Stand-by (2000)
Directed by Roch Stéphanik

Film Review

It is hard to believe that this powerful and highly idiosyncratic film should pass unheralded and virtually unnoticed when it was released in the summer of 2000.  Fortunately, it has enjoyed a second lease of life following Dominique Blanc's winning of the Best Actress award at the 2001 César's ceremony, shortly before director Roch Stéphanik was awarded the prestigious Cyril Collard.prize.

Stand-by takes an all too familiar scenario, the breakdown of a relationship between a domineering alpha male and his dependent female partner, and traces the resulting trauma experienced by the latter in coming to terms with her cruel abandonment.  What distinguishes the film is that all of this takes place within the oppressive mausoleum that is Orly airport in Paris, providing a disorientingly surreal, yet disturbingly familiar, backdrop to one woman's psychological collapse and subsequent self-reconstruction.

There are two things which make Stand-by a remarkable film.  First, there is of course Dominique Blanc's extraordinary performance - and it is not too difficult to see why she was awarded a César.   The actress shows a remarkable range in what is a very demanding role, appearing alternately vulnerable and seductively predatory, the child and the tiger, but always with the same dazzling conviction.  The moody cinematography is equally noteworthy, particularly the scenes where Hélene finds herself alone in the almost Kafkaesque environs of the airport, which look as if they have been shot in another world, so haunting and menacing is the spacious neon-lit setting.  In this respect, there are some striking similarities with other airport-centred film dramas, Philippe Lioret's Tombés du ciel (1993) and Steven Spielberg's Terminal (2004), although these are somewhat lighter in tone and lack Stand-by's relentlessly oppressive mood.

The film's length (just over two hours) and drawn-out ending count against it a little.  Towards the end, you wonder if the director had the heart to finish what must have been an intensely personal work.   Hélene's sudden transformation at the end of the film appears contrived and unconvincing, although this is certainly the way the film had to end.  These are however minor faults in a film which certainly manages to set itself apart with its unusual style and original handling of all-too familiar themes.

Film Synopsis

Having been together for eight years, Gérard and Hélène appear settled in their relationship.  Now they are preparing to embark on a new life in Argentina.  But as they are about to board their plane at Orly airport, Gérard tells his partner that he no longer loves her and that he intends making the flight to Buenos Aires alone.  Hélène can scarcely take this in.  After her partner has gone on his way, she feels she cannot leave the airport.  Confused, shocked, abandoned, she makes this sprawling concrete-walled complex which never sleeps her new home.

Something about the unreal, almost dream-like ambiance of the airport appeals to Hélène, who soon becomes accustomed to her new limbo-like existence.  She has no difficulty finding travellers who are willing to pay her for sex, and she acquires an unlikely friend in a barman named Marco.  She has soon forgotten Gérard, or at least the pain of their separation appears to have left her, and now the only need she has for men is to provide her with spurious thrills and some ready cash.  For the first time in her life, Hélène feels free - but how long can this delusion continue...?