esrosedotblog

Today's film seems to be a more or less standard version of the adolescent girl in crisis. Puberty. Coming of age. Leaving the family fold.

Then an emotional stick of dynamite goes off in the family scene.

The Criterion Collection has restored Maurice Pialat's powerful drama for a second look. Their work is stunning.

A Nos Amours (1983)

with the very young Sandrine Bonnaire as a 15 year old girl who is in love with a boy she doesn't want to be with. The family is unstable, her father is about to leave. She is bored with life.

She begins to sleep around with guys she likes but does not love. Usually older. Oh oh.

This goes on in a way that is kind of standard for a teenage girl film, the drama, the pathos, the erratic behavior. But it is French. You know quite early that you are not in Hollywood.

We see these films all the time. They have a rhythm and pace that are familiar and they are, in a way, addictive. The American dream put in simple (?) terms of a teenager.

The mother is a bit whacky and a traditionalist. Only marriage as a virgin. There are fights. There is a brother who is in love with her too, maybe that way. And he is also a closet, at least, gay man.

Chemistry here. Very explosive. Volatile. The French hit each other or, at least, these French do.

The father leaves, the story unfolds, the father comes back one night during a party.

This role is played by Maurice Pialat himself. It is said that the cast did not know he would arrive during the party and had no clue about what he would do or say. They are gobsmacked. Not a French term, so how is agape? Astonished. Thrown.

Clearly there is a script here but it must have come out after the early monologue. It is a piece of film horror which I have rarely seen. Mean. Nasty. Uncompromising.

Not a standard Dad thing at all.

Powerful films require time to absorb. I am still taking it all in.

It is worth at least a second look sometime. I would be willing to see it again. But I need a rest.

A 4 out of Netflix5.

Bonnaire was 16 when she played this. Wow.

This YouTube trailer is a lousy reproduction but you will get the idea. The Criterion version is crisp and clean.

Labels: films