Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours

Apart from Sophie Marceau's frequent bouts of nudity, there's nothing remotely beautiful about this overly hysterical and pretentiously cryptic melodrama about exceedingly unlikable people! This was my third Andrzej Zulawski film after L' IMPORTANT C'EST D'AIMER (1974) and POSSESSION (1981) and it proved even more of a chore to sit through!

Surprisingly enough, Zulawski later had a child with his gorgeous leading lady here; one would have thought that his harrowing depictions of male-female relationships in most of his films (which frequently degenerate into shouting matches and violent beatings) would have put paid to any romantic ideas on her part! Anyway, when I was in Hollywood a couple of months ago, I had the chance to catch up with two of Zulawski's most intriguing films on DVD-R, namely THE DEVIL (1972) and THE SILVER GLOBE (1977-87; which was in Polish without English subtitles!) - but I decided to pass on them...!

My first film by Mr. Zulawski was the amazing Possession. I was so blown away by it I have made it an effort to see every film made by this man.

Having already seen 6 films directed by Zulawski I knew that even after reading descriptions of this it would be no typical love story. I disagree with the reviewer who said none of the characters were like-able. I think the two main characters were great examples of very "damaged" and hurt people and I found myself unable to not feel sympathy for both of them. I have a hard time describing this movie though. There's moments of sheer beauty, confusion and sadness. The acting in the film didn't seem as "over the top" as some of his other films and both the lead actor and actress really shine in this movie. If you're a fan of Zulawski's other work then there's no reason you wouldn't enjoy this movie. However, it may not be the best starting place for newcomers.

After the phenomenon that was "La Boum", Sophie Marceau was faced with a dilemma; either continue making commercial features, or change her image by taking part in auteur films. She opted for the latter, rejecting Claude Pinoteau's -the director's who discovered her- "La septième cible" and playing the main roles in Maurice Pialat's "Police" and Andrzej Zulawski's "L'amour braque". It was with the latter that she also made "Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours", a film about madness , love and how they intertwine.

This film doesn't exactly have a plot. Its meaning is in the dialogues, conducted by a mentally ill woman and a physically ill man. Her, child of an abusive household, works as a medium and performs a spectacle between striptease and theatre, in which she predicts the future of any of the spectators that asks her. Him, a computer programmer, has invented a new programming language, but doesn't have much time to celebrate, because he suffers from a terminal disease. These two meet and discover that they can share their deepest fears, their hopes, but, most importantly, their ideas. They talk using intricate metaphors, and symbols, words that rhyme. Essentially, the French language is made use of to express the love between these two beings. This is a film as much about its ability to convey complex thoughts and concepts as much as it is about romance.

Romance isn't the only thing explored in "Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours"; Madness is too. For, both heroes feel love as something different than most people. They are insecure, unique, want to find someone as intricate as them. They don't say "I love you". Instead, they resort to metaphors, indirect means of expressing what they feel. Is it because they can't? Is it due to their past having made them to emotionally cold to feel? It could be both. The important thing is that they are so different from all others in terms of behaviour that they could only end up together, and its their madness that lets them live their romance with such passion.

Both Sophie Marceau and her co-star, Jacques Dutronc, showed this mindset perfectly. Dutronc was a yéyé singer, popular for his subversive, revolutionary lyrics. His charm and coolness was wanted among directors, with Steven Spielberg asking him to play the villain in Indiana Jones, and Dutronc refusing only because he didn't speak English. Was this a sing of arrogance, or of real knowledge of oneself? To me, something in between.

The aforementioned choice of Sophie Marceau to participate in "L'amour braque" instead of "La septième cible" is also indicative of a mix between arrogance and self-knowledge. It is known in the world of French show business, that when she told Claude Pinoteau that she was leaving the film, in order to take part in Zulawski's movie, he got irritated. He felt betrayed. The actress whom he had discovered, simply rejected his work, considering it too restricting for her image. And so, he let her go, but with a heavy price, both metaphorically and literally: she was forced to pay a big sum of money so as to cancel her contract. It was this lack of interest for others, combined with the will to improve one's position with the help of a kindred spirit, that characterised "Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours".

"Ordinary" is not a word I would use to describe this film. "Sweet" neither. "Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours" is a special kind of film, a director's vision of the love between two outcasts, of which the only possible conclusion is the lovers' death. That I didn't like it maybe serves more to show its uniqueness than its flaws. But, for me, this uniqueness just took away all of the romance, and the ambitious language only made their love seem artificial. As artificial as the weapons of a thriller.

The weapons of "La septième cible".

I have only seen one other Zulawski film before this one, POSSESSION, and while I found that film to be better than this one (to be precise: something of a masterpiece, in my opinion), I believe that MES NUITS SONT PLUS BELLES QUE VOS JOURS is essential viewing for anyone who loves French romantic cinema. Though Zulawski himself is Polish, MES NUITS(...) is thoroughly "Francofied", from its almost absurdly poetic title to its frank depiction of violence and sometimes aberrant sexual behavior (not to mention sex in general, of course).

The story concerns Lucas (French singer-actor Jacques Dutronc), a computer genius who has finally hit the jackpot, inventing and selling a new computer language that will revolutionize the field of technology. To be sure, Lucas would ordinarily be thrilled with this, but he has just learned that he is suffering from a rare disease that begins by destroying the memory. With seemingly days left to live, he meets a beautiful, much younger woman in a café: Blanche (Sophie Marceau, then-lover of director Zulawski) is an up-and-coming nightclub performer and model (who seems to have psychic abilities). Though completely different from one another, they have one thing in common: desperation. Lucas's desperation comes from the knowledge of his impending death; Blanche's desperation is more spiritual in nature. Both Blanche and Lucas suffer from memories of tragic childhoods, and both feel alone and unloved even though they should feel on top of the world. The two begin a strange affair that I'd hesitate to call "tender"; there is plenty of passion in this film, but it is all very cold, as I believe was intended. In Zulawski's universe, there is no time for tenderness, and the laws of passion are the only ones worth following. As the film hammers on in an energetic, often funny fashion, it becomes increasingly dark and tragic. By the film's end, we are spending much of our time witnessing a fractured reality from Lucas's point of view. His deterioration is portrayed brilliantly by having Lucas constantly speak, in an attempt to hang on to sense and logic, only to lose all hope as his ability to communicate thought breaks apart, and gibberish flows ceaselessly from his lips. A tragic film, a darkly comic one, but at the last moment, I think an oddly optimistic one.

It's really too bad that so many people have never heard of Zulawski. After seeing only two of his films, I'm convinced that he's a unique and engaging filmmaker who deserves far more respect. Perhaps the future will see a discovery of his work. Quickly, before Zulawski retires...!

This movie has a sad entrance, a sad climax and a sad end, but between it is crazy, it is postmodern-french, it is fabulous and Sophie Marceau is growing bigger here. Sometimes remembered at P. Greenaway, I would see parallels to Damage/Fatale (1992): an interesting erotic drama with some sad moments and good actors especially actresses. Find out, who plays better, J. Binoche (Damage) or S. Marceau here !