À tout de suite

Pointless. Just drifted around pretentiously with nothing profound to say. Which describes most French films I guess, except in this one nobody randomly commits suicide at the end.

Only positive thing about the movie is Isild Le Besco, though her acting is poor...

Benoit Jacquot takes a real story from the 70s to base his film. "A tout de suite" photographed in black and white by Caroline Campeter, tries to capitalize on the mood and atmosphere of better made French movies of an earlier period.

The young woman, Lili, at the center of the film, is a woman from a bourgeois home. Evidently, although nothing is made clear, her parents are divorced, or at least are separated. The big apartment where she lives with her father and sister seems to be the refuge for stray characters this girl feels attracted to.

First, when we first encounter her, she is in bed with another young woman, who is a fellow student in her drawing class. There is a hint of lesbianism, although nothing is clear. Lili and the friend later meet a shady character who invites them to go dancing. In the boite, Lili meets Bada, a Moroccan, who she feels immediately attracted to. This chance meeting will prove to be Lili's downfall as she embarks in a partnership with a couple of bank robbers trying to escape justice in France.

The film's best asset is Isild Le Besco, who as Lili makes the best of the central role. Ms. Le Besco is a beautiful woman who one sees in all her splendor. This is an actress who has no problems being naked in front of the camera that clearly adores her. Her character is a complex one. The other players, none of whom we are acquainted with, do their jobs well.

Mr. Jacquot film has a feel of being a documentary in the way the action is presented. "A tout de suite" is only notable for the character study of Lili, but we don't feel involvement with the rest of the people we meet. It's a disturbing film that, judging from the empty theater where we saw it, doesn't seem to have caught the imagination of the public.

The good news (for guys) is that rising French actress Isild Le Besco ("The Cost of Living") is shaping up to be France's answer to American starlet Scarlett Johansson. Both actresses are alike physically with their long blonde hair and full lips, but Isild is far less shy when it comes to full back and/or frontal nudity.

The bad news is that this practically dialogue-free excursion into the life of criminals on the run is only compelling if you remind yourself that this film based on a true story. Otherwise, the coupling of Le Besco's unnamed character with a young Moroccan has little chemistry if any.

Set in the 70's, director Benoit Jacquot has shot in B&W to make his use of archive footage seem less obtrusive, but the marked contrast between the worn newsreels as his crystal clear photography negates that subterfuge. Plus none of the actors seems to have any sensibility of the period either, probably since many of them weren't even born in the 70's.

Story revolves around a 19 year old art student (Le Besco) who meets a guy in a bar and falls immediately for his Moroccan friend. She learns later (on the TV news) that both men are bank robbers so she does what any teenager in love would do - she goes with them. Action moves from France to Spain, then Morocco and Greece. On paper you'd think this film would move along fluidly but depending on your identification with the characters this could be the longest 96 min. of your life.

The film does get interesting in the last reel when the heroine realizes the error of her ways just after a sexual spree revealed in some explicit sex scenes.

Worth a look (how often do you get to see B&W photography these days anyway).

Enjoyed this movie. As one reviewer said: it shows what it was like to be 19 again. I liked the way the story was developed but wish there was a sequel. It somehow touched me deeply, especially the way it dealt with sexuality. The way the story ended was interesting - but frustrating. I would like to see more movies by this director. The scenery shots were nice. I wish the movie could have been a little longer, so as to develop more of the story. I saw the movie several times, just in case I would never be able to see it again ever. The fact that it is based on a book, a memoir makes it all the more fascinating. I was interested in hearing that the female star was of mixed heritage. I would like to read the book from which this story was taken but it does not seem to be available in the US - translated or not.

The film is based on Élisabeth Fanger's autobiographical story, J'Avais Dix Huit Ans of (translated as either "I was 18" or possibly "When I was 18"). She was 18 and in her last year of high school when she fell in love with Sid Mohamed Badaoui, a bank robber. She was still 18 a few months later when she fled with her lover and started her 2 years as a fugitive in Spain, Morocco and Greece.

Along with Garrel's more notable effort, Les Amants Réguliers, these two French filmmakers (both over 60 years old) might be trying to re-live their youth and make a film they could have made 30 or 40 years before. They aspire to create cinema like the best of the French filmmakers a few years their senior, but fail to note that these successful French film makers from the 60's and 70's made deeply personal films. It's not the pacing of the efforts that is at fault, but a lack of anything concrete to say. Just a long dose of ennui with a little existential nausea thrown in for good measure.