Le Passe-montagne
1978 Comedy / Drama
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Credits
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Summary
When his car breaks down one evening in the Jura Mountains, a Parisian architect,
Georges, accepts the help of a local mechanic, Serge, who tows the car to a garage.
Serge invites Georges to spend the night in his forest house, whilst the car is being
repaired. The next day, Georges is in no hurry to recover his car and is more interested
in finding out more about his strange host. Although they exchange few words, a
profound friendship starts to develop between the two men as they explore the mountainside
and socialise with the locals…
Review
Having established himself as an actor in the 1970s, Jean-François Stévenin
made his directoral début in 1978 with Le Passe-montagne. This is
an intimate and very personal portrait of friendship and solitude, set in the beautiful
Jura Mountains where Stévenin grew up. Stévenin also stars in the
film, playing alongside Jacques Villeret, who is perhaps best known today for his role
in Jacques Veber’s popular 1998 film Le
Dîner de cons. Villeret and Stévenin perfectly contrast each
other in this film, both managing to convey a life of tragic solitude simply through their
gestures and the way their characters interact with each other.
Whilst this film has much to commend it (most notably the alluring cinematography and the heart-warming rapport between Villeret and Stévenin), it is far from being an accessible work and most spectators will probably find the film tedious and overly long. The film rigorously avoids dramatic developments and the narrative consists of a series of loosely connected incidents – an aggressively naturalist approach which is closer in form to a fly-on-the-wall documentary than a film drama. © James Travers 2002 Write a review for this film... |
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