Outremer

A rather show film about people who are not very likeable, but whose lives have interest and value. Through flash back the stories of three sisters are told; each different, each with both good and bad qualities, but each very real and very human. Of particular interest is the colonialist point of view relative the the Algerian war. These people do not consider that they are interlopers. The sisters were born there -- it is their home. In historic context France was a corrupt colonial power but this is a story on more human terms not terribly interested in geo political lessons. This is a film that will require that the viewer think. If you are a car chase, blow-em-up, blood spattered on the wall junkie, save your time and money. Don't rent this one. That way you won't have to turn your head on.

The most effective movies don't always call attention to themselves, and this excellent, if sometimes difficult, French import is a perfect case in point. The choppy continuity and haphazard chronology demand more than a little patience, challenging viewers to follow a story which jumps back and forth over several decades without allowing any time to assimilate the characters: three sisters living in French Algeria (one of them played by the director herself), whose gradually disintegrating lives parallel the decline of French influence in the region. But stick with it long enough and the disjointed design gradually coheres into a deliberate structure, repeating (Rashomon-like) key moments of the story from the point of view of each sister, and revealing a little more detail and meaning with each repetition. Writer-director Brigitte Rouan adds some astute criticisms of French colonialism, which can easily be applied to any empire-building nation (including our own). Moviegoers accustomed to having their hand held might want to steer clear: the film is complex, subtle, and understated to an extreme.

This was a pretentious and idiotic film. The women are all foolish nutcases waiting for white knights -- and the men are drones. The writing is banal, the politics simplistic and dull (making the Algerian war dull is like making the Mona Lisa look like a Hallmark greeting card). Stay away, stay far far away.