Inguélézi (2004) - film review

Traumatised by the premature death of her husband, Geneviève rejects the support of her friends and falls into a grieving solitude.  Whilst driving home one night, she sees an overturned lorry in flames.  Leaving the police to attend to the accident, she returns home, and discovers a young man hiding in the boot of her car.  An illegal immigrant...

Inguélézi is markedly different in tone and style to the kind of films that we associate with director François Dupeyron.  In contrast to the achingly beautiful cinematography and epic feel of La Chambre des officiers (2001), Inguélézi is a confined, low budget production, filmed with a hand-held digital video camera, and is a pretty grim and ugly affair.  The rough and ready "cinéma vérité" approach does serve the subject of the film, but somehow it feels more like an exercise in cinematic experimentation than a serious attempt at a piece of social drama.  Despite credible performances from the two load actors, the film just doesn’t ring true; it lacks real poignancy and the underlying social messages lose much of their impact.

© James Travers 2007

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