Lucas Belvaux's The Trilogy ("On the Run," "An Amazing Couple," "After the
Life")
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In the city of Grenoble, three school teachers are the link among the
interwoven story strands of writer/director/actor Lucas Belvaux's genre
trio "The Trilogy," a monumental project that is richly rewarding for the
viewer. Although each film can stand on its own, the whole is vastly
superior to the sum of its parts. The films are being released in the
aforementioned order in the United States, although the order of the first
two films was reversed for their European release.
I happen to like the thriller, "On the Run," being first, as its first
image is of prison yard floodlights coming on, like a movie sound stage
coming to life. Jeanne (Catherine Frot, "Chaos") goes under police
surveillance when her revolutionary ex-lover Bruno (Belvaux) escapes from
prison after fifteen years. She wishes to shield her husband Francis
(Olivier Darimont) and child from her former life and Bruno considers her a
sell out, but Jeanne does maintain loyalty to him, refusing to cooperate
with police. Bruno recreates his identity in a storage facility, burns
down his old apartment and tries to track down Jacquillat (Patrick
Descamps), the man he believes fingered them. On this mission, he ends up
protecting a junkie, Agnès (Dominique Blanc, "A Soldier's Daughter Never
Cries"), who provides him a hideout at her coworker Cécile's (Ornella Muti,
"Oscar") chalet in exchange for heroine, but Bruno is flushed out and heads
for the Italian border through the Alps.
The theme of subterfuge begins as secretary Clair (Valérie Mairesse, "The
Sacrifice") colludes via telephone with Cécile to hold up Alain (François
Morel) at the office, but Alain has his own secret agenda, an appointment
with his doctor, Georges (Bernard Mazzinghi, "Madame Bovary"). Alain is a
hypochondriac who is convinced that a routine surgical procedure will be
his end and he does not want to worry his wife, but Cécile thinks he is
hiding an affair and turns to her colleague's husband Pascal (Gilbert
Melki, "Venus Beauty Institute"), a policeman, to discover just what Alain
is up to in the romantic comedy "An Amazing Couple."
Unbeknownst to everyone, Agnès is a morphine addict whose husband, Pascal,
has been supplying her. When Bruno escapes, Pascal's source, Jacquillat,
shuts off the supply in an attempt to blackmail Pascal into killing Bruno,
but Pascal resists cold-blooded murder. Agnès believes her husband no
longer loves her when he tells her he's 'forgotten' to get her drugs and
their marriage undergoes great strain as she goes into withdrawal in the
melodrama "After the Life."
Belvaux's experiment exemplifies the concept that it is impossible for one
human being to know another and that, in fact, people present different
sides of themselves in different situations. In examining crisscrossing
stories with three different genres, Belvaux intensifies these differences,
essentially giving his audience three differently tinted pairs of glasses
with which to view his characters. In fact, Belvaux's own character is
referred to differently in each film (Bruno, his first name, Pierre, a
false name, and Le Roux, his last name) and constantly changes his
appearance with disguises to elude the police, literal identity changes
which underline his concept. It's an engrossing experience, although at
least one story strand, that of Pascal falling in love with Cécile, doesn't
pass muster when viewed a second time.
Of the three films, "On the Run" is the most successful as a standalone
piece. In Bruno, Belvaux creates a dichotomy - a sympathetic terrorist -
who has a complete story arc (both "An Amazing Couple" and "After the Life"
have ambiguous endings which imply that their couples may begin again where
they started). Bruno's belief in The Popular Army has caused him to take
lives, yet he shows tremendous compassion for the junkie who wanders into
his path. Yet Jeanne tests his beliefs by demanding to know how the deaths
of three fireman and a retired railway worker furthered his class warfare.
The film is briskly paced and edited (Ludo Troch, "Everybody's Famous!,"
gets our hearts pounding with the opener's effective jump cuts). Riccardo
Del Fra's terrific score is a bass line punctuating the action.
Cinematographer Pierre Milon ("Time Out") works mostly in shadows here,
until the surprising and stunning conclusion. B
"An Amazing Couple" could almost stand alone if it weren't for the nagging
lack of explanation for Jeanne's arrest. Bruno, who is only referred to
here as Pierre, the false name he gives to Agnès, is merely a footnote
here, because even though the policeman Pascal is a prominent supporting
player, we're seeing him through Cécile's agenda. This light, whimsical
film is grounded in the terrific comedic performance of François Morel, who
turns Alain's paranoias into an ever-escalating parade of misinterpreted
missteps. Morel is adept with both physical comedy and his timing is spot
on. His usual reaction to his shifting perception is to whip out a voice
recorder and change his will. Meanwhile, Cécile is on his tail, Pascal is
making goo goo eyes at her and Claire keeps changing allegiances. Del
Fra's music veers from comedy to suspense, a horn dancing around the bass.
Milon employs the bright lighting typical of comedy, which occasionally is
unflattering to Muti. B
"After the Life" is the most difficult film to judge as a stand alone when
one sees it last, although I suspect Bruno's identity would appear murky at
best with Cécile even more problematic. (In fact, when Pascal repeats the
'I love you' admission from "An Amazing Couple," it seems to come from left
field.) Here melodrama is the mode with violin predominating the score.
Gilbert Melki makes us feel his desperation at being pulled in two
directions, although sometimes his motivation is enigmatic (for example,
why does Pascal resist telling Agnès the truth about her morphine
initially?). One can feel the strength of his love for his wife in the way
he whispers 'look at you' after she's been beaten and strung out trying to
get a fix. Dominique Blanc is terrific as the functioning junkie who gets
the rug ripped out from under her. Milon gets in close and personal with
hand held camera, and we're given Agnès's point of view for withdrawal
episodes. On its own, probably a B-, yet seen as the trilogy capper, it is
the most rewarding. An admission from Francis near the film's conclusion
makes plain the chasm that can exist between perception and truth.
"The Trilogy" is a marvel in how it forces one to keep evolving one's
impressions. Each film roughly follows the same time frame and sequence of
events, but the way these events are edited provides scene repetitions with
new revelations. When we see Agnès collapse at Alain's birthday party, we
realize that only we are privy, from the previous film, to her drug
addiction. When Pascal is added to a scene we had previously seen without
him, his eavesdropping adds profound depth to his character. When a major
player undergoing intense personal drama is barely remarked upon in one of
the other films, Belvaux makes us aware of how self-absorbed human nature
is. 'We don't pay enough attention to strangers,' Alain remarks having
finally become aware of Pascal's presence. Indeed. Belvaux's "The
Trilogy" may be flawed, but it hits its mark. B+
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