La Bande du Drugstore (2002) - film review

The mid to late 1960s is a time of great social and political change in France, and the youth of the day are keen to embrace all that liberal American culture has to offer.  Against this backdrop, a group of adolescents suddenly become aware of their own sense of freedom…

A greatly respected journalist and novelist, François Armanet directed this personal account of his experiences of life in France of the 1960s, an adaptation of his best-selling novel.  It’s surprising how sombre and introspective the film is, since most people’s recollection of the period is one of vivid colour and life lived to its absolute fullest.  Armanet’s portrayal of 1960s youth is almost the exact opposite of Truffaut’s and Rivette’s – colourless, emotionally dry, and overly intellectual.  This, together with the film’s lack of poetic sense, makes it a heavy, somewhat off-putting piece which falls somewhere in the sterile wasteland that lies between cinéma vérité and social drama.

© James Travers 2007

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