The title of Nicole Garcia's complex and rewarding story of intertwined lives is "Charlie Says", but it is really about what observant 11-year-old Charlie sees.
It's not just the look on the face of his adulterous father but the range of human behavior his innocent gaze takes in as the friendships and marriages of half-a-dozen unconnected characters become entangled.
Set in a breezy unnamed Atlantic French town, the film takes a while to get going but turns into a penetrating examination of the way people's lives can veer off track and how hard it can be to find the way back.
The introduction of so many characters feels awkward at the outset, but seemingly random scenes begin to cohere as director and co-writer Garcia tightens the threads. By the time it's over, the film's many riches leave a warm and lasting impression. The writing and acting are top class, and the film has a handsome look. Audiences may well decide they want to see it a second time, not to catch up but to relish.
The philosopher's lament over man's inability to remain quietly in his room infuses the stories of the central characters, all men, who find themselves stranded along paths that they wish they hadn't taken.
In a mysterious prologue set at an anthropological dig in a polar wasteland, a man later revealed to be Pierre Benoit Magimel) becomes stir-crazy and walks out into the blinding snow. He is saved but quits his exploring career and disappears to become a schoolteacher.
Meanwhile, his former partner, Matthieu (Patrick Pineau), becomes a famous scientist, and years later he shows up in their hometown ostensibly to speak at a seminar but actually to find his lost friend.
Pierre has become a diligent if distant teacher whose self-absorption blinds him to the half-hearted affair that his wife Nora (Minna Haapkyla) has drifted into with a virile but bored man named Serge Vincent Lindon).
Serge's son Charlie (Ferdinand Martin) is one of Pierre's students. Bright and curious, Charlie is trapped into his father's conspiracy and must lie to his mother about what his dad is up to when he's with Nora.
Meanwhile, a genial dimwit named Joss (Benoit Poelvoorde) is caught up in a house burglary destined clearly to go wrong, while tennis champion Adrien Arnaud Valois) is in town for a game but is in a state of near catatonia over the excessive demands of his sport.
Interwoven in all their lives is the peripatetic town mayor, Jean-Louis Bertagnat (Jean-Pierre Bacri), who combines a wry self-knowledge with the instincts of a petty politician. He has complicated his life by spending too much time with his lovely young mistress (Sophie Cattani) when he should concentrate on getting re-elected.
As if that weren't enough, underscoring each of these stories is the subject of Matthieu's seminar, which deals with his discovery of the remains of a prehistoric man he calls Dirk, who left his home and died 180 miles away leaving forever unanswered the question: Why did he leave?
After Pierre's flight from the polar exploratory base, he is treated for a morbid fear of loneliness, and that not uncommon human trait can be seen in the lives of the others in the film.
Charlie sees it all, and through him we see the lost childhood of the confused grown-ups who surround him. There is inventive humor in the movie, much of it visual, along with the sadness, and it shares with many great films not happy endings but endings that will do for now.
CHARLIE SAYS
Mars Distribution
Les Productions du Tresor
Credits: Director: Nicole Garcia; Screenwriters: Jacques Fieschi, Nicole Garcia, Frederic Belier-Garcia; Producer: Alain Attal; Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine; Production designer: Thierry Flamand; Editor: Emmanuelle Castro
Cast: Jean-Louis Bertagnat: Jean-Pierre Bacri; Serge Torres: Vincent Lindon; Pierre: Benoit Magimel; Joss: Benoit Poelvoorde; Matthieu: Patrick Pineau; Adrien: Arnaud Valois; Charlie: Ferdinand Martin; Nora: Minna Haapkyla; Severine: Sophie Cattani; Pierre-Yves: Philippe Lefebvre; Ricordi: Philippe Magnan; Mo: Samir Guesmi; Balhaus: Jerome Robart; Charlie's Mother: Valerie Benguigui; Thierry: Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet; Bar owner: Jean-Louis Foulquier.
