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
.
© James Travers 2004
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
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...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.