Film Review
La Ligne droite starts out with the noblest of intentions and has
you thinking it might be a subtle allegory of some kind, but the first reel
has barely runs its course before the film plummets to the depths of a trashy
Australian soap opera and leaves you shaking your head in despair.
The central story strand, involving a young man battling against insurmountable
odds in the pursuit of his goals, brings to mind Régis Wargnier's
earlier film,
Est-Ouest
(1999), but whereas that film succeeded in presenting a far-fetched personal
crusade as compelling drama, in his latest cinematic offering Wargnier merely
turns out the soppiest kind of melodrama, one that contains scarcely a note
of authentic sentiment.
In Frédéric Mermoud's
Complices
(2010), Cyril Descours was revealed to us as an actor of considerable promise,
a name to watch out for. As the blind hero of Wargnier's lame homage
to
Chariots of Fire (1981)
(which comes complete with obligatory over-use of slow-motion and excessively
lachrymose music) he is complete wasted. Descours's presence is just
about the only thing that
La Ligne droite has going for it - the actor
does what he can with the risibly bad script, but even Robert De Niro would
have had difficulty with some of the dialogue that Wargnier flings at his
leading man. Rachida Brakni may not be in Descours's league, but her
performance likewise occasionally rises above the overall mundanity of the
production, alas not enough to save it.
The script is as steeped in contrivance as it is in cliché, but this
wouldn't have been so bad if Wargnier had at least made an attempt to direct
the film with some sincerity, instead of trundling out such low grade trash
and trying to pretend that it is something better.
La Ligne droite
first goes awry when the two main characters meet and implausibly form an
instant bond of friendship. It's not sufficient that the scene is badly
scripted and acted with no conviction whatsoever; Wargnier has to direct
it as if he had no idea what a film camera was for. Thereafter, things
just go from bad to worse.
Brakni's character apparently has an infant son from an earlier relationship
and naturally the father (Grégory Gadebois - another fine actor despicably
wasted) wants to keep them apart. Descours's character, it transpires
(big yawn), has deep-rooted emotional problems (as if losing your sight in
a car crash wasn't enough trauma to be going on with), which prompts another
character to try to fix him up with a prostitute (cue even more treacly music
than you can bear). And when Descours starts to show his true feelings
for Brakni, she suddenly dumps him by the roadside and drives off, in the
certain knowledge that he will be mowed down in the traffic. Exactly
which planet is this film supposed to be set on?
There is scarcely a scene in
La Ligne droite that rings true,
and there are many scenes that are so outrageously phoney that you just can't
help laughing, particularly when the principals start overacting and the
music swells to a schmaltz-laden crescendo of sanity-threatening proportions.
Imagine the monstrosity that you'd get if the worst bits of Wargnier's Oscar-winning
horror
Indochine (1991) were
all spliced together - even that terrifying prospect of undiluted mediocrity
would be easier to sit through than the cloying disaster that is
La Ligne
droite.
© James Travers 2016
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Régis Wargnier film:
La Femme de ma vie (1986)
Film Synopsis
Not long after she is released from prison after a five year stretch, Leïla
meets Yannick, a young athlete who has recently lost his sight in a car accident.
Apparently undeterred by his disability, Yannick is determined to continue
his career and is in training for a competition. In her not too distant
past, Leïla was also an active sportswoman and she agrees to help Yannick
in his training, although she remains strangely reticent about her past.
Despite their differences, a bond of friendship and trust develops between
Yannick and Leïla, and it seems they are well-placed to help the other
overcome the challenges and upsets that lie ahead...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.