Emporte-moi

Set in 1963, Montreal, and fourteen year old Hanna, (Karine Vanasse), journeys through a bad patch in life. Her mum is mentally ill, her father is a dead end poet and her brother a little rebel but going through the same turmoil as she is. When reality fails you, you turn to the movies. In this instant, Hanna discovers Jean-Luc Godard's VIVRE SA VIE, a little gem about the exploits of a Parisian hooker, (Anna Karina). Taking on that film's persona to heighten her life, she falls into sexual misadventures. This all under the caring direction of Lea Pool, who throws in a few classic tunes of that era to brighten the mood.

This movie is just great!

It explores with subtlety the very complicated emotional relations between a young girl, her catholic depressive mother, her jewish father, her brother, her new "girl" friend. Entangled in her newborn exploding sexuality and her rebellious thoughts, she tries to deal with the great issues of life in 1963.

The acting is so precise and touching, and the direction, efficient and delicate, it's a must see movie. A great one.

If you're looking for an uplifting film, you won't find it here. Without knowing anything about the director, I'm assuming this movie is, at least somewhat, autobiographical. It feels extremely personal, and I did experience a sense of kinship in its coming-of-age elements.

I don't know how old the teenagers were during filming; but if made today and the lead actors were under 18 years of age, it's highly likely someone would be charged with a crime. Despite its exploitive moments, it does somehow capture the innocence of discovering physical affection during pubescence. Nothing explicit, mind you, but enough to make me uncomfortable--and rest assured, I'm no prude.

I definitely liked it, but I won't watch it again. Recommended only for film junkies.

Young Karine Vanasse is astounding. Her stillness, poise & expressiveness - combined with youthful yearning and curiosity - completely draw you in.

Pascale Bussières, as always, doesn't disappoint.

Lea Pool is a brillant director, but sometimes, her films are a little bit boring. But this one is absolutely her best work. A good story, a wonderful sense of image, and the actors are all very well directed. I think this is an effort for Pool to go mainstreem. But, for me, as an historian, this movie have big problems... The story is set in 1963 (the song Mockingbird, heard in the movie, tells me that.) The way Leo Pool describes Quebec society and the culture of the French Canadians of the time had nothing to do with 1963. It's all look like 1973-76. It had no historical respect of the facts of 1963. For example, Lea Pool shows us the Jean-Luc Godard movie Vivre sa vie, and the young Karine Vanasse identifies herself to Anna Karina in that movie. In the early sixties, most of the nouvelle vague French cinema (like this Godard film) were not released in Quebec. By that time, censorship was very strong and I'm sure that the prostitute character of miss Karina in that Godard film was banned from the Board of Censorship. The Godard movie is from 1962. By that time, French movies always takes three, and sometimes four years to get to Quebec's movie theatres. For me, it's impossible that this movie was shown in Quebec in 1963. Let's also say that in 1963, the legal age to go to a movie house was 16. But Karine Vanasse is 13 in that movie! Also, the way the father of Karine Vanasse wear his hairs is< absolutely 1973-75! The facts that most of the young girls wore trousers is also strange! So is the girl kissing Karine, her brother kissing her, in a so natural way is simply impossible. Lea Pool was born in Switzerland. She cames to Quebec en 1978. Critics says that Emporte-moi was about her life as a young teenager. It could be better if the film was set in Europe. In Europe, the Godard film was shown, the cultural aspects of the people were more liberal than in Quebec, who was still a very Catholic and conservative society, by that time. These little facts annoyed me. When you make a movie set in the past, it's very important to respect the period. Leo Pool didn't. I don't mean that Emporte-moi is a bad movie. Not at all! It's fanastic and young Karine is superb, so is the great Pascale Bussières (our best actress in Quebec and Canada.) But if an historian was part of the crew to tells miss Pool what's illogic, it could be a lot better.