruno Chiche, a very different kind of film to his previous madcap comedy Barnie et ses petites contrariétiés (2001).  Based on Lolita Pille’s acclaimed autobiographical novel of 2002, the film is a kind of updated version of Rebel Without a Cause.  Two wild young offspring of nouveaux riches families find relief from the vacuum of their daily existence by falling in love, an experience that transforms both of their lives into a nihilistic guilt-sodden nightmare.  It is a provocative and insightful depiction of the inability of young people immersed in (and corrupted by) a highly materialistic way of life to cope with real emotions and find true meaning in their lives.

This sounds like a worthwhile film but Chiche’s overly cautious direction, some unexciting cinematography and a lacklustre script prevent it from achieving anything like its full potential.  This is in spite of creditable performances from its lead performers Sara Forestier and Nicolas Duvauchelle  - Forestier was the bright young thing who won a César in 2005 for her performance in Abdelatif Kéchiche’s much lauded L’Esquive (2004).  Hell has one or two very effective sequences, but there are just as many where the inspiration has clearly gone down the plughole.  The film feels like a wild beast that has been neutered and forced to live on a diet of semi-skimmed milk and Ryvita.  On the strength of his first two films, it looks as if Bruno Chiche is far more at home directing playful sex comedies than this kind of tough in-your-face drama.

© James Travers 2008

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It’s my favourite film, has been for 3 years already. Always leaves me with the empty feeling in the end and always makes me think.
Marie (Tbilisi)

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