Pas de repos pour les braves (2003)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Alain Guiraudie

Writers:

Alain Guiraudie (writer)
Frédéric Videau (writer)

Release Date:

12 November 2003 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Surrealism | Gay Interest | Existentialism | Dream Sequence | Older Man Younger Man

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Thomas Suire	...	Basile / Hector
Thomas Blanchard	...	Igor
Laurent Soffiati	...	Johnny Goth
Vincent Martin	...	Bodowski
Pierre-Maurice Nouvel	...	Sorano
Roger Guidone	...	Roger
Nicole Huc	...	Lydie
Jean-Claude Baudracco	...	Dede
Bruno Izarin	...	Daniel
Jacques Mestres	...	Jean-Luc
Serge Ribes	...	Jack
Jérôme Mancet	...	Franck
Valérie Pangrazzi	...	Annie
Marie-Pierre Neskovic	...	Julie
Jeanne Delavenay	...	Anne

Also Known As:

No Rest for the Brave (International: English title)
Rabalaïre (France) (working title)

Runtime:

France:104 min (Cannes Film Festival) | Japan:107 min

Country:

France | Austria

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/16

Company:

Amour Fou Filmproduktion

Odd, French Existential French Comedy?

One of the hardest things for humans to do is to explain a dream and make it interesting. Herein lies the biggest problem of "No Rest for the Brave." Rare is the viewer who will make it to the end of this oddly beautiful but frustrating film. First, for the non-native French speaker, this is a film heavy on the dialog – lots of it and it comes at you machine gun fast which translates into being forced to read constantly and as fast as you can.

In a nutshell "No Rest" tells the story of a boy – Basille (also with an alter-ego called Hector) a 16 year old who believes he's approaching the penultimate sleep – one more night with his eyes closed and he will die. So, sleep deprived, he is forever in a state of semi-consciousness living more in a dream state than the real world. It becomes increasingly difficult (if not downright impossible) to figure out what is real and what isn't. Does Basille really kill an entire village? Is he having an affair with a 60 year old man? Does he really drive around in an airplane he can't get off the ground? What is the significance of "little red balls?" Is there really an improper "season" for eating foie gras? If one allows themselves to fall into this world, the difference between reality and dreaming ultimately doesn't matter.

Director Alain Guiraudie creates a beautiful, surreal existential plane wherein the Bassile and those who populate his life (and dreams) reside. There are images that are breathtakingly beautiful – such as Basille's red plane's attempted take off, or the image of him wildly, violently dancing 70's punk style to an acoustic guitar song in a brightly lit pool hall.

I thought I would gouge my eyes out after 20 minutes or so, but once I "let go" and just watched it on its own terms and fell in love with this oddball, beautiful picture.