Rendez-Vous. 11.

From Butterfly Kiss to Baise Moi, road pix featuring femmes who are extremely fatale have become a near-staple, surfacing every so often to satiate the male appetite for sex and violence (and of course, elicit the usual nod to "female empowerment," which I should think drives a lot of true feminists nearly over the brink). Murderers [Meurtrières; site], the new film of this ilk written (with some help from one of his cast members) and directed by Patrick Grandperret is much less violent and overtly sexual than others in the genre, and this is probably why, so far, it has no US distribution deal. But, due to Grandperret's organization of the material, it is every bit (or more) as creepy as any of its counterparts in the genre.

The director elects to begin almost at the end, with what surely looks like something bloody having been committed. He then backtracks a distance so we learn about the two young women involved. During the Q&A following the screening, we also learned that this project was once in the hands of Maurice Pialat, who made several attempts at it. After his death, his widow Sylvie turned it over to Grandperret, who had worked for Pialat early on. That the two men had rather different viewpoints and philosophies seems rather apparent, especially after listening to the director talk at length about his film. He has no interest in and does not even care to watch movies about killers. Why then, some of us in the audience wondered aloud, did he occupy himself with this film? "Because these women are not murderers," he insisted. "They are just normal young girls to whom bad things happen." (I am paraphrasing here but this is close to the gist of what was said).

Normal? I think Grandperret must live in some alternate universe, as these two seem, at best, saddled with a plethora of severe problems and, as the film moves along, utterly sociopathic. They're complete "users." But then so is almost everyone in this story, save the boyfriend of the older girl, a motorcyclist (played by the director's son) and the woman (at the film's beginning/end) who tries to help. After listening to the director speak at length, I thought again about the movie, going over scenes and details from his stated viewpoint. Sorry: If these are normal girls and the society we see is typical of France today, then that country is in worse shape than America. Say it isn't so, M Grandperret!

The cast does its best and succeeds at least in making us believe the characters, even if we don't care much for them. As the two leads, Hande Kodja and Céline Sallette are properly troubled, scary and pretty - which is pretty much the standard requirement for any film in which femme fatales take to the road.

Dark movies like Murderers demand a degree of reality that light-as-air French soufflés such as I Do! (Prête-moi ta main) are allowed to bypass. Unfair as this may be, our need for happy endings is so great (don't they just underscore the religion that tells us, "god's in his heaven and all's right with the world"?) that romantic comedies will time and again trump attempts at presenting "reality." However, when the rom-com is a good as I Do!, this is perfectly acceptable by me. Directed by Eric Lartigau, with screenplay by Philippe Mechelen from an idea by co-star Alain Chabat, the film became one of the most successful at the French box-office in 2006. (Unlike Rendez-Vous's closing night attraction, The Valet, it is also just quirky enough to offer some genuine surprises and honest feelings as it wends its way toward its foregone conclusion. More on The Valet soon.)

During the Q&A, Lartigau explained that he planned from the beginning to cast its three wonderful lead actors, who, together with the lovely and funny story, pretty much ensure this movie's success. Charlotte Gainsbourg just keeps getting better and better, which one would not think possible, after her good work in The Cement Garden, Grosse fatigue, Jane Eyre, La Buche, My Wife Is an Actress/Happily Ever After, Lemming and The Science of Sleep. But it is possible, and she does. Alain Chabat proves a delightful foil for Gainsbourg, and Bernadette Lafont - who has now made 160 appearances, including appearances in landmarks such as Chabrol's Le Beau Serge and Les Bonnes Femmes and Truffaut's Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me - completes this talented trio. The enormous supporting cast is well-chosen, too, and Lartigau manages to produce a kind of wonderfully contained chaos in his scenes with the Chabat character's extended family, moving his camera and our attention from face to face, incident to incident, with friskiness, verve and impeccable timing.

When asked if his film had been picked up for US distribution, Lartigau said no, but that rights were being negotiated for a US remake. This provoked a very negative response from the audience, which seemed to surprise the director - until the Lincoln Center Film Society host explained that audiences at the Walter Reade Theatre usually prefer the original to an American remake. I suppose we should leave the door open to the possibility that an American remake might be good, but what a shame that foreign film buffs will not be able to experience the warm delights of the original. And, within the confines of the genre, I Do! is indeed an original.

Posted by dwhudson at March 12, 2007 10:58 AM