Quattro vite

Frankly its very annoying movie. You will not understand anything. Excepted the brilliant and sexy Adèle Exarchopoulos this movie really suck. Its pleasure to see her playing and moving anyway but all other actor are really out. Trust me this is a worse movie "à la française" with no beginning and no end, a very uninteresting story. Go outside playing with your kids your dog you will have better life moment than this scrap movie.

I'm watching this on Mubi in the UK and I have to admit that I have pretty much no idea what is happening at any point. There seem to be several separate films joined together for no reason. Despite the cast including several of my favourite actors, I'm constantly on the verge of abandoning it. It's not like there is anyone to get attached to or sympathise with, and I can't see any connection between the episodes aside from guest appearances by certain characters. I'm giving it 5 out of 10 as a sympathy vote as I think I'm probably missing something. Finally, for character length, it's interesting and refreshing to find Gemma Arterton in a French film.

This could have been superb, but films with fragmented nonlinear timelines require more care to tie the pieces together than we receive in Orphan. It's a drama depicting major traumas in one character's life, but in reverse time order, inside a wrapper that begins and ends in current times.

Portrayal of the progressively younger main character Renée/Sandra/Karine by Adèle Haenel, Adèle Exarchapoulos, and Solène Rigot were excellent as expected, and young Vega Cuzytek played the child version, Kiki, with skill far beyond her years. Technical aspects of the film were fine.

But completely lacking is anything that provides a causal link from Kiki's experience to her mindset and behavior as Karine. I interpreted Kiki's trauma as one of misadventure, and not one in which blame is due. Nothing in the film shows otherwise. And the drastic change in personality and behavior of her father is given unacceptably short shrift. The end of Karine's tale, her transition to Sandra, and the transition from Sandra to Renée also could have been depicted more explicitly, but the gist should suffice.

Other than that, once viewers understand that these women and girl are the same person, the film is accessible. And unlike some folks, I interpreted the final scene as redemptive, with Renée facing up to what is required of her while having hope and honest intent to return to her newest responsibility when she can.

It's worth watching!

The film was a Different incarnations of one woman are drawn into a dark vortex of sex, gambling, and crime in this shape-shifting, seductive French drama. Starring alongside Gemma Arterton and Adèle Haenel as one of four faces of mysterious femininity, Adèle Exarchopoulos is as beguiling as ever. Synopsis Four moments in the lives of four female characters. Little Kiki plays a game of hide and seek that turns into tragedy. Karine's teenage years are full of men and mishaps. Young Sandra moves to Paris and has a brush with disaster. Finally, the grown-up Renée thinks she is safe from her past, I love it.

Indeed we have 3 out of 4 good stories in this movie. Unfortunately my favourite beauties/actresses of this ensamble (A. Exarchopoulos and G. Arterton) got the bad one with a terrible script/direction: confusing while paradoxically serving more as the link among the stories than as a (good) story itself. Paradoxically, because it should be the part that gives consistency to the plot, but it's the opposite.

Why x did that? And what happened to y? Why? It's better you don't ask yourself too many questions because you won't get an answer from the movie, resulting in a general detachment from what you see.

3 stories out of 4 are nonetheless potentially good/great (Orpheline refers to their uncertain origin I guess?), with good or even great acting (A. Haenel giving birth scene is a must watch) but they are too short and underdeveloped.

Pity because - as a lover of women - I would really like to give a higher vote.

And it's not simply a matter of screenplay: it has nothing relevant going on and the characters aren't certainly intellectuals! Any line can be changed in a thousand ways and nothing would really improve-worsen.

I blame instead the director who could not recognize how bad the final result is compared to the potential he had in his hands in terms of plot and cast. He could have gotten away with a 4 hours version (1 hour per actress) but as it is it's just a curiosity and a fan-watch.