Vendredi soir (2002)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Claire Denis

Writers:

Emmanuèle Bernheim (novel)
Emmanuèle Bernheim (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 September 2002 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Having packed up her possessions to move in with her lover, Laure is more unsettled than she appears...

Plot Keywords:

Strike | Traffic Jam | Stranger | Dinner | Moving

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Valérie Lemercier	...	Laure
Vincent Lindon	...	Jean
Hélène de Saint-Père	...	Marie
Hélène Fillières	...	La femme fatiguée
Florence Loiret	...	La jeune fille du flipper (as Florence Loiret-Caille)
Grégoire Colin	...	Le jeune homme en parka
Gilles D'Ambra	...	Le mari de la femme fatiguée
Micha Lescot	...	Le réceptionniste
Gianfranco Poddighe	...	Le maître d'hôtel
Nordine Barour	...	Le serveur
Lionel Goldstein	...	L'acheteur
Didier Woldemard	...	Le chauffeur de la camionnette
Nicolas Struve	...	L'homme de l'accrochage
Jérôme Pouly	...	Le deuxième homme de l'accrochage
Nausicaa Meyer	...	La femme de l'accrochage

Also Known As:

Friday Night (International: English title) (USA)

Runtime:

90 min | Canada:90 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Arena Films

Sadly beautiful

Claire Denis' films may look slick to the jaundiced American audiences, since many fashion and advertising makers employ devices that create Denis-esque effects. Beau Travail was unfortunately evocative of Bruce Webers' damp pretty man ad campaigns and books, yet the power of the film remained when the memory of the packaging had faded.

This film was beautiful to my innocent eye, as it wistfully, abstractly spreads out night-time Paris as a diorama into which drivers and passengers are thrown during a harrowing transit strike. The intimacy that occurs in the film between strangers is intensely depicted - close close close and the camera - as with Beau Travail - is genius. The film made me sad to consider the sense of loneliness inside of that city and my own during the night, yet I am pleased to have seen such a lovely rendering of that idea. I saw the film last night and the pictures are still downloading inside today, my mark of great films.

Finally, THANK YOU Claire Denis for never being ponderously intellectual during appearances and for not feeling that you need 3 hour films to make art. This film - in less than 90 minutes - is more profound than any of the 3 hour French films made.