Nos retrouvailles (2007) - film review

20-year-old Marco is uncertain how to react when, after a long period of separation, his father, Gabriel, suddenly re-enters his life.  Their need for each other is evident, but somehow they find it hard to communicate.  Gabriel proposes that they work together and open a night club.  Marco is sympathetic to the idea, until he learns that to finance the venture they will have to turn to crime...

Nos retrouvailles is one of those frustrating films which tries hard to straddle the often unbridgeable gulf between mainstream and art house cinema but, despite the best efforts of an obviously talented team, fails to add up to a coherent, satisfying whole.  From its opening scene, which shows the poignant reunion of a father and his son, the film looks as if it may go down the straggly path of a Mike Leigh style social realist drama.  Instead, it follows the trajectory of a fairly conventional policier, albeit shot through the cinéma vérité lens of a director who sees himself as an auteur rather than a man who is out to make a quick buck.

The film is inoffensive but it is too slow and predictable to work as thriller, and too cautious and contrived to stand as a good example of social realism.  Director David Oehloffen’s inexperience is all too evident from the choppy, unevenly paced narrative, although it is clear that he has talent and will doubtless make more of an impact with his subsequent work.   Nicolas Giraud is another name to watch out for – his engaging and convincing performance in this film (he plays the introverted son, Marco) reveals a young actor of sensitivity and maturity, who can look forward to a promising future in French cinema.

© James Travers 2008

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