Un monde sans pitié

Although its title in the original French translates as "A World Without Pity", the amended LOVE WITHOUT PITY is, at the very least, appropriate as this is clearly a story of love, with an emphasis upon its most romantic components: elemental passion, fidelity, unbridled insecurity, and physical enchantment. Director Eric Rochant skillfully treats these ingredients in singularly perceptive fashion, converting his own screenplay into a thoroughly interesting piece as he creates an atmosphere of naturalism amid intricate relationships of Parisian characters of whom the City itself is a principal. Hippolyte Girardot plays as Hippo, an unemployed man living with his younger brother who is supporting them by selling drugs, while the unaspiring Hippo, a postmodern type of Existentialist, devotes most of his time to loafing about, and the seduction of women for whom he has no actual concern or interest. His indolent life is altered when he meets Nathalie (Mireille Perrier), a beautiful and industrious graduate student who falls prey to Hippo's ardent blandishments, and as their relationship nears a decisive point of potential compromise, each must make a decision that will affect both of their futures. Rochant's scripting and direction astutely depict the interlaced lives of the lovers, convincingly detailing changes that the pair undergoes during the course of the affair of the heart, while a cleverly crafted score from Gérard Torikian and creative interior designing by Thierry François add to this most pleasing film, merely one from a time burnished tradition of French romantic works. The entire cast performs capably, Girardot being obviously engaged with his role, while the expressive Perrier earns the acting laurels here for her nuanced performance as an intelligent woman whose intensity of feeling for her lover propels her into conflict with her established judgement, and towards a most satisfactory climax.

In A World without Pity, Hippolyte Girodet plays a charming twenty-something slacker named Hippo who lives with his younger brother, Xavier (Jean-Marie Rollin), in their large noise pit of an apartment near the Sorbonne. Every night's a party, while afterward they recover for the next night's crowd. Xavier pays the bills by selling soft drugs and, flunking out of school, he's uncommitted to his loyal and good-looking girlfriend Adeline (Anne Kessler). Hippo had a past life where he got his degree, installed TV antennas and dated a brittle Francine (Cecile Mazan). He's a perfect nobody who flirts in the Paris streets of the sixth arrondissement and waxes morose about life's meaning as a modern bohemian. He drives a broken down and perhaps stolen jalopy. He takes in his best friend Halpern (Ivan Attal) who was just kicked out of his apartment by his former girlfriend who yells through the intercom that he's completely irresponsible.

By chance Hippo meets Nathalie (Mireille Perrier), a young Ashkenazi Jew, who is matriculating at the Sorbonne and works as a Russian translator. He pursues her with charm, smoking cigarettes, vulnerable but determined. He's outside a Paris nightclub, at the Sorbonne, showing up at her work. She is perhaps the perfect opposite of Hippo - industrious and committed to her career. One of the movie's strengths is its honesty in depicting their different lives and the conflict their various outlooks naturally provoke. But when they are together their attraction is palpably steamy, as well as frustrating for neither seems to fit the other's preconceived expectations for a lover. The movie follows this unlikely love affair in the context of their very different lives and the question is posed whether passion, attraction and love is enough to conquer in this world.

The movie is populated by very attractive French actors and the story follows daily life in the student quarter. We are introduced to the meter man who shows up early one morning at the brothers' apartment after a long night of partying; we meet their parents who are sympathetic and pathetic; we meet Francine who plays the role of the slightly vengeful and sharp former girlfriend who Hippo seeks out on the rebound. In the end, Hippo is confronted by circumstances no longer under his own passive and pathetic control but, in a very real and not completely unbelievable way, learns to cope with the differences between himself and the woman he must love.

Hippo and Nathalie, an unlikely couple in Paris. She is a top gun student. He resembles a loser. So different... Actually, really different? This is what Eric Rochant portrays brilliantly in one of his early movies. On one side stands Society with its practical and economical rules. On the other side is life, simply. Love, tricks to subsist in a society obsessed with the economy. Will Hippo success in his attempt to bring Nathalie closer to his simpler life?

A more direct translation of the French title is 'A World Without Pity', which at least describes something of writer director Eric Rochant's weakness for adolescent angst. The film is a transparent, third-person romantic daydream about a neo-bohemian Paris dropout pursuing a beautiful, intellectual bookworm, eventually winning her affection because (apparently) his conceited arrogance is meant to represent an almost an irresistible magnetic charm. What she sees in him is anyone's guess: it would be hard to imagine a more unlikable hero in a more illogical relationship, and character motivation is not one of Rochant's more pressing concerns. It's all very pretty to look at, but underneath all the glossy camouflage is just another empty urban romance, with no real story and, despite the title (either one) with a level of self-pity approaching self-abuse.

The film shows the relationship between an unemployed young man (Hippolyte Girardot) and a university student (Mireille Perrier). The story is told from the point of view of Hippo, who has chosen not to get a job but to live off the proceeds of his younger brother's drug dealing. Despite this questionable approach to life the director treats him as a sympathetic character and is aided in this by Girardot playing him as a cool individual. This is contrasted with the character of Nathalie who is regarded as working too hard rather than enjoying her youth. The film has the feel of a romantic comedy, although what comedy there is is at the expense of the female characters and any figures of authority that cross the brothers' path. Ivan Attal gives good support as Hippo's best friend. Overall I found it an entertaining 90 minutes not to be taken too seriously.