"La vallée des fous" ,like "albatros" " must have taken aback most of Xavier Beauvois's fans ; both his precedent efforts were either based on real facts ("des hommes et des dieux" ) or a depiction of an historic context (women replacing men gone to war)Jeremie Rénier ,one of the best European actors of our time , in a cesar-caliber performance ,underwent a complete metamorphosis in "Albatros" : from the dynamic self-assured policeman to a human wreck. The sea plays a prominent part in both movies ,real in "'albatros" ,virtual in "la vallée des fous"
Jean -Paul Rouve could be this human wreck depicted in " 'albatros" ;his restaurant is going downhill, his wife left him .It recalls Gerard Brach's "le bateau sur l'herbe"(1971) in which two boys were building a ship (on the grass) which was supposed to take them to Easter Island ;in "la vallée des fous" , the principal enrolls in virtual regatta Vendée -Globe :not only he stays in his garden but he also isolates himself from the rest of the world ,and ,extreme irony ,he communicates with his family -about 50 meters (0,027 nmile)away from him - via computer; alone ,he's often racked by his alcoholism ( a delirium tremens scene-,) and by despair. In parallel with his "voyage" , there's a colorful depiction of the restaurant (spot the director's cameo as "le nouveau chef" ) which is thriving again,after the son has taken it in hand ,with his organic food and sometimes fishy ways to get raw material ;so it's "albatros" in reverse :the human wreck becomes a self-confident man again .
Jean -Paul Rouve is excellent as the lead with fine support by old hand Pierre Richard (91) ,who actually risks death !I'd tone things a bit for the journalist's interventions which get in the way ,and the final obligatory song in English :why not a French song , universally known in France such as "Santiano " ,a cover of Odetta 's "Santy-Anno ,huh?
That said ,it's certainly one of the best French films of 2024.
