Patrice Chereau's latest film touches a lot of themes that evidently are dear to him. At the center of the story is Daniel, a man that is a a living contradiction, and who remains an enigma after all is said and done, because the viewer never finds a common trait of his in which to empathize with this strange man, even though he is the whole film.
As the action begins, we get a glimpse of Daniel sitting in a crowded metro as a ragged panhandler goes through the car asking for money. No one seems to be moved by the woman's plight, much less give her a coin to get rid of her. As the beggar stands next to a young woman that looks up to the intruder with a smile, she responds with a slap on both her cheeks, something that leaves the people around them stunned. Daniel decides to find out what triggered the panhandler's reaction, but the young woman is not about to tell him anything.
Daniel is a sort of remodeling contractor in to be a long distance relationship with Sonia, a thirtysomething woman that seems to talk to him more on the phone than in real time. When they see each other at a pub, they hardly show any tenderness for one another. To aggravate things, Daniel is surprised by a stalker that makes his way into the apartment he is working. Finding this intruder naked in bed, Daniel becomes furious when the man declares to be in love with him.
Part of Daniel's problems might be related to his own family life. His father, now dead, had retired to a nursing home where he ended his days. Daniel decides to volunteer at one institution where we watch him tending to the needs of two of the residents, a painter and an old woman. Daniel surprises in the way he can be kind one moment and be dismissive of a friend, whom he disses at the pub to a crowd of friends. At the same time, Daniel is seen to go help the motorcyclist who suffers an accident right in front of his eyes, when no one intervenes.
Patrice Chereau and Anne Marie Trividic's screenplay for this film wants to explore Daniel's soul and what makes him the contradiction he appears to be while searching for meaning in his own life. It is not an easy film to sit through, but it shows flashes of intelligence in the way one is never able to figure out people that have touched us. Mr. Chereau succeeds is in creating a complex character of Daniel, brilliantly acted by one of France's leading actors, Romain Duris.
Whatever one's perception of the film, the acting of Mr. Duris alone is worth a look at this enigmatic man full of contradictions. Charlotte Gainsbourg appears as Sonia in a role that needed someone like her in order to make the character work. Ms. Gainbourg is an intelligent performer who gives a nuanced reading of Sonia, Daniel's girlfriend. Jean-Huges Anglade's stalker is perhaps one of the strangest addition to the picture. His motivations in zeroing on Daniel never comes to a head because Daniel shows repulsion to his advances. Others in the film in supporting roles, the great Tsilla Chelton, who plays one of the people in the senior residence, Gilles Cohen, and Michel Duchaussoy, as the painter in the nursing home.
The film has a dizzying rhythm helped by the camera work by Yves Cape that captures a Paris we do not see often in movies. Eric Neveux contributed to the film score. Like him, or not, Mr. Chereau remains a voice to be reckoned with in the French cinema.
As the action begins, we get a glimpse of Daniel sitting in a crowded metro as a ragged panhandler goes through the car asking for money. No one seems to be moved by the woman's plight, much less give her a coin to get rid of her. As the beggar stands next to a young woman that looks up to the intruder with a smile, she responds with a slap on both her cheeks, something that leaves the people around them stunned. Daniel decides to find out what triggered the panhandler's reaction, but the young woman is not about to tell him anything.
Daniel is a sort of remodeling contractor in to be a long distance relationship with Sonia, a thirtysomething woman that seems to talk to him more on the phone than in real time. When they see each other at a pub, they hardly show any tenderness for one another. To aggravate things, Daniel is surprised by a stalker that makes his way into the apartment he is working. Finding this intruder naked in bed, Daniel becomes furious when the man declares to be in love with him.
Part of Daniel's problems might be related to his own family life. His father, now dead, had retired to a nursing home where he ended his days. Daniel decides to volunteer at one institution where we watch him tending to the needs of two of the residents, a painter and an old woman. Daniel surprises in the way he can be kind one moment and be dismissive of a friend, whom he disses at the pub to a crowd of friends. At the same time, Daniel is seen to go help the motorcyclist who suffers an accident right in front of his eyes, when no one intervenes.
Patrice Chereau and Anne Marie Trividic's screenplay for this film wants to explore Daniel's soul and what makes him the contradiction he appears to be while searching for meaning in his own life. It is not an easy film to sit through, but it shows flashes of intelligence in the way one is never able to figure out people that have touched us. Mr. Chereau succeeds is in creating a complex character of Daniel, brilliantly acted by one of France's leading actors, Romain Duris.
Whatever one's perception of the film, the acting of Mr. Duris alone is worth a look at this enigmatic man full of contradictions. Charlotte Gainsbourg appears as Sonia in a role that needed someone like her in order to make the character work. Ms. Gainbourg is an intelligent performer who gives a nuanced reading of Sonia, Daniel's girlfriend. Jean-Huges Anglade's stalker is perhaps one of the strangest addition to the picture. His motivations in zeroing on Daniel never comes to a head because Daniel shows repulsion to his advances. Others in the film in supporting roles, the great Tsilla Chelton, who plays one of the people in the senior residence, Gilles Cohen, and Michel Duchaussoy, as the painter in the nursing home.
The film has a dizzying rhythm helped by the camera work by Yves Cape that captures a Paris we do not see often in movies. Eric Neveux contributed to the film score. Like him, or not, Mr. Chereau remains a voice to be reckoned with in the French cinema.