Petits arrangements avec les morts
1994 Drama
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Summary
On a beach in Brittany one summer, a nine-year old boy, Jumbo, watches a man build a fantastic
sand castle. When the man leaves, Jumbo offers to look after the castle, but it
is demolished when he gets into a fight with some other boys. He feels as responsible
for the destruction of the castle as he was for the death of his friend Patrick, a recent
victim of cancer. His way of coping with Patrick’s death was to build a shrine
to the dead in a disused bunker, but attempts to indoctrinate another friend, Bruno, into
his morbid ceremonies are thwarted by adults. The man who built the fabulous sandcastle
is named Vincent. He is on holiday with his brother François and two sisters,
Zaza and Suzanne. Memory of a tragic death also haunts these four siblings, since
their younger sister Lili died in an accident in childhood. François
has become a specialist in insects and spends most of his time analysing and classifying
dead things. Meanwhile, his older sister Zaza is a nurse, who has given her life
to postponing the deaths of others. After all these years, both Zaza and François
are still deeply scarred by Lili’s death…
Review
This haunting and original portrayal of grief was the first full-length film from director
Pascale Ferran, who had previously been noted for her work as a sceenwriter. The
film’s complex narrative structure and occasional moments of mad surrealism prevent
it from being accessible to a mainstream audience but these contribute to the mood and
impact of the piece. The film is divided into three parts, which tell the story
from the point of view of three different characters. Of these, the most memorable
is the first, which shows how a young boy reacts to the death of a close friend.
Thanks to some inventive cinematography and editing, plus a heart-rending performance
from child actor Guillaume Charras, this segment vividly conveys the trauma of a child
who is forced to confront death for the first time. After such a brilliant start,
the remainder of the film feels something of a let down, even if the calibre of the acting
and direction is just as good as in the first part. One actor who stands out is
Charles Berling, appearing in one of his first substantial film roles. The film
won the Golden Camera award at Cannes in 1994.
© James Travers 2005 Write a review for this film... |
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