Tag: André Techiné

My New Friends (Les Gens d’à Côté)

Posted on by victorfraga

QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM BERLIN

Isabelle Huppert and André Téchiné are two powerhouses of French cinema. They only worked together once, 45 years ago, in The Brontë Sisters. This means that the expectations are high, at least for this humble film journalist. Unfortunately, when we set the bar so high, the odds of disappointment are equally bis. My New Friends is an unsatusfactory film, with plenty of good intentions, most of them left unfulfilled.

Huppert is Lucie, a police forensic expert. Her husband Slimane, an African immigrant, also a policeman, committed suicide due to work pressures. As she grieves, a young couple moves next door, with Rose, their 13-year-old daughter. Lucie gets closer to them, without knowing that Yann (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, from Robin Campillo’s 120 BPM, from 2017), the husband, is an anti-police activist and artist with a long criminal record. The main subject of the film is Lucie’s moral dilemma between her professionalism and her desire to help his family. Huppert’s character runs a a lot: it seems to calm her down and keep her fit. At 71, the French actress indeed remains very fit.

This is a good premise that could have provoked some interesting discussions about police morality and ethics as well as Yann’s motivations, but unfortunately Téchiné seems more interested in devising unexpected twists and turns. At the ripe age of 80 years, he seems to be in a rush. The film is very fast-paced. This gives the impression that Téchiné is not really interested in getting inside the psychology of the individual characters. A little trivia: .My New Friends features is a special appearance of Stéphane Rideau of Wild Reeds He plays a police chief.

Lucie’s dilemma is superficially examined. Huppert’s trademark detachment and calculated coldness in her acting her personal drama even a little more inscrustable. Téchiné has some very emotionally affectig dramas such as My Favourite Season (1993) and Wild Reeds (1994). This time, he feels a lot more distant from his characsters. It’s only in the second act that it all slows down a little, and Huppert does what she does best: she gets passionate and shows her vulnerability. Lucie gets very attached to Julia (Hafsia Herzi) Yann’s wife, and to their daughter Rose (Romane Meunier). But once the police discover she is helping Yann – who is actually under house arrest – and capture him at his house, Lucie fears she will lose her new friends. It’s a breath of fresh air in this mostly gritty story. Without giving away any spoilers, it suffices to say that the closing is satisfactory.

Let’s all hope Huppert and Téchiné Collaborate once again. Neither one has another 45 years to wait!

My New Friends just premiered in the Panorama section of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.

Farewell to the Night (L’Adieu a la Nuit)

Posted on by victorfraga

QUICK SNAP: LIVE FROM BERLIN

Muriel breeds horses somewhere in the Occitanie region of France, not far from the Spanish border. She is played by a 75-year-old Catherine Deneuve, who has subverted the rules of ageing by looking younger every year. One day she receives the visit of her 18-year-old son Alex (Kacey Mottet Klein), who has become increasingly attached to his childhood friend Lila (Oulaya Amamra). While abroad, Alex remained in touch almost daily with the pretty young lady. One sunny day (quite literally, as the film takes place during the first days of Spring, mostly in the bright outdoors), Muriel catches his son (low and behold…) praying in Arabic (shock!!!).

The quiet and introverted Alex has converted to Islam. He is confident that he will enjoy a very happy and fulfilling “second life” after he says goodbye to his current dark existence (hence the film title Farewell to the Night). Lila has become his closest associate, and she shares his convictions and ambitions. Gradually, the horrific truth emerges. Alex and Lila intend to leave everything behind in order to become jihadis in Syria. They are convinced that this is the way forward, and no one can dissuade them from their holy purpose. So Muriel takes matters into her own hands, resorting to very desperate measures in order to prevent her beloved son from embarking on a journey presumably of no return. An ankle-monitor-wearing jihadi defector lends Muriel a helping hand. But their quest isn’t straighforward and simple.

Farewell to the Night is an auspicious movie because Techine is an accomplished storyteller with more than five decades of experience making films. The story is both riveting and plausible, with strong performances by the three leads. There is an important message about the failure of capitalism driving young people to religious fundamentalism. Alex and the other young people recruited by radical Islam have never been in trouble, and there is nothing wrong with them. They are simply bored of an increasingly consumerist and futile society. They are seeking a noble purpose and also a “Summer adventure”, we are told.

