Petite chérie (2000) - film review

Although she is about 30, Sybille still lives at home with her parents and has never had a boyfriend.  On the train to her humdrum job as a bank clerk, she reads cheap romantic fiction and fantasises about the passions she fears she will never know, on account of her plain appearance and shyness.  Then one day her wildest dreams become reality when a well-dressed handsome young man named Victor enters her life.  Within no time at all, he has moved into Sybille’s home and has married her, even though neither Sybille nor her parents know anything about the strange young man.  Sybille is so taken over by her love for Victor that she asks no questions and even lets him taunt her.  In reality, Victor has no job and merely spends all day moping around shopping malls.   Sybille begins to senses that her parents will drive Victor away and makes one final bid to assert her independence...

For her directoral debut, Anne Villacèque made her mark with this poignant tragicomic portrayal of a young woman who, after years of repression, discovers sexual fulfilment, but in so doing unleashes passions that she is ill-equipped to control.   The characters in the film are rather obvious stereotypes, but they are portrayed with such conviction that they are entirely believable.  The relaxed, unhurried pace, allows the film, a quality yet unpretentious auteur-esque work, to deliver an emotional impact, yet it manages to entertain its audience at the same time with its satirical references and cruel black comedy.

Corinne Debonnière gives a sensitive and arresting performance as the repressed Sybille, a tough role which, on the face of it, is not one that is likely to endear itself with a cinema audience.   Debonnière plays the part with a mix of timid vulnerability and pent-up emotion, making the somewhat bizarre plot eminently plausible.   Jonathan Zaccaï should also be commended for his portrayal of the self-confessed predator Victor – a beautifully ambiguous performance which keeps us constantly guessing as to how the film will develop.  The explicit love scenes between the two lead characters appear initially exploitative but, on second thought, cleverly reflect the unbalanced nature of their relationship and are more poignantly comical than erotic.

One of the the film’s main strengths lies in the way it skilfully blends the dramatic and comical elements.  The stifling atmosphere of middle-class French family life is beautifully caricatured in Sybille’s parents.  Both mother and father are obsessively reluctant to let their "little darling" leave home and when she finally does manage to find someone, it is inevitable he ends up as trapped getting as she is.   The mother has a thing about staying young and beautiful but is not at all put out by her daughter’s plainness.  The father has no qualms about handing over money to his daughter’s new boyfriend – after all, he wears a tie and a suit, so he must be trustworthy.  These amusing satirical strands work well with the film’s diversions into black comedy, particularly the dramatic ending, which is as hilarious as it is horrific – and totally unexpected.

© James Travers 2002

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?