Summary:
A rebellious teenage couple finds out that the girl in the relationship is to be sent away, and they decide the only way to escape is to run from their problems.
My Thoughts:
There are coming of age stories aplenty. I’d wager every year more than a dozen or so coming of age stories that pass through the theaters unnoticed, while the better ones, like “Stand by Me” or last years “Lady Bird”, tend to draw a bit more attention. While I myself am a fan of the genre, I will admit that usually the stories follow the same routine: boy or girl is inexperienced and think they are experienced, they have an awakening, and everybody lives happily ever after. This film does follow that structure, except for the happily ever after portion. This movie takes a look at a pair of rebellious teenagers that leave a wake of anarchy behind them wherever they go, and the lessons they learn about life aren’t ones that leave them feeling warm and fuzzy. We watch as they stand on a platform of their own beliefs and scream at the world, and then they’re surprised when they jump from what they think life is into real life, only to find that real life can be as shocking as jumping into cold water.
There’s A Place Up Ahead and I’m Goin’/ Just as Fast as My Feet Can Fly
Christine (Virginie Ledoyen, “The Beach”) and Gilles (Cyprien Fouquet, “Paria”) are a teenage couple whom both live with their parents on the outskirts of Paris. They are a rebellious couple. They spend their free time stealing records, defacing property, telling lies to authority, goofing off in class; they seem to hate everything apart from each other. After Christine is caught on one of their latest excursions, she’s sent to a police station where her father goes to pick her up. He then informs her that she will be sent to a mental institution, because he no longer knows what to do with her. Christine and Gilles eventually plan to run away together to escape their overbearing parents, but as they put their plan in motion, they begin to realize that their plan might not be much of a plan at all.
This film is more grown up than it’s subjects. While it’s about teenagers, I believe it’s really for those that have left those years behind them. In many coming of age stories, the lessons gleaned by the protagonist(s) are something along the lines of “Just Be Yourself,” or “Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Things,” or any number of other equally cheesy, overused clichés. This film’s lessons are more along the lines of: “Don’t Be A Freaking Moron, Listen to People Older Than You-They Have More Life Experience,” and “Just Because You Think You Know What’s Best For You, Doesn’t Mean You’re Right.” The lessons in this film are harder to swallow than most coming of age stories, but it is also far more realistic. I mean, how many people would’ve been better off if they’d have just listened to their parents when they were teens? There are too many to count.
Another thing I really liked about this film is the way that it develops Gilles and Christine as separate individuals as well as a couple. We see them together briefly at the beginning of the film, and during that scene Christine teases Gilles about still just being a kid and not understanding everything. After Christine is caught by the police, the couple is separated for the next forty or so minutes of the film, and we get to know a little bit about their lives.
Gilles is the more rebellious of the two; he slashes seats on busses and buys dynamite for who-knows-what-reason, and he gets into fights with his father over trivial matters. There is a scene when Gilles shows his younger brother one of the sticks of dynamite he bought and then proceeds to light the fuse. Just before the fuse is about to hit the dynamite, Gilles pulls it and it fizzes in his hands. Gilles is exactly like that lit stick of dynamite- he’s ready to explode at any moment, unless someone puts out the fuse.
While Gilles seems to be the more rebellious, Christine is the more nihilistic of the two; she simply doesn’t care. Right after she’s arrested, Christine tells the inspector who comes to talk with her that one of the Officers molested her in the locker room, and the inspector, aghast, asks her to tell him what happened. Christine obliges, but then laughs halfway through the tale, suggesting it was all a jest. The Inspector looks on with a troubled expression. Christine’s actions throughout the film become increasingly erratic, and the only thing she really seems to gravitate towards is Gilles. Really, most of the things we learn about Christine comes from her friends and family. Christine’s mother comes looking for her and talks to Gilles about her whereabouts, and halfway through the conversation she asks Gilles how much Christine has really told him, and Gilles asks to what she’s referring. In another scene Christine’s friends talk amongst themselves about what to do with her; one suggests they should send her back to the hospital, while the others argue that she should be free to do as she pleases. We get a sense that Christine likes to hide things; that she’s good at putting up appearances.
When Gilles and Christine do reunite, we get a sense of unity, but also a sense of dissonance. Gilles and Christine are outwardly a perfect match for each other (sure, they’re rebellious teens, but for the sake of the story they’re a decent couple), but there are little things that make us wonder if they’re really that good for each other. Gilles doesn’t seem to know much about Christine other than how she makes him feel, and while the relationship isn’t one-sided, it is obvious that Gilles cares about Christine, but he doesn’t think about what is truly best for her.
Another thing I loved about this film was the cinematography. This film is a bit less polished than some of Assayas’ more recent works, but there are still flourishes of the cinematography that he likes to use. There are maybe a dozen or so great long tracking shots (some over a minute long), other great panning shots with impressively dynamic depth of frame, and some incredibly intimate moments shared between Christine and Gilles that make it feel as if we’re there with them. The soundtrack is also pretty great. It features lots of classic rock- from CCR to Nico to Alice Cooper. In fact, it should be noted that until recently this film wasn’t even available in the US because of some copyright laws and issues- Criterion put out the first widely available copy in the US just this last September. There are also a lot of literary and artistic works that Assayas uses to illustrate a point or use as foreshadowing, and it really brings a lot of depth to the world and the characters.
Verdict:
Assayas is a great director, and while this isn’t my favorite of his films (right now its between “Clouds of Sils Maria” or “Summer Hours”), it still deserves a five star rating. The characters in this film are deeper and more interesting than 90% of the coming of age stories out there, and the lessons they learn aren’t at all tawdry.
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