UV

With every movie that he makes, Jacques Dutronc emerges ever more clearly as a Gallic Bryan Ferry. The accomplished singer-composer and César-winning actor moves through this movie with the weatherbeaten grace of a retired crook who has seen it all. A self-confined prisoner of his minimalistic sea-side mansion, he watches helplessly as his spoiled kids repeat the mistakes of the past in a classy peepshow of bodies and souls. With "UV", you get three movies at the price of one. It is a thriller embedded in a family drama with the visual appeal of a poolside cocktail commercial. Those of you who don't turn a blind eye on female allure will be pleased to find the girls (Laura Smet, Anne Caillon) tanning topless on-screen where they are wearing bikini tops in the production stills. Cinematographer Diego Martínez Vignatti makes ample use of overexposure, creating a glimmering visual equivalent of the Mediterranean mid-summer heat.

So the movie begins with a long shot ... this shot reveals to us two women sunbathing, without their bikini top on ... or half naked if you will. A beautiful (anamorphic) site, that starts off the movie with a quiet bang!

At least for the lovers of the female body that is ... So can a movie that starts off like this disappoint? This kind of can. It's not that it's bad and I even like the fact, that it's not predictable. You never know in which direction it will go. More drama, more action (although not so much action found here, to say the least), more thriller, more naked women? It's difficult and quirky, but can never achieve to combine all the things, it wants to show us ... a shame then for the good beginning ... ;o)