La Blonde aux seins nus (2010) - film review

Julian, 25, and Louis, 12, are two brothers who work and live on a barge in the centre of Paris.  They transport gravel and resort to petty crime to make ends meet.  They have grown up alone and now they are inseparable, wedded to a life on the river.   A receiver of stolen goods offers them the opportunity of a lifetime, to steal a painting by Manet from the Musée d'Orsay.  Louis takes charge of the theft and, against the odds, he succeeds in removing it from the gallery and taking it aboard his barge.   Rosalie, a museum guard, follows Louis to his home and confronts him.   After a fight, the two brothers secure Rosalie in the hold of their boat and make a quick getaway.  Later, Rosalie emerges from her hidey hole and makes the brothers an unexpected offer...

Director Manuel Pradal still has yet live up to the promise of his first notable film, Marie baie des anges (1997).  Pradal’s latest offering, La Blonde aux seins nus, feels like an all too obvious attempt to recapture the brooding eroticism of that film but fails to be much more than an extremely poor relation.  Pradal’s mise-en-scène lacks the finesse of his early work and pretty well chokes the life out of this water-based road movie.  The painfully contrived scenario does not help matters much either.

The only thing going for this film are the contributions from the three lead actors.  Vahina Giocante is an enigmatic object of desire, mysterious and sensual as the thoroughly modern femme fatale.  As eye-catching as Giocante is however it is her male co-stars, Nicolas Duvauchelle and Steve Le Roi, who claim the film as their own.  Despite some absolutely risible dialogue, both actors succeed in making their characters and their predicament believable.  Had Pradal been more restrained and focussed in his writing and direction, this could have been an extremely powerful portrayal of sibling conflict.  Instead, it feels aimless and confused, mechanically directed and scripted with no real conviction or appreciation of how human beings communicate with one another in the real world.   A sad misfire.

© filmsdefrance.com 2010

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