Film Review
Aux abois is one of those
curious cinematic oddities that defies classification but which leaves
a lasting impression in spite of its obvious imperfections.
Adapted from a well-known novel by Tristan Bernard, it can be described
as French existentialist drama fashioned as a period road movie.
The blackly comedic plot revolves around a young man who, taken to the
limit of what he can endure by his lack of money, makes a conscious
decision to give up on the real world and instead creates for himself a
fantasy life that will inevitably take him to the guillotine (or so he thinks).
The film's quirky style is perfectly suited to the fanciful story it
tells, with reality sliding into surrealism when we least expect
it. Its director, Philippe Collin, had only made two other films
prior to this, the most recent being
Les
Derniers jours d'Emmanuel Kant (1994). There is a
bleakness to this film which is masked, in its first half, by a surfeit
of dry comedy and unpredictability. Towards the end, the main
character's sense of despair and ennui become overwhelming and we see
the world through his eyes, as a place that is both absurd and
pointless. The film's main selling point is Elie Semoun's sombre
and movingly introspective portrayal of a man who knows he has no
future and performs an existential act (or two) to prove it.
Semoun would later find fame as the villainous schoolmaster Latouche in the hit
comedy
L'Élève Ducobu (2011).
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Paris, in the 1950s. Since his divorce, Paul
lives alone in an apartment which he can no longer afford.
Unemployed, he cannot even find the money to pay his wife's alimony and
he is teetering on the verge of suicide. On the advice of his
friend Daubelle, Paul visits a money lender named Sarrebry. On
impulse, Paul kills Sarrebry with a hammer, steals money from him, and
flees. With the police thinking that the money lender was
murdered by Daubelle, Paul enjoys the freedom to travel where he
wants. He heads to the north of France, where he meets Simone, a
solitary woman who is trying to sell her large house. Paul allows
himself one last adventure before yielding to the mercy of the French
judiciary...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.