benoit poelvoorde – filmcentric

Another of those films I first saw back in the 90s and enjoyed at the time, as it fit into that dark satirical space where you could laugh at the mind-blowing conceit of it all — documentarians cross the line into complicity with their (murderous) subject in what is presented as a documentary. Oh how we loved the ‘mockumentary’ that decade. So meta! So intelligently mocking! Well, anyway, I’m not sure it holds up, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m not on the wavelength of Belgian humour. I’m not in my 20s anymore is the key I think; I’m not so willing to laugh at rape and murder, however absurd, however ironically distanced. I don’t judge those who do, and I don’t think I’m better than any, it just doesn’t tickle me in quite the same way. It doesn’t help too that the pseudo-documentary style has become so familiar in intervening years. That all said, given the low budget, it’s made with a lot of style, and the performances are all solid. There are even some really good gags. I just find its satirical intent is clear within 10 minutes so the rest is largely padding.

Criterion Extras: Chief among the extras is the student short by the filmmakers with a similar low-budget style, Pas de C4 pour Daniel-Daniel (No C4 for Daniel-Daniel, 1987), styled as an extended trailer for an action movie, replete with all the hoary clichés of that genre. It’s fitfully amusing but maybe Belgian humour just goes above my head, or maybe their satire (which involves a blackface character as a manservant) is too subtle. There’s also a video interview with the filmmakers upon the feature film’s release, in which they goof around, and also a small gallery of stills from the production.

FILM REVIEW: Criterion Collection
Directors Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde; Writers Belvaux, Bonzel, Poelvoorde and Vincent Tavier; Cinematographer Bonzel; Starring Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux; Length 95 minutes.

Seen at a friend’s house (DVD), London, Sunday 16 July 2017 (and years earlier on VHS in Wellington).

There’s a certain kind of French film, like this one, which has a light and frothy quality to it — all well-heeled middle-class houses and high society fashion worn by venerable actors at the top of their game (including Catherine Deneuve) — while nevertheless trying to pick away at something hidden under that luxe surface. Here we get the story of a civil service accountant Marc (Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde) who finds himself doing an audit in a provincial town, where he bumps into Sylvie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and they have a one-night stand. They agree to meet again in Paris, but he misses the appointment and doesn’t have any details for her. Some time later he returns to the small town, where he meets Sophie (Chiara Mastroianni) and strikes up a romance with her. She, of course, and unbeknown to him, turns out to be Sylvie’s sister. There’s a well-worn pleasure in the way things progress from here, ever reliant on some rather stretched plotting, but you get the sense that the filmmaker’s interest is in the way this conventionally-boring man can inveigle his way into the lives of others and upset their carefully-ordered world. There’s a recurring musical motif in the soundtrack that suggests the intended tone is more horror film or dark, psychological thriller than comedy, but if so, it’s a peculiar form of middle-class domestic horror. I’d perhaps have had more time for it if Poelvoorde was more convincing as the buttoned-up lothario character; I never really believed that these women would fall for him in the way they did. That said, it’s all perfectly enjoyable fluff that, unlike its central character, doesn’t outstay its welcome.

CREDITS
Director Benoît Jacquot; Writers Julien Boivent and Jacquot; Cinematographer Julien Hirsch; Starring Benoît Poelvoorde, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve; Length 106 minutes.
Seen at Odeon West End, London, Saturday 19 October 2014.