Terre battue (2014)
Directed by Stéphane Demoustier

Film Review

In his first full-length film (inspired by a true story), director Stéphane Demoustier paints a depressingly familiar picture of an overly competitive society in which individuals are too easily led into cheating the system for their own advantage.  Terre battue (which translates as 'hard ground') is aptly titled for a film in which a middle-aged father and his pre-teen son are driven to extreme measures in order to fulfil their dreams in a brutal world where it is unacceptable to be second best.  It's a grim subject that Demoustier handles with surprising delicacy and feeling, and far from alienating us from his flawed protagonists, he compels us to identify with them and recognise them as the victims of a desperately failing society.

In this first feature offering, the brother of Anaïs Demoustier (an actress of considerable talent and renown) shows great promise and achieves a harmonious balance between social realism and melodrama, avoiding the laboured miserabilism of the former and the bogus sentiment of the latter.  The work of the Dardenne brothers appears to have been a major influence on Demoustier, judging by the theme and tone of his film.  Not only did the famous Belgian brothers co-produce the film, their favourite actor Olivier Gourmet also plays the lead role.  The Dardennes' La Promesse (1996) and Le Fils (2002) are both strongly echoed in the subject matter of Terre battue, which centres on the problematic relationship of a father and son who closely resemble one another but struggle to form a close and meaningful bond.

As the semi-estranged father and son, Olivier Gourmet and Charles Mérienne are incredibly convincing - Gourmet lives up his usual impeccably high standard; Mérienne is a charismatic newcomer who leaves a lasting impression as a troubled Antoine Doinel of our times.  If the film had focused exclusively on the relationship between Jérôme and his son Ugo, it would most likely have been a remarkable piece. Unfortunately, Demoustier makes the classic error of throwing in too many extra ingredients, and the most redundant and irritating of these is Jérôme's constantly weepy wife Laura, played by - who else? - Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi.

The casting of Gourmet and Bruni-Tedeschi are both equally suspect but whereas the former manages to add depth to his character and make it a nuanced variation on similar earlier portrayals, the latter merely replays the same performance she has given at least a dozen times before in similar films.  Thankfully, Bruni-Tedeschi's self-pitying depressive walks out of the picture halfway through, and isn't missed for a moment afterwards, but by this stage the damage has already been done, the focus has been lost.  Like many a first time writer-director before him, Demoustier tries to juggle too many balls, and it's not surprising that so many of these land up on the floor, futile distractions.  It's too easy to see how much better Terre battue would have been if its director had adopted the principle of Occam's razor and dispensed with such superfluity as a completely redundant wife and mother who has nothing better to do than sob into her handkerchief.

Ultimately, it is the film's good points that win out over its many shortcomings.  The writing and direction show a discernible dearth of freshness but this is made up for by the sincerity that Demoustier and his lead actors invest in the film.  Although somewhat overburdened with its unnecessary accessories, Terre battue is a thoughtfully crafted modern fable that has an immediate resonance - its final scenes (presented in a chillingly matter-of-fact way) drive home the film's central message with precision and poignancy.  What kind of society are we becoming when we feel that we have to cheat in order to get one over on the other guy?  Just where is this crass dog-eat-dog mentality leading us?  Terre battue gives us the answer: to a hard and cruel place.

Film Synopsis

Jérôme Sauvage has spent over twenty years in the mass retail business, and he has no intention of turning his hand to something different when his employers decide to dispense with his services after a downturn in their profits.  His dream is to manage his own business, and this he believes he can achieve with persistence and hard work.  His son Ugo is equally passionate about tennis, and seeing that the 11-year-old shows a prodigious aptitude for the sport, Jérôme is delighted when he is accepted by France's national training centre at Roland Garros, to train to become a future champion.  Just as Ugo's dreams begin to look as if they might come true, his father's start to fall apart.  His wife Laura decides she no longer understands him and promptly insists on a separation.  Then Jérôme fails to obtain backing for his grand project.  Fear of failure leads Ugo to spike his competitor's drink with sleeping tablets during a match.  When the unwitting competitor ends up in hospital in a coma, Jérôme cannot bear that his son should suffer the consequences of his actions and so admits to the police that he was the culprit.  Guilt compels Ugo to make the confession that will end his dreams of sporting glory...