Film Review
Un jeune poète, the
debut feature from director Damien Manivel, could be dismissed as an
exercise in self-indulgent navel-gazing were it not for the fact that
it avoids the mistake of taking itself too seriously and instead throws
up a humorous, albeit slightly cruel, portrait of the young man as an
artist - or, more precisely, a young man earnestly trying to persuade
himself he is an artist. Talent is such a nebulous and subjective
concept that even genuinely gifted artists sometimes have cause to
question whether they possess it, so no wonder there are so many
non-entities in the world, convinced of their genius as they offload
their latest creative abominations into the sea of mediocrity that
threatens to drown us all. Maybe it was Manivel's own lack of
self-confidence that prompted him to make this cutely idiosyncratic
little film?
The critics obviously don't doubt Manivel's ability. So far, he
has made three shorts, one of which,
La
Dame au chien (2010), won him the Prix Jean-Vigo in 2011.
The lead actor in this promising short, Rémi Taffanel, returns
to play the central character in Manivel's first feature, a
gawky-looking young man who is so wrapped up in his search for his
artistic identity that he can't help looking like a visiting
extra-terrestrial. Certainly, the people he encounters in the
sunny French town of Sète (a very different
Sète to the one portrayed in Abdellatif Kechiche's
La Graine et le mulet (2007) and
José Alcala's policier
Coup d'éclat (2011))
seem to think him odd, but then these are
unlikely to be the kind to be well-acquainted with poetry.
Manivel's film prompts us to consider whether poetry is even a valid
form of artistic expression in this high-tech, sound-bite-driven age of
rapid-communication and instant gratification. There's no point
building a transmitter if there's nothing to receive what you are going
to send, so what's the point of being a poet if no one can appreciate
poetry?
Manivel's film may be a tad slight and somewhat lacking in direction,
but it is not without charm, and its obvious (and visibly flawed)
attempts to imitate the style of Éric Rohmer's films gives it an
endearing gauchness that aligns well with its subject. By not
taking his film too seriously and allowing it the freedom to acquire
its own offbeat identity as it was made (in a mostly improvisational
manner during its rapid ten-day shoot), Manivel creates a film that is
fresh and distinctive, as quaint and authentic a picture of an artist
finding his feet as you could wish for.
© James Travers 2015
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Film Synopsis
Rémi has barely put his teen years behind him when he weds
himself to the idea of becoming a poet. Confident of his ability
to enchant the world with his verse, he wanders around the town of
Sète in search of inspiration, armed with the instruments of his
craft, a biro and a notebook. For the moment, Rémi
hesitates over where he should begin his quest for ideas. Should
he start by contemplating the sea or by climbing to the top of a
mountain? Should he listen to bird song or set out to find his
muse? If all that fails, he can always take to
drink...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.