Film Review
Le Combat ordinaire is the
latest in a seemingly endless slew of comic book adaptations to have
deluged French cinema over the past decade, although this one at least
has a highly well-regarded source in the series of award winning
graphic novels of the same title by Manu Larcenet. France's love
affair with the
bande dessinée
is sure to continue this phenomenon, which has so far give us few
outright winners - Riad Sattouf's
Les
Beaux gosses (2009) and Abdellatif Kechiche's
La
Vie d'Adele (2013) - amid the wearying cornucopia of
misfires, which are too numerous to list. Laurent Tuel's
adaptation of Larcenet's comic books manages to avoid being an outright
disaster and it does have some strong selling points, but, by trying to cram
in too much into too small a space and losing traction as a result, it
can hardly be said to do justice to the material that inspired
it. It is however a slight improvement on Tuel's previous films,
which include a Polanski-style thriller
Un
jeu d'enfants (2001) and off-beat comedy starring Johnny
Hallyday,
Jean-Philippe (2006).
Had Tuel been more selective in his filching of content from Larcenet's
books
Le Combat ordinaire
could have been a thoroughly respectable account of a
thirty-something's attempt to come to grips with his personal problems
and find meaning in his life. The content is all there in the
original graphic novels, but Tuel's principal failing is an
over-eagerness to take as much as he can without much regard to whether
it can all hang together as a film. The result is a thematic
potpourri which veers all over the place, its themes ranging from
pre-midlife angst, coping with ageing parents, committing to long-term
relationships, political engagement, depression, photography, and about
a dozen other subjects, none of which is covered in sufficient
depth. The inclusion of irrelevant episodes, such as the one
involving a neighbour with a dubious past in Algeria, just weigh down
an already over-laden narrative.
The patchwork nature of the story is compounded by Tuel's somewhat
forced attempts to play the auteur (something he does with an endearing
gaucheness). The director can doubtless justify his over-use of
slow zooms, shaky camera movement and black-and-white inserts as these
reflect how the protagonist, an angst-ridden career photographer, sees
the world through his art. But, to a spectator watching his film
and trying to make some sense of it, they provide an unnecessary
distraction from the content and the performances, most of which are
exemplary. The film is at its best when Tuel reins in his auteur
excesses and allows the story to tell itself through a combination of
solid acting and unpretentious but highly expressive photography.
There are passages in the film that are breathtakingly beautiful,
others that are intensely moving, and all it needed for
Le Combat ordinaire to be a great
film was the self-discipline and confidence to focus on the essentials
and throw out everything else.
Nicolas Duvauchelle is the ace up Tuel's sleeve that saves the
film. His authentic portrayal of a young man struggling to gain
control of his life is just about the only thing that holds the film
together, despite Tuel's best efforts to burst it apart by forcing too
much content into it. Duvauchelle's moodily introspective persona
makes him a perfect casting choice for the central role of Marco, a man
fighting a personal battle on numerous fronts whilst visibly tormented
by a need to work out what life is for. It's a standout
performance in a career that has already made Duvauchelle one of
France's most sought-after actors, and whatever other faults Tuel's
film may have it is not short on conviction in its lead actor's
performance.
For the sequences set in the port of Lorient (replacing Saint-Nazaire
in Larcenet's original stories), non-professional actors were recruited
to make up a fair chunk of the cast. It's another auteur gimmick,
but one that works to the film's advantage, lending a sobering realism
to this part of the film. Allusions to France's present
socio-political problems - unemployment resulting from automation, the
increasing popularity of the Far Right - also help to anchor the film
in reality, but again there is so much that is left unsaid, too much
that is glossed over. Thematically,
Le Combat ordinaire offers a
gargantuan feast, but each course is so dainty, with little beneath the
mouthwatering garnish, that, at the end of it, you are left feeling
that you have barely digested a snack.
© James Travers 2015
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Next Laurent Tuel film:
Un jeu d'enfants (2001)