Des vents contraires

For most directors a first film is a major event of their artistic lives. It can make or break many a career. French actor/director Jalil Lespert was not so lucky as a director when his first film '24 Mesures' turned out to be a colossal commercial as well as critical failure. It was so unpopular that not many viewers bothered even to think about it. It is nice to learn that he has not repeated old mistakes of the past in his latest film "Des Vents Contraires" which reveals itself as a more mature work. It concerns the impact which a married woman's disappearance has on her husband and children. Being an actor himself,Jalil Lespert has revealed himself as an actor's director by showing remarkable maturity especially in the manner he has handled leading actors. Apart from its insistence on an inquiry, two minor themes have been covered namely brother-brother relationship and getting used to life in a new surrounding. As an actor playing the part of a single father who is forced to look after his children Benoît Magimel is brilliant. He conveys the genuine angst of the person whose life is turned upside down when his wife disappears. His performance enable viewers to ascertain how and why things go wrong in a relationship to such a large extent that a partner is compelled to leave the household ?

There's not enough good things one can say about this film, which is a perfect reflection of the misty gray-skied Breton beaches in which the action takes place: beautiful and sad. (That, incidentally, is how I feel about Brittany, personally.)

Benoît Magimel is splendid as Paul Anderen, a married father of two children whose wife Sarah has gone missing. We watch as pain and vulnerability creak into his natural masculinity and do not erase it, but challenge and rub up against it. Paul meets the challenge splendidly: his tender affection for and clear authoritative stance vis-à-vis his children and his friends prove that he is not, as a man, destroyed by his terrible experience.

How terrible? You almost have to have been through this kind of a loss to understand. The flashbacks to his married life are very poignant, and we know what he must be thinking: WHAT ABOUT MY LIFE? This was the woman FOR HIM, the one he gave up the freedom of his youth to build his adult life with. And now he wonders, will he have to build that life on his own?

And he DOES. All the while it is harder and he misses his wife, but he manages.

The film's portrayal of the public authority figures/civil servants--the public elementary school teacher and the police--is less than flattering: the institutions they serve come off as invasive, condescending and downright terrifying (actually, "terrorizing" would perhaps be a more appropriate word). Yet if you look closely, you can see that the individuals themselves are not so completely devoid of life, even if their good points tend to be masked by the bureaucratic monstrosities that hold their lifelines. When they step outside these boundaries, they shine so brilliantly.

A wonderful little treat! Highly recommended.