Le fidèle

Gigi and Bibi. It sounds like two cartoon characters, but in fact they are the nicknames of Gino and Bénédicte, the two leads in Michael R. Roskam's new movie 'Le Fidèle'.

Already in the first five minutes of the film, Gigi and Bibi fall in love. This love affair is the main theme of the film. It's not an easy affair, since Bibi is the daughter of a wealthy business man, who supports her race car driving career, while Gigi doesn't have any relatives and earns a living by robbing banks and cash transit vans.

At first, Gigi hides his real occupation and pretends to be a car salesman. When he no longer can hide the truth, he is quick to point out that they both have a lot in common, in spite of their different backgrounds. He likes the risk-taking and the danger that comes with his job, exactly as she does with hers.

For Belgian moviegoers, the film has an extra appeal. Roskam has based his story on the lives of a well-known gang of criminals, who were household names in the 1990's. They captured the attention of the media and the public at large, because they combined extremely audacious and violent robberies with a glamorous lifestyle.

Roskam shows in this movie how such brutal criminals could at the same time be loving husbands and friends. Gigi loves Bibi, and he is extremely loyal to his criminal friends, but he has no respect for the feelings of his victims. Matthias Schoenaerts plays this complex character very convincingly, and Adèle Exarchopoulos is quite effective as the slightly naive girl whose love for Gigi is unconditional.

The last part of the film is different from the rest. The love affair, having been firmly established, is no longer the central theme. Instead, we see a quick succession of increasingly dramatic events, which sometimes feels a bit exaggerated. But the beautiful end scene compensates for this. This long take is technically simple, but very clever and creative from a cinematographic point of view. And the very last shot even more so. It's these kinds of scenes that show how original a film maker Roskam can be.

Well ... It's a very well made film, with a great cast, lead and supporting; it does have a few less than believable aspects to the plot I must say. But the first part is sort of the car racing + heist film you were promised.

Anyway, yeah, the first part is fine - plenty of chemistry between Gigi and Bibi, lots of action, it looks like it's going somewhere ... and then where it goes is rather dark. And then from there, it turns utterly bleak. Forlorn, sad, depressing; you name it. I felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over me afterwards, and I'm surprised my dreams that night weren't darker than they were. I generally like noir, but this was a bit much for me. Some people have a higher tolerance for that sort of thing than I do though. C'est la vie.

Very good Belgian romantic drama about a couple that, despite loving each other deeply, have a bad fate and are very different: he is a great robber (who does not have the best relationship with dogs) and she is a rich car racer (her background is less important than his in the film). Acting is excelent (Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos also do work well together), script is quite good and it is very well directed. However, the very depressing end, while not being bad, it is clearly below the excellent level of most of the movie development.

Love story between a crime gang member (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a younger upper-class girl (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who happens to be a racing driver.

It's essentially a drama with a little action, with the enjoyment largely depending on how much you care about its leads, who have made name for themselves in mostly French (language) movies.

"Le Fidèle" essentially echoes the "Romeo and Juliet" story where the two star-crossed people are divided by background but try to overcome their differences in the name of love.

The story is too shallow and straightforward to make a lasting impression but the charm of its stars just might - although the girl can become a bit annoying with her tendency to hold her mouth open like she was a young. early 2000's Angelina Jolie.

The international English title highlights one of them being a racedriver - the girl, in fact. Estonian title, "Võidusõitja ja võllaroog", is a direct translation from that, with a nice old-fashined choice of words to make it stand out a bit more.

But the original title meaning "loyal" or "faithful" is much better because:

(a) it closely follows the plot and tone, whereas the new titles makes one think of old French action comedies starring Jean-Paul Belmondo or something,

and (b) driving is actually a minor and essentially unimportant part of the experience. There's not even a standout car chase which would make sense in a story about criminal and a race driver

Actually, there's not much to say about the whole thing, especially if one tries to avoid spoilers. The general tone is dark, the stars are handsome and good enough actors to make the most of the material.

They have enough chemistry between them to generate some suspense but not enough to make the movie truly worthwhile.

"Le Fidèle" was Belgium's bet to bag a best foreign language movie Oscar this year but didn't make it among the five finalists to get nominated.

The first hour was entertaining. The second wasn't. I already had some difficulties with plot choices in the first half, but the suspense was there to keep the plot moving and the chemistry between Gigi and Bibi was intriguing enough. In the second half I find some plot choices too ridiculous and it made me loose my interest in the way the characters handle them somewhat. The sense of time also becomes kind of weird. A lot of very dramatic events are packed into that last hour, but the intensity or heaviness of them doesn't seem to come across the way it should.

I loved Karatzanis' photography and the sound design as well.

This movie is definitelty worth the watch. I think it deserves it's rating on here at the time of this review (6.3).