La tête haute

One hates that universal truths are that, universal as seen in Standing Tall, a French tale of anguish & possible redemption of a youth in revolt. Seemingly Dardennesque (Jean & Luc, filmmakers who chronicle the working class of Belgium), we enter the dismaying world of a particular Parisian malcontent who begs for a hug or smack sometimes in the expanse of the same instance. With a supporting turn as a sympathetic judge from France's national treasure Catherine Deneuve, the plight of this teen plays across her weathered features as we wonder if he'll ever get his act together.

This film follows the journey, during a dozen years, of two people: Malony Ferrandot, a child who is definitely not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and Florence Blaque, a judge for juveniles, as firm as surprisingly empathetic. This film gives us the impression of being in a zoo, watching wild animals loosely left to themselves, with an inadequate security fence: at the slightest hitch, it's going down the crapper!

Around these two main characters, gravitate 1) Séverine, an immature and completely out of one's depth mother, 2) Yann, an educator certainly fragile but fundamentally benevolent and playing the role of a substitute father, and 3) Tess who is somehow a detonator in the life of Malony and makes him want to live as a mellowed man rather than survive like a wild animal.

These five characters are certainly caricatured and / or not very credible. Thus, Séverine, the mother, is a practical joke; Florence, the judge, is exceedingly benevolent and I sincerely doubt that this is so in the real life; Tess surprisingly falls in love with a teen as antisocial as loathsome; Malony is a tie-in product from the famous video game Grand Theft Auto Vice City. But, behind these five characters, there are five awesome actors illuminating this beautiful movie.

The story provokes compassion but shows quite a naive view of the nature of the society-individual conflict. Seems like the authors want to persuade us that love and forgiveness are the solution to everything. Hard to agree especially judging by the story they tell.

I certainly agree with the panning of this very intense film even though I gave it a high rating which I did because when it's good, it's very good - "intense" doesn't begin to approach how gripping this film and especially the performance of Paridot is. Granted though, the characters are one dimensional: they're either totally evil, total losers (like the mother) or possessed of angelic patience and calm. I'm a soft-hearted former teacher and believe in second chances but Malony gets one hundred and two and still screws up. I kept thinking as he messed up violently yet again that THIS was the time they'd throw away the key but no, "one more chance". Totally unrealistic and a vision of money wasting in the public sector that should be cut off tomorrow.

A six-year-old boy from a dysfunctional home is placed into care, develops serious emotional problems, and spends the next decade getting into trouble with the law while social welfare services fight to rehabilitate him.

La Tête Haute (Standing Tall) seems unremarkable when summarised like this, but it is actually a very compelling film - in large part due to the breakthrough performance of Rod Paradot who plays problem-child protagonist, Malony.

From his sneering disdain towards the Juvenile Court Judge portrayed by Catherine Deneuve, to the sheer physical embodiment of the mental demons that torture him, it is hard to believe that this is Paradot's first film; that he was a trainee carpenter waiting to be discovered just months before production began.

One very jarring aspect of this film is its tendency to exasperate the viewer. Quite often Malony will seem to be making progress only to sabotage it with a senseless act. It becomes repetitive but is almost certainly intended to project the child protection teams' frustrations onto the audience.

And here we find another trait that sets this apart from other recent French films concerned with the rehabilitation of troubled teenagers: It paints the Judge, the Social Worker and their colleagues in a more constructive and positive light. They are as frustrated with the system as the child, but their battle is with the confines and constraints that impede their ability to help him. They actually seem to care.

Very much recommended.