Le Voyage en Arménie (2006)
Directed by Robert Guédiguian

Film Review

Director Robert Guédiguian takes a break from the sunny French port of Marseilles, the setting of most of his films to date, and heads east to the former Soviet state of Armenia.  There, joined by his stalwart associates Ariane Ascaride and Gérard Meylan, he embarks on a curious odyssey which is part road movie, part documentary-style portrait of life in a country which is in the throes of making the painful transition from Communist control to Western-style liberalism.  It's a surprising departure for a filmmaker whose work so far, whilst varied in tone and subject matter, has a rare coherence to it, by virtue of its predominantly Provençal location and underlying socialist themes.

Le Voyage en Arménie is, however, not so different from what has gone before.  Guédiguian's penchant for crafting true-to-life vignettes is as recognisable here as it is in any of his other films, as is his unmistakable concern with his fellow man.  Anna's reaction to what she encounters on her journey echoes how little understanding those in the more affluent West have of the daily ordeal experienced by most ordinary people in the countries of the former Soviet Union.  As a supposedly intelligent and educated woman she should have anticipated that young girls are driven to prostitution to survive, that gangland criminality is rampant, and that policing is pretty well non-existent.  And yet we, the spectators of Anna's rude awakening, are just as surprised by what we see.  It's another world that Guédiguian shows us - brutal, unjust and archaic - yet at the same time he shows us something of the beauty of the country and its people.

As in several of his earlier films, Guédiguian manages to combine several genres, although perhaps less successfully than previously.  The thriller elements seem to have been shoe-horned into the narrative almost as an after-thought and serve to undermine the film's trenchant realism.  Surely it isn't necessary for Anna to become personally involved with gangster activity for her to realise how dangerous Armenia can be?  This and other glaring plot contrivances do weaken the film's impact to some degree, but so potent and sincere is Guédiguian's poetic sensibility that such blemishes are easily forgiven.  Le Voyage en Arménie is an engaging piece that not only reaffirms our appreciation of its author's talent, but also, and more importantly, extends our awareness of the troubled paradise sitting on the edge of European civilisation.

Film Synopsis

When her father, Barsam, mysteriously disappears, Anna is deeply concerned.  A doctor, she has just diagnosed that he has a serious heart condition, and may die unless he is treated soon.  Picking up some clues that Barsam left behind, Anna flies off to Armenia, where her father was born.  There, whilst looking for her lost father, she collects a diverse entourage, including a chauffeur who cannot speak her language, a young French doctor, a former soldier and a young girl who is desperate to start a new life in France...