Sauve-moi (2000) - film review

A young Rumanian woman, Agatha, arrives in the French town of Roubaix, hoping to rekindle a love affair with a French doctor whom she met during his last visit to her country.  When this doctor shows no interest in her, Agatha takes to the streets and meets a kind-hearted young Arab man, Mehdi, who scrapes a living doing odd jobs and driving a taxi.  Agatha is grateful for Mehdi’s help in finding a place to live, and even flirts with him.  However, she soon realises that her future lies elsewhere...

This film offers a realistic portrait of a set of individuals living on the margins of French society, a world far removed from most people’s image of France.  It originated as a novel written by a group of 17 unemployed people living in Roubaix, known collectively as Roseback, and Ricardo Montserrat (the film’s co-writer).  It is this, perhaps more than anything, which accounts for the film’s stark authenticity.

The lack of a coherent central narrative and dramatic plot developments is at times frustrating but the content is both eye-opening and poignant, often in a very subtle way.  Sauve-moi should not be viewed as a piece of entertainment, but rather as a learning experience - indeed the film’s naturalistic style lends it the feel of a fly-on-the-wall documentary.  Whilst not as engaging or as powerful as other socio-political films which tackle the theme of social exclusion (such as Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine), Sauve-moi is a worthy film which treats its subject with the seriousness that it deserves.

© James Travers 2002

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