A deeply disturbing film which has left a mass of conflicting and uneasy reactions within me. i am still trying to decide exactly how i feel about this film, but at the moment i sense that this film is deeply problematic.... i feel the problem is NOT that it is too sympathetic to child-rapists etc. (as some may see) but rather the opposite -- it holds these characters up for our fascinated yet horrified perusal, one moment daring us to laugh at them, another moment priming us to feel sorry for them, then undercutting that pity with horror or with distancing irony. the strategy works powerfully at times, and evokes some moments of true thought-provocation (that confession scene with the pedophile father and his son being the best example), but it is also sometimes all too predictable -- once i had made it some way into the show, i began to distance myself and see the director pulling on the strings (of the audience and the characters)... but the film, for all its cleverness, does rely on some rather pat old cliches: the fat and lonely girl who craves attention from the equally fat and lonely neighbour (who fantasises about the slim beautiful neighbour), the psychiatrist who's a pervert, the grime lurking beneath the perfect "got-it-all" American dream family, etc. what is undeniable is the excellence of the cast, who do imbue the characters with a sense of humanity, even while the script and direction so often frame them with cheap irony.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Love & Confusions
(1997)
failed attempt at romantic comedy
24 April 1999
I went to see this film with high hopes, as a fan of both Kristin Scott Thomas and many French films. But this turned out to be wholly disappointing. Tired old cliches about men, women, love and sex are trotted through a series of tired old plot devices (the lost phone number, the near-misses coming up and down elevators, etc. etc.). The main characters' careers in the lingerie industry are a flimsy excuse for endless gratuitous shots of t**s and ass (which might afford some titillation value if not for the interruptus shots of leering old guys). Much hysterical shouting substitutes for emotion, glib moralising substitutes for thought, and shameless hamming provides the only occasions for humor. Kristin Scott Thomas (perfecting her wan-smile-and- sad-sparkling-eyes routine) tries her best to inject warmth and intelligence to her role, as does the male lead, but the script ultimately leaves them with shallow, rather stupid, characters. The films' roundly dislikable characters would not in itself be a problem if the script (and drippy soundtrack) were not trying so hard to make this film into a romantic comedy. One is left wondering what attracted Kristin (and new wave grande dame Jeanne Moreau) to this project.
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