STRAYED
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Wellspring
Grade: B-
Directed by: Andre Techine
Written by: Gilles Taurand, Andre Techine, from "Le Garcon
Aux
Yeux Gris" by Gilles Perrault
Cast:Emmanuelle Beart, Gaspard Ulliel, Gregoire Leprince-
Ringuet, Clemence Meyer, Jean Fornerod, Samuel Laberthe,
Eric Krekenmayer
Screened at:Preview 9, NYC, 4/29/04
War does strange things to people to soldiers, obviously, to
civilians as well. During World War II, some sociologists held
that American kids acted like kids while those who were the
same age in occupied Europe grew up mighty fast. Director
Andre Techine, born in the middle of the Second World War
and known for the economical way he handles small, complex
stories with provincial settings, specializes as well in his
depictions of awkward young people and eccentric leading
characters. In "Strayed," Techine, working with Gilles Taurand's
adaptation of Gilles Perrault's novel "The Boy With Grey Eyes,"
zeroes in on a newly widowed woman bringing up a teen boy
and a seven-year-old girl who having fled from their Parisian
home during the German occupation and having lost her car in
a bombing raid--tries her stoic best to keep a controlled front for
the benefit of her family, not the least for her own sanity.
Or does she? Techine hints that Odile (Emmanuelle Beart) is
not putting on an act at all but is the proverbial person with a
stick up her butt a repressed woman who in her middle years
has not yet realized that her life had not even begun, until...
Much of the story deals with the effect of a stranger's presence
on her and her teen son Philippe (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet)
and even on her 7-year-old, Cathy (Clemence Meyer). When
Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel), a 17-year-old with closely-cropped hair
and without much of known history arrives on the scene, the
rigid Odile is plunged into conflict. One part of her is repelled by
the lad's feral nature. Yvan steals guns and other equipment
from fallen soldiers, has never been to school and therefore is
unable to read and write, and has no problem breaking into a
spacious, abandoned house in the French woodlands to give
refuge to his new buddies. The sexual tension between young
Yvan and Odile infuses the drama.
World War II serves almost as a plot contrivance for Techine,
as without the German planes' bombing innocent refugees,
characters like Odile and Yvan would not spend fifteen minutes
together, let alone several days or weeks. War has a way of
leveling classes in the style of "Swept Away" and creating a
background for experiences almost unheard of in peacetime. In
fact, like the Giannini character in "Swept Away," the lower class
Yvan has survival instincts unknown to Odile and her son
Philippe, which help preserve the sanity and regard for one
another during those trying times. (Speaking of regard, take
note of the French title of this film.)
Techine has not come close to the quality he demonstrated
with one of his best-known films, "Wild Reeds" about four
young people in rural France coming of age and exploring their
sexuality while listening to American top 40 songs. "Wild
Reeds" takes place during a critical time that finds France trying
to hold on to its colony in Algeria. Similar thematically to
"Strayed," "Wild Reeds" relates the tale of a group of French
citizens shaken by the arrival of a new French-Algerian student
in their boarding school. "Strayed," however, has little of the
political resonance, is far too talky, and possesses subtitles
often difficult to read, particularly when white letters are cast
against a white background. While several people are changed
by the experience of a stranger in their midst, what happens
ultimately to Yvan is beyond the pale of credibility.
For a better take on the theme, try to find a DVD or a
screening of the 1962 film by Alex Joffe called "Fortunat," about
a middle class woman forced to flee from Nazi-occupied France
with her two young children, escorted by a poacher who poses
as her husband. More on the 1960 war drama which is not
reviewed in Leonard Maltin's annual door-stopper can be
found on the website
http://frenchfilms.topcities.com/nf_Fortunat_rev.html.
Not Rated. 90 minutes. Copyright 2004 by Harvey Karten
========== X-RAMR-ID: 37681 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1276374 X-RT-TitleID: 1132524 X-RT-SourceID: 570 X-RT-AuthorID: 1123 X-RT-RatingText: B-
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