No MPAA rating, running time 130 minutes.
It's not just the look on the face of his adulterous father but the range of human behavior his innocent gaze takes in as the friendships and marriages of half-a-dozen unconnected characters become entangled.
Set in a breezy unnamed Atlantic French town, the film takes a while to get going but turns into a penetrating examination of the way people's lives can veer off track and how hard it can be to find the way back.
The introduction of so many characters feels awkward at the outset, but seemingly random scenes begin to cohere as director and co-writer Garcia tightens the threads. By the time it's over, the film's many riches leave a warm and lasting impression. The writing and acting are top class, and the film has a handsome look. Audiences may well decide they want to see it a second time, not to catch up but to relish.
The philosopher's lament over man's inability to remain quietly in his room infuses the stories of the central characters, all men, who find themselves stranded along paths that they wish they hadn't taken.
In a mysterious prologue set at an anthropological dig in a polar wasteland, a man later revealed to be Pierre Benoit Magimel) becomes stir-crazy and walks out into the blinding snow. He is saved but quits his exploring career and disappears to become a schoolteacher.
Meanwhile, his former partner, Matthieu (Patrick Pineau), becomes a famous scientist, and years later he shows up in their hometown ostensibly to speak at a seminar but actually to find his lost friend.
Pierre has become a diligent if distant teacher whose self-absorption blinds him to the half-hearted affair that his wife Nora (Minna Haapkyla) has drifted into with a virile but bored man named Serge Vincent Lindon).
Serge's son Charlie (Ferdinand Martin) is one of Pierre's students. Bright and curious, Charlie is trapped into his father's conspiracy and must lie to his mother about what his dad is up to when he's with Nora.
Meanwhile, a genial dimwit named Joss (Benoit Poelvoorde) is caught up in a house burglary destined clearly to go wrong, while tennis champion Adrien Arnaud Valois) is in town for a game but is in a state of near catatonia over the excessive demands of his sport.
Interwoven in all their lives is the peripatetic town mayor, Jean-Louis Bertagnat (Jean-Pierre Bacri), who combines a wry self-knowledge with the instincts of a petty politician. He has complicated his life by spending too much time with his lovely young mistress (Sophie Cattani) when he should concentrate on getting re-elected.
As if that weren't enough, underscoring each of these stories is the subject of Matthieu's seminar, which deals with his discovery of the remains of a prehistoric man he calls Dirk, who left his home and died 180 miles away leaving forever unanswered the question: Why did he leave?
After Pierre's flight from the polar exploratory base, he is treated for a morbid fear of loneliness, and that not uncommon human trait can be seen in the lives of the others in the film.
Charlie sees it all, and through him we see the lost childhood of the confused grown-ups who surround him. There is inventive humor in the movie, much of it visual, along with the sadness, and it shares with many great films not happy endings but endings that will do for now.
CHARLIE SAYS
Mars Distribution
Les Productions du Tresor
Credits: Director: Nicole Garcia; Screenwriters: Jacques Fieschi, Nicole Garcia, Frederic Belier-Garcia; Producer: Alain Attal; Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine; Production designer: Thierry Flamand; Editor: Emmanuelle Castro
Cast: Jean-Louis Bertagnat: Jean-Pierre Bacri; Serge Torres: Vincent Lindon; Pierre: Benoit Magimel; Joss: Benoit Poelvoorde; Matthieu: Patrick Pineau; Adrien: Arnaud Valois; Charlie: Ferdinand Martin; Nora: Minna Haapkyla; Severine: Sophie Cattani; Pierre-Yves: Philippe Lefebvre; Ricordi: Philippe Magnan; Mo: Samir Guesmi; Balhaus: Jerome Robart; Charlie's Mother: Valerie Benguigui; Thierry: Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet; Bar owner: Jean-Louis Foulquier.
No MPAA rating, running time 130 minutes.
- 5/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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