Rien à faire

The French, realistically-shot 1999 film "Rien à Faire" was broadcast on Norwegian television some weeks ago, and being a huge fan of French cinema I watched the film starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Patrick Dell' Isola. The leads performed very well, especially Tedeschi as the subdued, insecure Marie-Do. In fact, the film ultimately comes down to the acting, because director Vernoux to some degree fails to keep up interest throughout the (appr.) ninety minutes.

As a study of distinction in French society, though, this film has some relevance to the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. In the beginning of the film, Marie-Do and her family's tastes in food and wine are compared with those of Pierre (Dell' Isola), as the two meet randomly in a Supermarket. Pierre is the middle-class handsome man who meet a working-class woman without confidence. After a while, though, we learn that Marie-Do and Pierre share a common fate: They are both unemployed. They start hanging out during their empty days (a good English title!), and the viewers just wonder when the anticipated affair will set off. Although they are very different, they find things to talk about and develop a good friendship, before they begin having sex and it all falls apart. Marie is given much attention by Pierre, and as her husband is more concerned with union work and "the revolution" than with even seeing her for who she is, it it not so strange that she wants to have an affair. She is sadly ignored in her family life, and the affair only supplies her with more sympathy. For Pierre, though, the sympathy decreases as we learn he has been married before, and was unfaithful with his previous wife as well.

This is the type of film that cannot end well for both, and that is great, because it would never have worked out in real life, either. So I do not find the depressing theme disturbing, in fact it is the best part of the film, along with the acting. But it is at times unfocused and I feel it also is at times a bit misanthropic. But that might be my viewpoint, and not others'.

The plot is not original in the least. It's the story of a lonely woman who lives a boring life and who meets a man who is bored too, they are both unemployed and it seems to be the only thing they have in common. They have an affair, and finally he leaves her. And that's all. I have seen this kind of stories too many times. And it lasts almost 2 hours...

The first part of the film is quite good. As soon as they stay in the supermarket, Marie-Do and Pierre are really moving. It gets worse later.

Not because of the actor's performances, they're all quite good. Just that the second part leads much more place to the kind of "silent conversations" you can have with someone you love, and that only you and her/him can understand. What happens here is that we understand, but we're getting a bit bored by their meaningful looks without a sound. On the whole, it isn't bad, just disappointing to see the second part far behind the first one.

What a superb, moving, powerful little romance drama, so convincing in the performances as well in the acting. This kind of film is not ordinarily my stuff, but there I was purely astonished. It sounds so real, so authentic, showing ordinary people for ordinary situations. You can'y feel ice cold in front such a story. Not bankable actors but so great. It is so bittersweet, without being gloomy either. French movie industry is very rich when it comes to provide such movies. And Marion Vernoux the female director is a true sensitive film maker whose features are really riveting, worth the watching.

It's interesting that this wonderful film appears to have divided the handful of people who have chosen to comment on it. I suspect that those who found it boring and/or clichéd are the type of audience who are not prepared to open themselves to a film and allow it to reach them. Of COURSE we have been there before but where haven't we been before. There are a finite number of plots and an equally finite number of variations on a theme, which means, I seem to be saying rather often lately, that it's all in the wrist. It's what the scenarist, director and subsequently the actors DO with even the most hackneyed story that counts. What, for instance, could be more predictable than the outcome of 'Before Sunrise' after the first ten minutes; everyone and his Uncle Max could have taken it from there and been right on the money but in spite of that 'Before Sunrise' was and remains one of the most charming Romantic films of all time as does its sequel, 'Before Sunset', which is equally predictable. I have reached the stage where Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi can no longer astonish me with the brilliance of her acting. No one can do heartache quite like this most luminous of actresses or show us the unrealistic hope slowly festering in the glare of indifference. Once again she is perfectly cast as the neglected housewife and so accomplished is she that we can actually pinpoint the moment when her dull, gray and dim interior life is suddenly illuminated by a faint flicker of light as she dares to contemplate romance. Although she receives more than adequate support she walks away with the movie effortlessly. 9/10