État des lieux

"Etat des lieux" belongs to the "genre" of french realist cinema that takes as subject the country's inner cities (banlieues). The most famous of this set of films is undoubtedly Mathieu Kassovitz's "Hate", but "Etat des lieux" is probably the most intriguing on several accounts. Firstly, if this means anything, it is the only film actually made by someone from the inner cities. Secondly, it is striking because of two contradictory aspects. On the one hand it is filmed in a naturalistic, quasi-documentary manner resembling the social realist films of the british. On the other hand, it is a very demonstrative film, and the message put over is clearly a traditional Marxist one. A message driven home by the politically aware hero, factory worker Pierre Seface and by performances of the french rap group "Assassin". Filmed with a low budget, "Etat des lieux" is as winning in its humanity and realism as it is heavy in its more dogmatic moments. However, sometimes filmed with references to soviet revolutionary cinema, "Etat des lieux" comes across as something fresh and angry, denouncing the daily alienation of the working-man and the tedium of the consumer society.

Lame and didactic too. But a realistic portrait of the nineties society, and human behavior. Semi documentary mixed-up with fiction. There is no real story, no real plot line, and we could put it between MA 6T VA CRACK-ER made two years later by the same director, and also LA HAINE, made in 1995. It is a social satyre drama, showing people in revolt with the system and somewhere taking advantage of it too. Patrick Del Isola is excellent in the lead role. And I was so surprised to see Marc De Jonge - a famous French villain roles actor from the seventies and eighties, who played in RAMBO 3 as the villain in chief - Marc de Jonge playing in such a small budget film, and in a so short scene. I could habe done it....

Still waiting for more ! ! ! ....I went to see this film in France because of the great reviews it got -- It plunged me me back into the kind of French Cinema that I have always loved ( even before I learned French )....with Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura, Alain Delon and the like. This particular film has very much the same pace and rare flamboyance as all the old wonders of French Cinema that far too many of us Americans have yet to discover; I strongly suggest that you start with this one and work your way back in time. Once you manage to get used to this different way of looking at things through the eye of a French film maker- a whole new world is yours to discover; a whole new way of looking at things--I have never regretted going to black and white films or reading sub-titles- Enriching experiences are well worth a little effort - after a movie or two , it's not even that-- Start with "État des Lieux " and work back- then see it a second time ! You will see that it has not changed: you have...