Continuer

Keep Going (Continuer): A French/Russian mother Sybille (Virginie Efira) and her 18 year old French son Samuel (Kacey Mottet-Klein) ride on horseback through the hills and steppe of Kyrgyzstan. It is an attempt by the mother to reconnect with her son but there is much tension and even violence between them. The reason for his surliness and the mother's story gradually unfolds. While there is some very good acting by the pair the real stars of the film are the horses and the wide open vistas of the Steppe. Not an unchanging panorama though, they move through scrub grass to rock, to semi-desert and wade through rivers with forested hills in the background.

They face danger not just from other people but also from the physical environment which they traverse. Mud holes in a river and even wolves howling in the distance at night pose actual and potential threats. There is also a sense of time moving on - Sybilles father used to organise horse treks through the area but now tourists journey across the Steppe in four wheel drive vehicles. Director/Co-writer Joachim Lafosse and cinematographer Jean-Francois Hensgens have delivered an engaging account of the crossing a beautiful but challenging countryside. The story may seem slight but at a running time of 84 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome. 8/10.

Like "l'année polaire" , "continuer " takes us far away from the feel good French cinema and far from the unmpteeth children/parents reunion,some bourgeois who did their way of life but always complain .

Filmed in the wild plains of Kirghizistan, in a world where there are no computers,no bathrooms ,and where sometimes you have to use a gun , in this modern "western ".Both principals' enemy is themselves yet ,as they ride on their saddles across magnificent landscapes.

In the first scenes ,Sam calls Sybil by her first name and we believe they are a couple whose marriage is on the rocks; Sybil speaks Russian and Sam does not ;he feels humiliated and during the frugal meal in the modest home in the middle of nowhere ,he shows his contempt for those peasant people .A violent verbal quarrel follows and one feels how immature Samuel is :a grown-up kid.

The only interest they share is their love for horses: for it is a horse trek ,which means they may need blacksmiths ; vet surgeons are absent.But without science ,these people "have their way with horses ; they are sacred animals for them" However, Sam 'most precious piece of luggage is his ipod,his only connection with what he calls civilization :when he loses it,his despair knows no bounds ;he's afraid to sleep alone in his tent because there may be a lizard (or is -it a snake?) in it.And he shouts when his mom does not want to use her mobile.

Hadn't it been for Sybil ,he would never set out upon this challenging trek ;the only moment when he shows himself an adult is when he gets rid of the horses thieves ,but he does it at the point of a gun.(a gift from the natives)

Sybil has something to be guilty of too: she thinks she's never been a good mother : her self-confidence ,her ability to speak a foreign language in this Asian country which covers a large deserted area where her son is like a little child : a wonderful sequence shows the boy in the distance ,no bigger than a pinhead ,listening to funk music which seems exotic in these faraway plains.Her strength cuts both ways : he may feel like a sissy.

But when they break into Pierre Perret's warm song which goes like this :" don't worry ,my pet, don't cry,c'est la vie", something has begun :both reassure each other.

Life is worth living ,and we've got to carry on.