But there is also a very significant political issue with Farewell to the Night. It fails to distinguish between radical and moderate Islam, which is very dangerous in an increasingly racist and Islamophobic France and Europe. All Muslims in the film – bar the defector – are brainwashed fundamentalists. The message is: “Islam is evil and it’s corrupting our children”. Hardly a positive statement when we face the very real threat of the far-right. France has infamously banned veils in public, in a sheer gesture of Islamophobia disguised as a “freedom” statement. There is also a subtle and cringe-worthy apologia to the anti-terrorism laws, conveniently forgetting to mention that such legislation represent the erosion of our personal freedoms. Marine Le Pen will probably love Farewell to the Night.

Farewell to the Night is showing as part of the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, which is taking place right now. Andre Techine’s last two films Being 17 (2016) and Golden Years (2017) were far superior and yet never saw theatrical distribution in the UK. Farewell to the Night may well make it to UK cinemas, simply due to the presence of über-actress and USP Catherine Deneuve.

Golden Years (Nos Anées Folles)

Posted on by victorfraga

QUICK SNAP: LIVE FROM CANNES

Fifty years are neither 50 weeks nor 50 months. The French filmmaker André Techiné has directed more than 20 films in his career spanning five decades, and he has worked with the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Huppert. So the Cannes Film Festival, which is also having a big anniversary this year (add two decades; it’s 70th edition of the Festival), decided to honour the director with a special screening attended by no less than the three aforementioned ladies.

And as you would expect, the 76-year artist, possibly the greatest LGBT director alive, hasn’t disappointed us. Golden Years is a superb piece of filmmaking, exuding guile, vigour, elegance and subversive fragrances. As usual, he challenges expectations of gay relations, sexuality and national identity. The film tells the real story of the French WW1 deserter Paul Grappe (Pierre Deladonchamps) and his wife Louise (Céline Sallette). In order to avoid being caught, Paul disguises himself as Suzanne. He quickly and enthusiastically embraces his new identity and turns to prostitution in order to make ends meet and cater for his wife.

Paul/Suzanne seems to be fully bisexual, enjoying orgies and all sorts of sexual experiments with people of both genders, while still in love with his wife. She remains devoted to her husband despite his sexuality, which was extremely unorthodox for the times. At first, she seems entirely indifferent to his job and “perversions”. Eventually Paul/Suzanne becomes a cabaret act, but then the split identity begins to haunt and to suffocate him. Suzanne wishes to take over.

This plot will sound extremely familiar in case you watched the British-American drama The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper, 2016). The movie tells the (kind of ) real story of the transsexual Lili Elbe, who lived in Denmark at around the same time as Paul. Lili is played by Eddie Redmayne, who looks a lot like Deladonchamps. And Lili also had the love and support of his wife. But that’s where the similarities stop.

The difference is that The Danish Girl twisted Lili’s real story in order to a create an easily-digestible movie, and to make the characters more pallatable. The director opted to show Lili’s wife holding her hand as Lili died in his movie, when in real life she was remarried and living in another continent when Lili passed away.

Well, you wouldn’t expected a saccharine ending from Techiné. Instead, Paul/Suzanne becomes violent and unpredictable in his gender dysphoria. And Louise’s devotion to him turns into something else. Golden Years is not celebration of transgenderism. This is a study of human dysfunction, and the role of sexuality in power relations. No transgender person will wish to have Paul/Suzanne as a role model. The French director is not here to give us simple answers and to revere LGBT culture. He’s here to hit you in the face. And it’s gonna hurt.

No less important is noting that this Golden Years is a statement against war. Deserting is the ultimate act of treason against your nation. In this case, also against heteronormativity.

Golden Years is showing at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, which DMovies is covering live right now. The movie is not part of the official competition, and instead it was screened in a special session celebrating the 50 years of filmmaking by André Techiné.

Click here for our review of Techiné’s Being 17, from last year.