Regarde les hommes tomber

Two veteran stars bring weight to this grimy little drama with an unusual flashback structure - along with laconic captions - which despite the gorgeous Bulle Ogier appearing fleetingly as Jean Yanne's wife has strongly if unresolved homoerotic overtones.

Yanne, who serves as the film's weary cornerstone, sports a scruffy beard that makes him resemble Akim Tamiroff, who wouldn't have been at all out of place in the grungy urban hell director Jacques Audiard makes of modern Paris.

I have a deep relationship with this film, which I discovered when it was released in 1994, and which for me, embodies and represents France better than any other film. It's something intangible, which resides in the realistic settings and the often very funny dialogues. 'See How They Fall', THIS IS France. Watching it again today for the umpteenth time, I am still impressed by its intoxicating visual, sound and narrative virtuosity, almost out of place for a debut film. Everything comes together perfectly: a scenario expertly exploiting two different temporal narrative lines before bringing them together, elaborated staging/editing effects, dialogues subtly playing on repetition, prodigious actor performances (Trintignant, Yanne , Kassovitz...), the music of Alexandre Desplat in tune with all this... An absolute miracle of a film by an almost reluctant filmmaker.

I just watched this last night, having been very intrigued by Audiard's other works, esp.the brilliant and somewhat indescribable Read My Lips. See How They Fall was indeed one of the more unusual stories I have seen in film. While the story has 4 main characters, it is the two most unassuming characters that anchor and propel the film. One is an over-the-hill depressive teddy bear of a salesman, Yanne. The other is a mentally slow/mentally challenged grown up child, Kassovitz. The former is searching for his only friend's killer; the latter is a puppy dog follower of a seedy petty criminal, Trintignant. (I've never seen Tr. in this kind of role. He is extremely convincing and completely revolting.) Most of the film builds the back story and follows the lives of the 2 pairs of friends. There are certainly elements of Midnight Cowboy and Of Mice and Men, but I was very pleased to see that the stories have many unexpected elements, mostly to do with Yanne, as he gradually leaves behind everything familiar to him and 'becomes' the quest to find his friend's killer. He moves obsequiously and with ease through worlds completely foreign to him, and the viewer's empathy is gradually drawn into the essence of who he is. One completely believes that he is who he is playing, and the same is true of Trintignant and Kassovitz.

The film's resolution occurs close to the end, when the 2 stories intersect. Before this, the film would have been greatly improved if 30% of it had been edited out, but the film's resolution is quick and perfect, like a gentle but effective 1-2 punch. In both Read My Lips and See How They Fall, Audiard shows a very unique way with unusual characters and their just-as-unusual stories. Both films are relatively quiet and contemplative, and the many silences lull the viewer into a distinct internal rhythm. Long after the films have ended, this rhythm stays on.

This noir character study uses the plot only as a vehicle to explore its protagonists' world. Although it's an honest attempt and the actors do very well (Trintignant is a personal favorite anyway), the pace is too slow and tiring and the lack of action sometimes becomes evident. Sometimes words cannot generate interest by themselves.

The very structure of the movie was original.Two apparently distinct plots .

One concerns two guys:Jean Yanne and his friend Mickey who has just been very seriously injured (gangland killing?).He is lying brain dead in a gloomy hospital and his friend keeps on talking to him.

The other one concerns two other guys:Trintignant and Kassovitz.The former spends most of his time with women -although the film has gay accents - ,the latter is a half-wit who has never sex and seems to be the pain in the neck for his mate.

This is par excellence the kind of movie the French critics love: a vague ambiguous screenplay,"deep " "meaningful" frames of mind and even pieces of information in the silent movies tradition.This is also par excellence the kind of movie which makes lots of people take to their heels when they hear about French movies.

Assets: All that concerns the first two guys is in the present tense.The adventures of the two others are a long flashback.Jean Yanne gives a strong performance as a jaded desperate man who's lost his last reason to live.On the other hand ,Trintignant overacts and,for the first time in his brilliant career ,is almost unbearable.

More pretentious than really exciting.