Paradis perdu

(2012) Lost Paradise (In French with English subtitles) DRAMA

Co-written and directed by Ève Deboise with Hugo (Olivier Rabourdin) managing the farm with his teenage daughter, Lucie (Pauline Etienne) who sometimes takes driving lessons with their neighbor. And on occasion, Hugo employs immigrant, Hakim (Ouassini Embarek) for additional help. And they appear to be independent and make some money by going into town selling plants even though they have a garden until Lucie thought she saw her mom hanging around in the farmer's market. Lucie clearly misses her mom as clearly shows when she was smelling the clothing she had left behind that was put into a clear plastic bag before they were discarded by the dad. Complicating matters is when after a year of the mother, Sonia (Florence Thomassin) being absent, she decides to show up. Hugo still angry at her, he then locks her up in the garden shed with the first person to have seen her is Hakim. To which as soon as Hugo found out about him knowing about Sonia being locked up, he then kicks him out of the property threatened him if he ever reveal about this confinement to anymore, he would retaliate by telling locals he is a immigrant.

Although, the movie is ambiguous I did not mind as no one had died as a result of Hugo's actions, which was what I was afraid he might've done if his own wife left him for someone else.

This is a very strange French film about a father and teenage daughter living by themselves on a farm in a very rural, provincial part of France. There seems to be something incestuous about their relationship, but this is kept vague and ambiguous. They seem happy with the father home-schooling the daughter and an unseen neighbor giving her driving lessons. Conflicts arise when the unfaithful wife/mother of the girl suddenly returns and the father decides to keep her captive in a shed on the corner of his property rather than let her reunite with the daughter. Then another potential conflict arises when the father hires a young Moroccan boy to help him out at the farm. The girl is attracted to the boy and this inspires no small of jealousy on the part of the father. There is also a little girl, but it is not clear whether this is the daughter's child, a neighbor's child she is babysitting, or some kind of metaphoric character that doesn't exist at all(?).

Obviously this movie is deeply ambiguous. I don't mind the tendency of French films to not spell EVERYTHING out like a lot of Hollywood films do, but this film is perhaps too vague and ambiguous to the point you don't really know ANYTHING for sure. The end doesn't really resolve anything and really just raises even more questions. This movie is almost like a Rorschah inkblot which you can interpret pretty much any way you want, but that is not necessarily a great artistic achievement.

The main actress of note here is Pauline Etienne who plays the daughter. She is unusual in that--unlike most young French actresses or young Hollywood actresses--she is a not a stunning beauty, but really a normal-looking girl. Still, that makes her very believable in this role, and she gives a very convincing performance. I just wish it wasn't in such a frustratingly ambiguous movie.

"Is it enough just to be in the present to be part of the present?"

This is the lesson sixteen year old Lucie will learn throughout the movie, untying herself from her father Hugo who is strictly bound to soil, disciplined man, cast aside away from civilization, decorating his life with natural beauty of French countyside. Hugo is a strong but broken man recently cheated and left by her wife.

Ève Deboise enjoys the comfort of an isolated set, and plot as well, like a drama piece ( probably this was put on theatre before), focusing on characters, getting a real help from mastery of Olivier Rabourdin (Hugo) and Florence Thomassin (Sonia), especially Olivier Rabourdin's acting is way above this movie's level.

Pauline Etienne (Lucie) establishes a warm natural and fluent aura, well contributes the intimacy of the story.

The director and producer being ladies, they put on stage a womanly perspective of existence and I believe ask sharp questions to a certain understanding of life.

A kinfd of movie always worth to see.