Perseguidos por el destino

Love story between a crime gang member (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a younger upper-class girl (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who happens to be a racing driver.

It's essentially a drama with a little action, with the enjoyment largely depending on how much you care about its leads, who have made name for themselves in mostly French (language) movies.

"Le Fidèle" essentially echoes the "Romeo and Juliet" story where the two star-crossed people are divided by background but try to overcome their differences in the name of love.

The story is too shallow and straightforward to make a lasting impression but the charm of its stars just might - although the girl can become a bit annoying with her tendency to hold her mouth open like she was a young. early 2000's Angelina Jolie.

The international English title highlights one of them being a racedriver - the girl, in fact. Estonian title, "Võidusõitja ja võllaroog", is a direct translation from that, with a nice old-fashined choice of words to make it stand out a bit more.

But the original title meaning "loyal" or "faithful" is much better because:

(a) it closely follows the plot and tone, whereas the new titles makes one think of old French action comedies starring Jean-Paul Belmondo or something,

and (b) driving is actually a minor and essentially unimportant part of the experience. There's not even a standout car chase which would make sense in a story about criminal and a race driver

Actually, there's not much to say about the whole thing, especially if one tries to avoid spoilers. The general tone is dark, the stars are handsome and good enough actors to make the most of the material.

They have enough chemistry between them to generate some suspense but not enough to make the movie truly worthwhile.

"Le Fidèle" was Belgium's bet to bag a best foreign language movie Oscar this year but didn't make it among the five finalists to get nominated.

Taking risks makes some feel alive. Both Bibi and Gigi, a racecar driver and sophisticated thief, are the type. True to nature, they fall for each other on first sight and quickly dispense with the formalities. "Do not bring flowers," says Bibi. Not that she needed to warn him. Bibi and Gigi share a danger addiction. Distance feeds their adrenaline, and attraction. "Do not lie to me," warns Bibi, yet she cannot get enough of it. What attracts is also what tears apart. The poor one among them who fails to keep pace with the other, or who runs too far away! Please, I thought at the start, do not let Bibi rescue Gigi in a car at any point during the film. The more the premise of the film and the nature of the characters is revealed, the less one needs to worry about this. The Bibi/Gigi chemistry is palpable. The best part of the film is the tension between the main characters, waiting to see who is going to crack first. Matthias Schoenaerts (Gigi) is reunited with the director of Bullhead. Bullhead is darkly amazing, and it is where Schoenaerts achieved well deserved notoriety, but the duo did not repeat the magic here. More depth is needed to the plot, supporting characters, sound and cinematography. Seen at the Miami Film Festival.

Very good Belgian romantic drama about a couple that, despite loving each other deeply, have a bad fate and are very different: he is a great robber (who does not have the best relationship with dogs) and she is a rich car racer (her background is less important than his in the film). Acting is excelent (Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos also do work well together), script is quite good and it is very well directed. However, the very depressing end, while not being bad, it is clearly below the excellent level of most of the movie development.

The first hour was entertaining. The second wasn't. I already had some difficulties with plot choices in the first half, but the suspense was there to keep the plot moving and the chemistry between Gigi and Bibi was intriguing enough. In the second half I find some plot choices too ridiculous and it made me loose my interest in the way the characters handle them somewhat. The sense of time also becomes kind of weird. A lot of very dramatic events are packed into that last hour, but the intensity or heaviness of them doesn't seem to come across the way it should.

I loved Karatzanis' photography and the sound design as well.

This movie is definitelty worth the watch. I think it deserves it's rating on here at the time of this review (6.3).

Well ... It's a very well made film, with a great cast, lead and supporting; it does have a few less than believable aspects to the plot I must say. But the first part is sort of the car racing + heist film you were promised.

Anyway, yeah, the first part is fine - plenty of chemistry between Gigi and Bibi, lots of action, it looks like it's going somewhere ... and then where it goes is rather dark. And then from there, it turns utterly bleak. Forlorn, sad, depressing; you name it. I felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over me afterwards, and I'm surprised my dreams that night weren't darker than they were. I generally like noir, but this was a bit much for me. Some people have a higher tolerance for that sort of thing than I do though. C'est la vie.