The film that both received great applause during the screening at Cannes and the coveted Palme d’Or (Best Film) is a taut courtroom drama and thriller that keeps one glued to the screen from start to end.
Great performances from all especially the lead, Sandra Huller and including the dog that vomits and has its eyes rolled and whitened.
Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is a successful German writer who lives in the French Alps with her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) and their visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner). The son had suffered a visual loss due to a car accident that the father blamed himself for.A brilliant, decibel-bursting opening scene suggests tensions in their isolated chalet, so when Samuel is discovered dead in the snow beneath one of their windows, suspicion is quickly aroused. Did Samuel take his own life, or was he pushed to his death? When the police investigation proves to be inconclusive — its varying angles hinting at the microscopic examination to come — Sandra is ultimately indicted and put on trial.
ASTRAKAN opens with a shot of a boy looking at the cage of a tarantula in a zoo.The similarities of the loneliness that exists between both the boy and the spider become apparent.The boy is then rushed into the car with the other two children as they go to the farm of the mother’s family, greeted by her brother.
The relationship between the boy and the foster family, his emotions, and how all are affected are slowly revealed in director David Depesseville’s debut feature.This is a coming-of-age story of Samuel, an unloved and lonely, orphaned boy who ends up learning life lessons the hard way.
Samuel is gradually forced to face the demons he is holding on to internally, as well as those that exist within his new family. Swept up in the motions of coming of age for the very first time — falling in love with the girl next door, exploring hobbies, and indulging in childhood passions — he also begins to learn of the secrets his foster family (a nasty one involving incest)are keeping, leading him to question everything around him.As these questions emerge, Samuel is pushed in and out of crippling anguish, bridging a harsh gap between dense realism and feverish fantasy which leads to a stunning and transcendent final act, not to be revealed in this review.
There is a certain similarity between Samuel (even in his looks) with the boy in Francois Truffaut’s masterpiece on the trials of children immersed in the world of adults in L’ARGENT DE POCHE (SMALL CHANGE).One of the most emotional moments in Truffaut’s film is a teacher speaking to his class right after one of the students was discovered with abuse marks on his body during a school health inspection.The teacher speaks on the abuse of children and how children, just as adults have rights as well.The classic Punch and Joy scene in Truffaut’s 400 BLOWS is mirrored in the clownish juggling segment in which the camera focuses on the different reactions of the kids watching the show.Samuel is himself given a thrashing from his foster father after he opens his room door to him after being promised that he will not be hit.In ASTRAKAN, during a church service, the priest preaches from the Bible how Jesus says that a man will not be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he does not treat a child right, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Samuel displays both a sense of innocence and an altered innocence that results from his current situation.Will good or evil emaciate from the boy?
Samuel is teased as the ‘foster boy’.He gets a beating for soiling his pants.But the bad is also balanced with intimate moments as in the time he buys an ornament for his foster mother with the words engraved “I love you, mother”, at the gym when he is given a pat on the back for his improvement in gymnastics.
ASTRAKAN is a powerful coming-of-age film of altered innocence, marvelously captured at points by director Deppesville, displaying the best traits of French Nouvelle-vague director Francois Truffaut in his early classics such as L’ARGENT DE POCHE, L’ENFANT SAUVAGE and 400 BLOWS.The film has a muddled somewhat confusing ending where various images of Samuel’s past incidents are strung together.
Avant que les flammes ne s’éteignent (AFTER THE FIRE) (France 2023) *** Directed by Mehdi Fikri
Injustice against minorities is often favourite fodder for French films, (BATIMENT 5 (LES INDESIRABLES) and LES MISERABLES by Ladj Ly being prime examples.In an immigrant French suburb of Strasbourg. Karim, a 25-year-old man, has died at the hands of the police. Devastated by the news, his estranged sister Malika (Camélia Jordana) reunites with her family, compelled to seek justice for her slain brother. The police claim the death is due to an epileptic fit due to drug taking.Strategizing with mentorly community organizer Slim (Samir Guesmi) and suave private lawyer Mr. Harchi (Makita Samba), Malika soon begins to face a courtroom battle with overwhelming media exposure, while contending with the growing chaos of her hectic everyday — missed daycare meetings, a failing business, and a strained marriage. But she and her siblings Driss (passionately played by rapper Sofiane Zermani, a.k.a. Fianso) and Nour (Sonia Faidi) are anchored by their renewed blood ties. Together they harness the fire of public outrage against a racist criminal justice system.Director Fikri shows some sympathy for the authorities with the pathologist and the guarding police officer allowing Malika total photos of the bruises from the beatings of the dead brother’s corpse while also showing the judicial process and the court case preparations.The sight of the bruised body also gets the emotions of the audience going.
The film PASSAGES explores the explosive love triangle between an established male couple, Tomas and Martin, and Agathe, a woman who enters their lives in modern-day Paris. The couple also own a home in the French countryside. Agathe is a girl whom film director Tomas meets in a bar, right after wrapping up his latest feature, also titled Passages.
For Tomas, being with a woman is a novel and an exciting experience that he is eager to explore, despite being married to Martin.However, when Martin starts his own affair, the mercurial Tomas refocuses his attention on his husband.
Director Sachs delves into the destructive aspects of love rather than its charitable nature, a theme that has been prevalent in his previous films.The gay couple, Tomas and Martin, are long married, but they struggle to understand each other fully and often succumb to bursts of anger despite still loving each other.Martin cannot comprehend Tomas' new found attraction to a woman, and Tomas, in turn, grapples with his own intense desires for the opposite sex. This disparity in their understanding of love and relationships reveals their emotional immaturity, and it becomes evident that they have reached a critical juncture in their maturity as a couple.The love triangle involving two men and a woman, rather than three individuals of the same sex, is a fresh perspective that aligns with what Director Sachs intends to portray.
The film is based on a script co-written by Sachs himself and Mauricio Zacharias, and it feels honest and authentic, drawing from the director's emotions and experiences. The lead character, Tomas, is also a film director, mirroring Sachs' own profession.
Director Sachs skillfully captures both the explosive and intimate moments within relationships, sometimes occurring within moments of each other. When Tomas confesses to Martin that he slept with a woman for the first time, they argue and fight, with Tomas even threatening to move out of their apartment.However, in a tender moment, Martin kisses Tomas on the lips and confesses that he still loves him.
PASSAGES boasts an exceptional cast, featuring three of Europe's leading actors - Adèle Exarchopoulos, Ben Whishaw, and Franz Rogowski.German actor Rogowski has already won several acting awards and has been seen in films like A Hidden Life, Transit, and the recent Freaks Out, which was screened at the local Italian International Film Festival.British actor Whishaw is unforgettable in Women Talking and as the limping man in The Lobster, while Exarchopoulos gained fame for her role in Blue is the Warmest Colour.
Director Sachs skillfully brings the tale to a logical and satisfactory conclusion, creating a cautionary yet realistic film that explores the destructive effects of love and lust.
PASSAGES, shot in both French and English,opens on August 11 in Toronto (TIFF Bell Lightbox) and Vancouver (Vancity), followed by August 18 in Montreal and Quebec City, and will be screened throughout the spring in other Canadian cities.
SHE IS CONANN (France/Belgium/Luxembourg 2023) * Directed by Bertrand Mandico
If one can remember the past Bertrand Mandico films AFTER BLUE and THE WILD BOYS, both sexual action...
