Noce blanche (1989)
Directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau

Film Review

Jean-Claude Brisseau directs this haunting portrayal of obsessive love à la française, picking up the 'ni avec toi, ni sans toi' theme of François Truffaut's later films. Some elements of the storyline stretch credibility more than a little (for example, the idea that the streetwise Mathilde is some kind of child prodigy with an encyclopaedic knowledge of philosophy).  However, the film does offer a sensitive and fairly convincing portrayal of an amour fou, in which the conscious mind wrestles in vain against irrational subconscious impulses.  It is also a poetic film, in which the poetry in the script is amplified by the melancholic cinematography.

The film owes its impact to the impressive contributions of its two lead actors.   Brisseau accentuates the apparent impossibility, and hence tragic poignancy, of the love story by casting two wildly contrasting actors, Bruno Cremer and Vanessa Paradis.  Bruno Cremer needs no introduction.  A stalwart of French cinema since the 1950s, he is now recognised as definitive Inspecteur Maigret, thanks to his appearance in the role in a long-running TV series, or as the “missing husband” in François Ozon's 2000 film Sous le sable. In this Noce blanche, Cremer's customarily understated performance becomes so intense, so introspective that it becomes painful to watch, particularly in the film's final twenty minutes or so.

The film's biggest surprise, however, is Vanessa Paradis.  Although a teenager when she made this, her first, film, she portrays her character with an uncanny maturity and natural spontaneity.  Sensual, untamed, mysterious and frankly disturbing, Paradis brings new depth and meaning to the traditional femme fatale of French cinema and was rewarded with the “Most promising young actress” César in 1990 for her role in this film.  Regrettably, this particular promising young actress then decided to give up acting and concentrate on her singing career.  When she returned to the screen in 1995, in Jean Becker's Elisa, she was not the same person.

This film, significantly, marks the final screen appearance of Jean Dasté, who famously was the male lead in Jean Vigo's cinematic hymne d'amour, the classic 1934 film L'Atalante .

Film Synopsis

François Hainaut, a fifty year old philosophy teacher, is content with his work and his marriage.  But then Mathilde Tessier, a 17 year old student, crashes into his life.  The teacher becomes concerned by the girl's troubled background and realises that she may be expelled from college if she doesn't change her attitude.  So he takes it upon himself to coach the rebellious teenager.  Very quickly, the student-teacher relationship turns to carnal passion, and then obsession.  Knowing that the affair cannot last, François tries to put an end to it.  Mathilde's reaction proves to be devastating...