Un beau dimanche

Rarely do I feel puzzled after I had finished watching a movie. It is good, bad or in between, but rarely, or actually never I felt that I have been cheated on- i felt that it has not started yet. That 1 hour+ was just a prelude, the introduction and the promised entertainment have not began yet. It starts with a one plot line that develops into another seemingly foreign to the main idea of the film. Both plot lines are unbelievably weak, unrealistic, and boring, so cliché. The acting was not good either. The child actor could not deliver the performance. Neither did the 2 leading actors. Unpleasant surprise from a usually good French cinema.

As female directors make more and more their presence felt on the French scene , it's obvious that Nicole Garcia ,who is also a talented actress , is to be ranked among the finest film makers .If the word "auteur" is still relevant ,she is definitely so.

"Un Beau Dimanche" resumes two of her earlier subjects : the divorced couple , vying for their child was present in "Un Dimanche sur deux" ; as for the misfit, who cannot find his place in his family ,he was already in Garcia's most impressive achievement "l'Adversaire" :its hero was mentally-disturbed , freakish , deadpan when he committed the worst acts (Daniel Auteuil is unforgettable), and the façade showed the perfect family, but he was never part of it.

Baptiste is some kind of misfit too ,a nice guy ,unlike the monster of "l'adversaire" , but his bourgeois family was not prepared to accept his turning back from his bright prospects and had him institutionalized .....whereas ,in the viewer 's eyes ,he is perfectly sane ,as sane as the hero of Georges Franju' s "la tête contre les murs" (1960).

In its first part , "un beau dimanche" may disappoint because the screenwriters refuse to give us any information about Baptiste : a solitary man, who has chosen to be a substitute for grade school teachers ,whose relationship with his pupils seems excellent (the headmaster would like to keep him in his school); one of his students is torn between a violent father and an ex-drug- addicted mom (who is clean now),Sandra.

Baptiste and Sandra are world aparts :he is educated , we're told he studied in an American university ,she 's a waiter in a restaurant on the beach .But both are misfits , both are rejected by a wealthy family and a husband she should not have married in the first place.

The movie hits his stride in its second part,when they arrive in Baptiste's family's desirable mansion ,complete with pool and tennis court .Masterfully Garcia makes us feel her hero's uneasiness ; except maybe the mother (played by the marvelous Dominique Sanda who blows everyone off the screen when she is present ), no one shows some affection or emotion.

The apex is the meal they share in the park :a portrayal of a self-satisfied ,smug ,contemptous bourgeoisie , who uses the English language as snobbery , who despises this intruder whose place in no longer among them,the winners ;I would go as far as to write that Garcia beats Claude Chabrol at his own game in this field ; "why don't you make your nephews do a dictation ?"one of his despising brothers asks him : for those people "who make money ", being a teacher is a disgrace .Only the mother shows compassion ,tries to understand her son's (and also her late husband's) behavior : she's the only one who suffers from his going away ;the father was an ambiguous character : he' s responsible for his confinement ,but there's this unexpected map where all the places his son teaches are indicated .

As soon as his meets again his family ,we know that he is not welcomed as the prodigal son; the fatted calf ( the hefty sum he asks for Sandra ) leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth ; even Sandra 's boy cannot play with the children of the château: "they are cousins" says he ;but actually they are privileged brats who do not even know it's not so rosy outside their protected world.

A demanding work ,which confirms Garcia as a leading director.

seductive for cold atmosphere. for profound French story. for the science of Nicole Garcia to explore a delicate subject. for the slices of silence. for acting. and for the parts of story who are only the viewer's creation. a film about choices and about happiness. about family and errors. about freedom and love in a special manner. a film about honesty. Pierre Rocheford does a good work. not remarkable but useful for define his character in subtle way. he has the science of detail and the film explores not exactly a story but a state of soul. it is not a revelation and for the admirers of Nicole Garcia not a surprise. but it has coherence and delicate poetry of gestures. and that fact does it more than a good movie.

It's not mesmerizing at first, but it's certainly one of those formidable and accomplished movies that keep on growing with you. I was slightly upset with a couple of reviews from other readers: obviously anyone is entitled to their opinions but truly how could you say that the two leads are not great? I found both Louise Bourguin and the truly handsome and elegant, classy Pierre Rochefort to be highly commanding of their roles, giving to what lies on the script and to the almost restrained direction of the excellent Nicole Garcia, all the torment, all the despair and the romantic beauty of their protagonists adding with their profoundly affecting performances a lot of insight and mystery that adds up to the apparently simple yet increasingly complex narration a whole new dimension. What would seem to be a delicate, demure portrayal of some isolated, lonely, fascinating misfits during a crucial weekend, starts to unfold romantically first and surprisingly psychologically in the second greater act, as if the storytelling of a personal sadness, the tragedy of loneliness all of a sudden would turn up as evolving, always as elegant, and controlled, as it lays by its extremely refined, and, elaborate script, as an involving mystery thriller, not only so greatly giving a quick, but extremely touching portray of working France today, but, escalating its unexpected terrific climax, so perfectly designing France's boring and corrupted, scandalously detached and unkind upper class, outlining with bitter and frantic realism the story of one of those classic, wealthy, French families depicted with horrifying coldness and real dark tones. To notice here also the extraordinary contribution given to the story from the story main antagonist, a mysterious, enigmatic, still beautifully aged mother who keeps on living while trying to forget the cruelty of her family's rigid faith, sublime in this pivotal role the always extraordinary Dominique Sanda, who's been absent from the screen for at least a decade and has come back with a fantastic if perhaps overlooked screen role. Also, Deborah Francois as the hypocrite sister designs with a virtuoso performance a role filled with conformism, and, tormenting frustrations. Altogether a wonderfully accomplished, written, photographed, produced and directed film that reminds us always of at what high standards French Cinema stands sovereign today, presenting even, what could have been a much more simple romantic drama, with deeply insightful, and, darkly mysterious tones, providing realistic social commentary, and, sublime character's development, rapidly contributing to an always tense and entertaining narrative that is also always cinematic, a it never gets sappy nor drawn or obsolete, as many American movies can so easily be today, but, manages to stay realistically appointed, avoiding melodrama, with its excellent production value, and a never less than compelling, increasingly satisfying atmosphere, which is a true gift to an emblematic tale of love and loss, while also clearly advocating a more adult way to cope while learning of letting go of what is so hostile, and, dangerously indifferent to someone's individuality, and sensibility . I deeply enjoyed, and highly recommend this wonderfully shot and brilliantly scripted and acted movie!