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Jacques, an Algerian war veteran, struggles with his drinking
and gambling. No real problem except that his wife has just
had a baby, his son Cesar. Jacques is by nature an unpleasant
man, who continually moves himself and his family trying to
rescue his marriage from its untenable position. But more
time and more moves just succeeds in fragmenting the family.
No matter how far Jacques runs he can't get away from his
past or his own emotional and moral vacuum that makes up his
present...
Errance,
directed by Damien Odoul, is part of his Trilogy of the
Double, whose best part, Le Souffle, was released
to critical acclaim and much prize giving in 2001.
The
film charts the story of Jacques and Lou tumultuous relationship
between the years 1968 and 1973. It takes place in three separate
geographical and temporal locations, starting in the Gevaudan
region, where we are first introduced to Jacques who is urinating
against the road, before driving off erratically to turn up
late for the birth of Cesar. These first few minutes sum up
Jacques perfectly - drunk, erratic and ultimately irresponsible.
No manner how many times during the film he tries to justify
his actions, he only deludes himself. At heart Jacques is
an unpleasant man and a looser.
In an effort to help him stay with his wife Lou, played by
the very beautiful and brilliant Laetitia Casta (whose best
known in the UK for playing Falbala in the 1999 Asterix
film) he moves his family to the coast. But even his best
intentions do not last long as he continues to drink gamble
and cheat on his wife, culminating in him burning down his
work place and battering his wife. Lou retreats to the loving
and supporting arms of her family, which brings up the question
as to why this beautiful middle-class woman would stay with
Jacques in the first place. Lou's abiding belief that Jacques
can change, his behaviour, borders on the tragic, a belief
that swallows his every promises of change - only a love that
deep could be so blind. She leaves the safety of her family
and joins him in 1973 in Paris.
In
Paris things, at first, seem to have changed. Lou and Jacques
dance tenderly to Dusty Springfield and for once both of them
appear to be happy. Unfortunately for Lou this is another
façade. Jacques car crash of a life is about to come to its
logical conclusion.
Beniot
Magimel, who had previously appeared in the brilliant La
Pianiste (2001) and La Haine (1995), portrays his
character of Jacque to the hilt. Rarely have I seen a performance
which portrayed such an odious loser, the type of man that
would give brain dead misogynists everywhere a bad name. Casta's
portrayal of Lou is beautifully understated making her allegiance
to him all the more tragic. The film does not make for easy
watching, so will not be to everyone's tastes. The narrative
plays out like a slow car crash with the audience well aware
to the eventual consequences of Jacques' actions even if Lou
refuses to see it.
This
disc comes with a selection of subtitled audio options including
DTS, 5.1 and stereo. To plump things up you get the original
trailer and a Cine Lumiere reel which gives a taster of four
other films in the Lumiere series. The picture is nice and
clear, and whilst the inclusion of DTS is a pleasant surprise
it add little to the films overall impact.
If your tastes run to moody and broody then this could be
a film for you, it's not the strongest of the trilogy and
it won't be to everyone's tastes, one mans filmic introspection
is another's long dull movie.
Charles
Packer
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