Review of Sagan

Sagan (2008)
6/10
A Certain Style
15 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Thirty two years ago Diane Kurys wrote and directed Diabolo Menthe, a thinly-disguised autobiographical take on the childhood of her sister and herself. She followed with others in the same vein, Coup de foudre, La Baule le Pins etc, all beautifully realised. Now, thirty one years later - Sagan was shot as a two-part TV special and aired in 2008 - she has finally come full circle with a genuine BIOgraphy, namely Francoise Sagan, who was catapulted to fame via a novel she batted out in her school vacation, Bonjour, Tristesse. It wasn't actually a very good novel any more than its successors, A Certain Smile, Aimez-vouz Brahms but none of them were outright trash, all sold in droves and all were filmed. The movie has been considerably pared down from its original 180 minutes so it's difficult to be too harsh at what often seem abrupt modulations - the housekeeper/companion who appears seemingly out of the blue during Sagan's last few years, for example. Sylvie Testud is one of the finest French actresses of her generation and I can't recall a single bad performance (though I have not seen everything) and here she is at the top of her game managing to capture the sense of someone permitting Life to live them rather than vice versa. There is fine support especially from Denis Podalydes and Jeanne Balibar but it will be remembered as a curio rather than an essential part of the canon.
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