La répétition

A film with an unaffected, to-the-point direction, a sensitive, penetrating story and first-rate interpretations from actresses who I, for one,would care not to see weeping, statuette-in-hand,thanking the Academy, the Nation, their great-grandmothers and uncle Oscar. "La repetition", along with "La pianiste" and "Irreversible" (all three -by coincidence?- french-speaking), was an oasis in a series of routine films, which I saw recently. Those of you who have had enough of visual effects and the garrulity of films which have actually nothing to say may as well turn to films like "La repetition", which succeeds in making a point even when it remains silent. I am now looking for director Corsini's other films, and I am only too curious to find out how some other director, who will also reflect upon the subject of a woman's love for another woman, will deal with it.

The story draws a lot from movies such as Single White Female and "Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien", except that none of the drama that these two movies contain is present : no murder or madness here, everything is strictly psychological. When ending credits starts rolling, this gives the impression that the movie has been really pointless. Acting is very good though.

To list everything that is right about this film would take forever. The cast, the performances, the direction, the cinematography are all first rate, it looks good and is well-packaged. BUT! There is something frustratingly unsatisfying, or I should say a number of somethings, which combine to bring down what would otherwise be a terrific film. On the most superficial level the lack of any sympathetic characters makes it difficult like this film, but having watched it a second time it became clear that this was intentional with the characters' flaws being the basis of the drama. This however raises a second problem as a very thin plot has to be spun out using characters that the audience care nothing about. The script itself is clunky (Both with and without subtitles!)and this makes La Repetition ultimately a poor film that might so easily have been a triumph. It is baffling that so many talented people should have looked at this script and thought that it could have worked. Perhaps one day someone will remake this film with a decent script.

A moody bisexual actress and a suicidal lesbian dentist walk into a bar...no, unfortunately this is not a comedy. The two women, who have been friends since childhood, break up for reasons that are unclear. Then they get back together. Then they break up for reasons that are unclear. Then they get back together. La Rinse. La Repeat. This may well be the most mind-numbingly boring film ever to come out of France. Beart plays a stage actress who has no acting talent and who apparently acts in some of the worst plays ever written. At one point she develops a belly ache, but sadly no alien pops out of her stomach to breathe some life into this plot less snooze-fest.

How not to think of Herbert Ross's "the turning point" where Ann Bancroft fulfilled her ambitions when her friend Shirley McLaine became a housewife?Okay,the French movie has the lesbian side but even that has become so natural now (remember Claude Chabrol's "les biches" ,1967).But whereas Herbert Ross's story was interesting and entertaining,Catherine Corsini's work is stodgy ,pretentious,cold and so intellectual it's sometimes unbearable .It makes me think of the worst hour of the nouvelle vague.Sure Emmanuelle Beart is a beautiful actress,but elsewhere .Pick up Claude Chabrol's "l'enfer" or FRançois Ozon's "8 femmes "instead.Or De Palma's "Mission :Impossible" for those whose tastes run that way.