Nénette et Boni (1996) - film review

19 year old Boni lives alone in the Marseilles flat he inherited from his mother and makes a living working on a pizza stall.  To break the routine of his humdrum life, he mixes with arms traffickers and fantasises about the woman who runs a baker’s shop.  One day,  Boni’s 15 year old sister Nénette  appears out of the blue and says she is pregnant.  Boni has not seen his sister for years, since his parents separated, and is reluctant to let her move in with him.  Gradually, Boni develops an affection for his younger sister and her unborn baby, not realising that Nénette has no wish to keep the baby...

Nénette et Boni, a film by Claire Denis, displays characteristic features of her narrative style: intermingling fantasies, reality, and flashbacks in a manner that, once understood, makes what might be seen as confused, meaningful.  Nénette and Boni are sister and brother, the residue of an unhappy marriage which has left the  siblings in a state of confusion as to what they are.  Nénette, at 15, is really at the mercy of her emotions, and is guided, however reluctantly, by her brother, whose emotional development has been arrested at an adolescent level. Yes, these are psychological  interpretations, but there is no other way.

Boni is unable to deal with adult women and lives in a fantasy world of rape images which he records in a notebook, and which are the inspiration for his masturbation.  Nénette, pregnant by an undisclosed father (incest with her father is strongly implied) , keeps returning to Boni, as she has no choice, though he treats his pet rabbit better than her.  The conclusion may seem a leap, but if accepted in the spirit of what a film is, after all, a fantasy, it will make the emotional investment worthwhile.  Grégoire Colin gives a controlled performance as Boni while Ms Godard’s images provide much of our understanding. I particularly liked our first view of Nénette, from above, floating on her back in a pool,  her face submerged and her hair radiating out like a dark halo, this prescient image a metaphor for the little boy in her belly.

© Edward McGoohan (Villas, NJ, USA) 2008

One of Claire Denis’ most potent films is this carefully woven portrait of isolation and estrangement, centred around an adolescent young man desperately looking for meaning in his life whilst rejecting all family ties.  Beautifully filmed by Agnès Godard and with some impressive acting performances, the film captures the realism of a life on the margins of society, but with a lurid poetry which seems to be filled with humanity.

In contrast to much of Denis’ other work, Nénette et Boni is less hampered by excessive artistic pretensions or overly conscious attempts to make a social statement.  The situation and the characters in this film have a depth and language of their own, making Denis’ artistic excesses (so visible in films such as Chocolat and Beau Travail) superfluous.  This is not to say that the film does not carry Denis’ personal stamp – it clearly does.  However, by not submerging her characters in an unnecessary deluge of artistic licence, the director allows the film to speak directly to the audience, through simple and effective images which are alternately shocking and poignant.   The result is one of the most evocative films of adolescence made in France in recent years.

Nénette et Boni was awarded the Best Film prize at Locarno, where its two stars, Grégoire Colin  and Alice Houri won the Best Actor and Best Actress awards.

© James Travers 2001

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