Rue des plaisirs (2002)

Rue des plaisirs is a French romantic film drama first released in 2002, directed by Patrice Leconte.  The film stars Patrick Timsit, Laetitia Casta, Vincent Elbaz, Catherine Mouchet and Isabelle Spade.  It has also been released under the title: Love Street.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


One rainy night, three prostitutes pass the time whilst waiting for clients by recalling the story of one of their former acquaintances.  In 1945, Petit Louis works as a handyman in the brothel where he was born and grew up.  Love comes his way in the form of Marion, a beautiful young woman who finds work in the brothel.  Realising that Marion cannot possibly love a man as plain as him, Petit Louis commits himself to making her happy in other ways.  He gets her to enter a singing competition on the radio, which she wins, and then contrives to bring her together with her ideal man.   Marion’s happiness is short-lived when it turns out that her lover, Dimitri Josco, is a petty crook who is being pursued by some vindictive gangsters...

In Rue des plaisirs, director Patrice Leconte brings some unusual narrative and cinematographic techniques to his familiar brand of erotic romantic drama, presumably in an attempt to mask the lack of original conent in the storyline.  Whilst the film has the dark sensual texture of the director’s earlier work – notably Le Parfum d’Yvonne (1994) – it lacks the force, conviction and emotional intensity of Leconte’s better films ( Monsieur Hire, Le Mari de la coiffeuse, etc.).  Part of the problem is the cast – both Vincent Elbaz and supermodel Laetitia Casta have some way to go before they can seriously merit lead roles in a film like this – but the thing that really sinks the film is its script.  No cliché is left out in this langorous stereotype-saturated mélange of melodrama and film noir which is so predictable that it’s like watching a cuddly baby seal being hacked to pieces with a blunt knife in slow motion.  Only the skill and inventiveness of Leconte and his photography director prevent the spectator from losing interest in it.  The main reason for staying with the film is Patrick Timsit’s sympathetic and engaging performance, which adds a touch of poetry and humanity to what would otherwise be a cold and passionless piece of arty drama.

© James Travers 2005

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