Chaos

CHAOS is a melodrama, yes, indeed. But when melodramas are this much fun--this exciting, socially aware, funny, heartfelt, just plain interesting and oh-so-pertinent to our world today, we should only have more of them this good. As a fan of writer/director Coline Serreau since her POURQUOI PAS?, I was still unprepared for how terrific this new film is. Actors Vincent Lindon and Catherine Frot are wonderful, as usual, but it's newcomer Rachida Brakni who is stunning from first to last. The story, which begins with an auto accident, never lets up its tension and grows more complicated and intriguing as it proceeds. If, as some have said, CHAOS is anti-men, the men in this film certainly deserve their raspberries. Further, the movie should be "must" viewing for Islamic families around the world. While I would stake my life on the fact that not all Muslim families are as male-dominated by lunkheads as is the family shown here, still--the Islamic world must eventually come to terms with its women and their liberation, if they and the rest of us are to prosper. CHAOS is must-viewing for so many reasons, I can't begin to count them here. Rent it as soon as you can.

in the opening sequence, vincent lindon's acting is great, the whole situation is quite... chaotic. unfortunately, the film takes a turn when a whole new plot is presented. the film then becomes pretentious, loses its interest, and, worst of all, is incredulous. too bad, for it starts off as a decent french comedy, but then tries to be something it is not. in that sense, 'le gout des autres' by agnes jaoui is a little more fortunate. ludovic navarre's (aka st. germain) score has nothing to do with the actual film, and probably just adds another commercial facet to this altogether mediocre film.

It's funny; the two best films I've seen this year (sadly, CHAOS has only just made it to the Midwest United States in 2003), are both from France. Not only that, but none of the American films I've seen thus far even come close to this or Gaspar Noe's IRREVERSIBLE. Maybe we should rethink that stupid freedom fries thing and go seek out some real culture. CHAOS is a great film, a film that wastes no time. It starts with a bang when an Algerian prostitute named Noemie begs for a ride from Paul and his wife Helene as they drive by the scene of her merciless beating at the hands of three pimps. Paul locks the doors and, after the pimps have gone, leaving Noemie unconscious, gets out of the car only to wipe the windshield clean of the inconvenient blood Noemie has spilled upon it. A perfect opening to this film, showing the frailty of women at the hands of dominating men, and the inhumanity and selfishness of said men. As a human of the male persuasion myself, I was surprised to not feel any resentment toward the film's representation of manhood. It does not try to convince the viewer that all men are like this; just all the men in this film. At the same time, many men might feel uncomfortable at the incisiveness of the film's characterizations. At one point Helene says, "Not all men are bastards"; Noemie merely shrugs and smirks ever so slightly. It is more telling than a thousand words.

This is one of the most accomplished films I've seen from France in a while. French cinema always presents risky situations. Hollywood, in search of ideas, sometimes turns into other films for American consumption under disguises, where the original idea is totally changed, or presented in such an idiotic way, that probably the new film derived has nothing to do with the original one.

Director Coline Serreau presents a story about today's society, where there's always no time to pay attention to things, let alone go to the aid of someone who's being victimized on the street. The Vidals, a bourgeois couple are a typical example of people so preoccupied in their own little game; they have no time to help the young woman who is beaten to a pulp in front of their eyes.

Well, actually, Mme. Vidal has a conscience. She protests to Paul, her husband; he couldn't care less. She goes to the hospital where the victim is under a coma, trying to put things right. She then becomes obsessed with the situation. At least she is a decent, if somehow tardy Samaritan.

Noemi, the woman who's been beaten has her own sad story. Played with conviction by Rashida Brakni, she puts a plan to avenge herself against the people that got her in the present situation and tried to kill her.

The interplay between Noemi and Mme. Vidal, also played earnestly by Catherine Frot, is one of the best combinations of wits in a film.

The film never lets up. Showing a sure hand, Ms Serreau gives us an enjoyable film and a feminist take on the way things are done when a woman decides to say enough to all kinds of abuses she has been put all her life.

What impressed me more than anything about "Chaos" was the energetic acting. The two female leads seem absolutely driven in their portrayals, and it's a good thing, because their characters need all the energy they can get to cope with the whirlwind of savagery and plot twists in this terrifically entertaining (though sometimes hard to watch) film.

The only thing I disliked in "Chaos" was the cardboard portrayal of the husband. Though I consider myself a Francophile and have long enjoyed French films, I find French farce heavy-handed and really hard to take--and this role was handled farcically. But that's perhaps a cultural quibble, and overall I was greatly impressed by the film.

Highly recommended, but not for the squeamish.