Emporte-moi

Lea Pool is a brillant director, but sometimes, her films are a little bit boring. But this one is absolutely her best work. A good story, a wonderful sense of image, and the actors are all very well directed. I think this is an effort for Pool to go mainstreem. But, for me, as an historian, this movie have big problems... The story is set in 1963 (the song Mockingbird, heard in the movie, tells me that.) The way Leo Pool describes Quebec society and the culture of the French Canadians of the time had nothing to do with 1963. It's all look like 1973-76. It had no historical respect of the facts of 1963. For example, Lea Pool shows us the Jean-Luc Godard movie Vivre sa vie, and the young Karine Vanasse identifies herself to Anna Karina in that movie. In the early sixties, most of the nouvelle vague French cinema (like this Godard film) were not released in Quebec. By that time, censorship was very strong and I'm sure that the prostitute character of miss Karina in that Godard film was banned from the Board of Censorship. The Godard movie is from 1962. By that time, French movies always takes three, and sometimes four years to get to Quebec's movie theatres. For me, it's impossible that this movie was shown in Quebec in 1963. Let's also say that in 1963, the legal age to go to a movie house was 16. But Karine Vanasse is 13 in that movie! Also, the way the father of Karine Vanasse wear his hairs is< absolutely 1973-75! The facts that most of the young girls wore trousers is also strange! So is the girl kissing Karine, her brother kissing her, in a so natural way is simply impossible. Lea Pool was born in Switzerland. She cames to Quebec en 1978. Critics says that Emporte-moi was about her life as a young teenager. It could be better if the film was set in Europe. In Europe, the Godard film was shown, the cultural aspects of the people were more liberal than in Quebec, who was still a very Catholic and conservative society, by that time. These little facts annoyed me. When you make a movie set in the past, it's very important to respect the period. Leo Pool didn't. I don't mean that Emporte-moi is a bad movie. Not at all! It's fanastic and young Karine is superb, so is the great Pascale Bussières (our best actress in Quebec and Canada.) But if an historian was part of the crew to tells miss Pool what's illogic, it could be a lot better.

This is a sometimes touching, sometimes disturbing, and sometimes funny look at a girl's transition from childhood to womanhood. Hanna's (the main character) life story closely mirrors the development of Quebecois society, and the film's 1963 setting furthers that idea. Hanna is caught between her father's Jewish background and her mother's traditional, Catholic upbringing. She spends her summers in rural Quebec while living in the rapidly changing city of Montreal. Also, she is influenced by Jean-Luc Godard's now-classic Vivre sa vie, and Hanna attempts to emulate the behaviours of that film's prostitute protagonist. This is a film very concerned with the beauty of self-expression while also acknowledging the challenges such pursuits present to us all (seen especially in the father's tormented dream of being a poet). Though the film deals with some very traumatic subject matters, it also leaves us with a glimmer of hope that is beautiful in its ambiguity.

Lea Pool's direction wavers between high degrees of realism and stunning experimental styles, and she weaves them together seamlessly to reflect Hanna's state of mind. Lovers of classical cinema will certainly enjoy this film. Some of the camera work--such as the film's opening few minutes, and Hanna's flight through the streets of Montreal--are nothing short of spectacular.

Finally, the acting of the film's central three characters (Hanna, her father, and her mother) is exceptional. Hanna's exchanges with her exhausted mother are genuine and heartfelt, while the fits of rage directed toward her father are equally so. Both parents play their roles with enough pathos to be convincing, but they stay well away from overacting or exceeding what the script requires of them.

Young people may struggle to identify with the themes of the film, but a slightly older audience will certainly be left with much to reflect upon.

Excellent coming-of-age story. It feels really lived in. I'm not sure if it's autobiographical, but it sure feels like it. Karine Vanasse plays 13 year-old Hanna, a girl from Montreal with kind of a rough family life. Her parents are unmarried and poor, and along with her older brother they all live in a cramped apartment. Hanna falls in love with Godard's Vivre sa vie, and inspired by it, she is led down a dangerous path. As you might expect with the genre, there are moments of joy along with the pain. Novelist Nancy Huston plays Hanna's teacher, who reminds her of Anna Karina - she looks so much like Karina I spent the whole movie thinking it was her. The only big problem of the film is that Vanasse is not convincing as a 13 year-old - the actress is a couple of years older than that, and looks it. She is very good, though, as an actress.

If you're looking for an uplifting film, you won't find it here. Without knowing anything about the director, I'm assuming this movie is, at least somewhat, autobiographical. It feels extremely personal, and I did experience a sense of kinship in its coming-of-age elements.

I don't know how old the teenagers were during filming; but if made today and the lead actors were under 18 years of age, it's highly likely someone would be charged with a crime. Despite its exploitive moments, it does somehow capture the innocence of discovering physical affection during pubescence. Nothing explicit, mind you, but enough to make me uncomfortable--and rest assured, I'm no prude.

I definitely liked it, but I won't watch it again. Recommended only for film junkies.

Young Karine Vanasse is astounding. Her stillness, poise & expressiveness - combined with youthful yearning and curiosity - completely draw you in.

Pascale Bussières, as always, doesn't disappoint.