Carrément à l'Ouest (2001) Reviews

• Huit-clos about attractions, passion and human contradictions around an impetuous young deliquent. Well played and interesting.

  fabcap2001-05-28

  The plot: Alex is young, Alex is impetuous. Alex is a drug dealer, and is sometimes afraid of women. Fred's boyfriend (I can't find his name. note: Fred is a girl) owes Alex some money. The film starts with Alex threatening him violently to get his money back. Fred is graceful, mentally strong, and complicated. Fred is disgusted by Alex. But in the same time, she's attracted by his force and the danger he represents. She will approach him, seduce him. In order to observe him from a distance, she will involve a third person: Sylvia, met in a nightclub, that she suggests to Alex, and that looks sad. The night will then continue, in a hotel suite payed by Alex, like he always do with girls he meets, between the 3 people. But this time, things will be a little less simple than usual: talk, confrontate & seduce, hesitate, cry & laugh. The pros: excellent comedians, psychologically plausible and brilliant (isn't Rivette exploring the human nature, and especially its passions ?). The cons: unsufficient 'mise en scene'. This is filmed like a reality show (with a numeric cam), but the plot is actually too complex to be reality. A little bit too verbous and static too (it would make a great theater play).

• A Marivaux story of today

  herjoch2007-10-17

  Jaques Doillon ("Ponette", "Le petit criminel") has ever since been interested in the investigation of young people between seduction and desire.That's also the main theme of his new film.It is a chamber piece about a young man and two girls,which for the most part is situated in a hotel room,where they try out concepts of love and the whole spectrum of real and pretended feelings.It starts as some kind of play,but gets more serious with the time.There is not much happening in the usual sense,but mostly talking.Nevertheless this kind of test arrangement benefits from convincing actors (among them Caroline Ducey "Romance")and very subtle direction and camera work, so that there is always a inner tension,that makes you follow the development of the story.It's about the privilege of youth of reinventing itself every moment, but love requires courage and the for the most part they do not pass their test of courage.If you like talkative Rohmer films this is surely one for you.