Le chignon d'Olga

It's unfortunate that Jerome Bonnell saddled his film with a title that calls to mind Eric Rohmer's 'Claire's Knee' because having done so he is doomed to suffer comparisons with the veteran film maker. It's true that the film itself, light as a soufflé, fragile as a soap bubble, is working the same side of the street as Rohmer but this is a wonderful, charming film in its own right. I saw it on its initial release knowing nothing about it or anyone associated with it on either side of the camera and I rejoiced in its freshness, pain, laughter and tears. I now know, having just acquired the DVD that it is the work of a 23 year old writer director, Jerome Bonnell, which makes it all the more admirable. I was recently reminded elsewhere on the IMDb site that not all French films are masterpieces, during the same debate an avid supporter of the New Wave spoke of the Godards and Truffauts of this world wanting to write with a camera. To the first I would reply that of course not all French films are masterpieces but you'll wait a long time before the accountants who run Hollywood would even consider putting two cents into a story as fragile as this and to the second I would reply forget trying to write with the camera give me a guy who writes with his heart a la Bonnell. You can't spoil this film by discussing the plot, you can only enhance it and whet the discerning appetite, nevertheless I'm about to give the plot a once-over-lightly so look away now if you must. Siblings Julien and Emma have recently lost their mother and live with their father, who writes children's fiction, in rural France. Julien is a gifted pianist but has lost the taste for music in his grief. He enjoys a platonic relationship with Alice, five years older, who he has known all his life and does his best to be supportive in her lifelong quest to keep choosing the wrong men. One day he sees a young woman, Olga, working in a bookstore and is instantly smitten. Throughout the summer he fantasizes about winning her even going so far as to engage in a gauche plot to impress her. Meanwhile Emma is torn between her instinct to look after her widowed father, experiment with lesbianism - which she gives up as a bad job - and earn some money. All of these events, inconsequential as they are take place towards the end of summer and long before halfway we are praying that eventually Julien and Alice will see what we, the audience, have seen almost from the word go, that they belong together. And that's about it with the possible exception of the odd bit of business involving minor characters; no high-speed car chases, no crack houses, no teenage cannibals, just quiet, gentle observation of the Human Condition. A MINOR masterpiece certainly. 10/10

'Le Chignon d'Olga' is a film about the lives and loves of an affluent, liberal family. As with many French films, the characters exude a natural sexiness (in a way that is not seen in most Hollywood movies), and the acting, and the detail of the script, are both good. But the film made me feel a little old - viewed from a certain perspective, there's an inconsequentiality about these teenage affairs and while the plot operates in the context of a deeper story (the recent death of the children's mother) the treatment of this is muted. But if it's a slight tale, it also feels true, and lead actress Nathalie Boutefeu has a lovely, interesting face that director James Bonnell makes good use of.

I almost gave up on Le Chignon d'Olga. It was late and i was tired. The film started with an endless array of characters all being introduced within a short space of time. Quite frankly, i was lost and couldn't figure out who was who.

Glad i stuck with it tho cos, once i got a handle on the characters, i found the film thoroughly enjoyable.

I can see why director Jérôme Bonnell is compared to Eric Rohmer. They seemingly both like to concentrate on the small nuances of peoples everyday lives, and as another reviewer mentioned, these type of films never get made in Hollywood. I, for one, hope the French never stop making these small intriguing films (this one was shot for under 1,000,000).

I will be watching for further offerings from Jérôme Bonnell. French cinema seems to be in safe hands.

Recommended.

zzzz..

Julien and Emma are brother and sister, living in rural France with their father, who writes children's books. Julien is a gifted pianist but the loss of his mother has sucked the joie de vivre out of him; his best friend Alice knows it although their platonic relationship is more about him supporting her in bad relationship choices than anything else. When he sees a beautiful woman called Olga in a bookstore, Julien is smitten and sets about to set up someway of impressing her and winning her affection. Emma meanwhile is a bit lost – looking after her father, experimenting with lesbianism and wondering where her career will go. Meanwhile their father has to look after a young nephew and deal with advances from the wife of his local pub landlord.

With a lightness and charm running throughout it, many viewers will be able to forgive this film for having a rather thin narrative. The plot is a gentle look at the lovelife of each character, not in too much detail but giving us enough to be interested in each person. By doing this it does limit the impact it can have, because this is like a character study without a great deal of depth and it relies very much on us getting into the mood to be taken along with the air of comic romance that it has. This is quite easy to do though, because the film is sweet and charming throughout; the writing is nothing special but it is natural enough to create reasonably real people for us to get into.

This is helped by the cast doing roundly good jobs. Benhamdine is a bit wishy-washy and perhaps a bit like a moody teen but interesting nonetheless and still someone I came to like. Boutefeu plays a known role of "friend whom it has never gotten on with" but she is sweet enough to make you believe that the two friends are platonic but yet that something more is possible – this dynamic can easily look forced but Boutefeu and Benhamdine make it work. Loiret is good and I would have liked the film to do more with her than it did; although I think that the minor story of their father was enough to add depth, even if it was basic. Despite being the title character Rollin has little to do, but the camera makes good use of her by showing how the little things can make a woman seem magical – in Olga's case it is the soft fabric she wears that appears to slide over silky skin with each movement. This observation is one of many nice touches by Bonnell as director; he moves the camera naturally and frames his shots well.

Overall there is not much to this film and much of it you will have seen in other mainstream romantic comedies. However what makes this worth seeing is that it manage to make this formula work on someone as jaded as me – it is sweet, unassuming, charming and as gentle as a kiss on the cheek; hardly cutting edge writing but I imagine it will win over most viewers quite easily.

This is a remarkably fresh, charming, and genuine work by a director, Jerome Bonnell, who was only 23 at the time. Whatever mastery of cinema craft he may have lacked then, he more than made up for in his ability to wring the most amazing performances from extremely young actors and actresses. The most staggeringly brilliant performance in the film is by Nathalie Boutefeu, as the character Alice. Boutefeu passes through a bewildering range of shifting emotions and moods with the scintillation of sunbeams on water. It is one of the most remarkable performances of someone of that age which I have ever seen. There seems to have been a deep resonance between her and the director to give her the confidence to expose herself so completely to the camera, holding back nothing. Not surprisingly, Bonnell has gone on to make two further films with her. Who wouldn't? Another amazing performance is that given by Florence Loiret as Emma, whose moods shift almost as violently, as she grieves for her deceased mother, wants to leave her father but cannot, almost has an affair with her lesbian friend but cannot, almost cries but laughs, almost laughs but cries, and so on. None of this is in the slightest bit contrived, because this is how people of that age mostly are, and who better to direct them in a film than someone of the same age who may even be that way himself, for all we know? All of the performances are excellent. One especially charming and delightful minor performance is that delivered by the little boy, Antoine Goldet. It is a pity he has not appeared in another film. He was inspired casting. This is a film which is languid and lingering, dwelling on the faces of the characters without concern for the need to rush off and look at another character. The emotional tangles and knots, the 'presence of the absence' of the dead mother which is palpable and felt at all times in her household, the quarreling and the disputes, the making-up, the alienation, and the coming-together, the love both spoken and unspoken, the heartbreak, all of these are magnificently conveyed in this artless and natural movie, which gives the impression of having been thrown over someone's shoulder like a girl's handbag, so effortless does it all seem. It's easy for some!