Vendredi soir (2002)

Vendredi soir is a French romantic film drama first released in 2002, directed by Claire Denis.  The film is based on a novel by Emmanuèle Bernheim and stars Valérie Lemercier, Vincent Lindon, Hélène de Saint-Père, Hélène Fillières and Florence Loiret.  It has also been released under the title: Friday Night.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Laure has arrived at a tuning point in her life.  In her Parisian apartment, she has packed up her belongings and is all set to move in with boyfriend.  On the night before her big move, she decides to accept a dinner invitation with some friends.  Unfortunately, she has forgotten about a national transport strike and within ten minutes she is stuck in the middle of a grid locked Paris.  Her boredom is relieved when an attractive man, Jean, gets into her car.  As Laure’s mind latches onto the possibilities that lie ahead, the situation doesn’t seem quite so bad...

After her hugely controversial blood-and-lust horror romp, Trouble Every Day, acclaimed French director Claire Denis returns to ostensibly safer territory with this hauntingly evocative portrayal of a one-night stand, inspired by a novel from Emmanuèle Bernheim.  Virtually without dialogue and with the simplest of narrative structures, the comparatively low-key Vendredi soir relies almost entirely on Agnès Godard’s superlative cinematography to tell its story and hold the audience’s attention.  This is one of those rare films where the photography director’s contribution can justifiably assume at least equal importance with the director’s.  With Denis’ complicity, Agnès Godard excels herself and her art conveys such moods as boredom, excitement and tenderness with stunning vividness and originality, capitalising on the intensely brooding, almost mystical, performances of its high calibre lead actors, Valérie Lemercier and Vincent Lindon.

If the film has a fault, it is that the state-of-the-art digital camera technology is rather too visible on occasions – for example, the jarring animated sequences which are intended presumably as some kind of sexual metaphor.  Such gimmickry may be becoming de rigueur in other film genres but here it appears faintly ludicrous and serves merely to weakens the film’s credibility as a "serious" work.  The lack of narrative content will doubtless alienate many potential spectators, and its implausible plot (a somewhat risible female fantasy) will put off others.  However, for those who can appreciate slow-moving, lovingly crafted pieces of cinema, Claire Denis’ Vendredi soir is a film to savour – a sensuous, satisfying and strangely surreal evocation of ennui and desire.

© James Travers 2002

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