Pacifiction

Having seen Liberte, I was somewhat ready for the longeurs in this, and the prioritisation of mood over drama and plot.

However, there is a plot of sorts (and even several groups of "plotters" if you go along with the nuclear context and the local determinists) and even a conclusion - no matter how much one might be hoping for something more dramatic. Whether the improvisation-heavy dialogue helps is a moot point.

I've never been to the island in question, but can easily visualise the it's-always-cocktail-time mood and surfeit of ennui that comes across here, making me sorry for everyone trapped in this environment.

Not recommended, as such, but interesting.

One of those movies that has raving critic reviews but where the audience just doesn't seem to like it.

The movie didn't work for me. I enjoyed the beautful locations and the mood. The acting was good. But the plot just didn't go anywhere. Some scenes seemed to go on forever without adding anything to the movie. I kept up for about an hour and then I just started daydreaming.

When I left the cinema, someone was complaining to me in the bathroom that it was such a bad movie. Another movie-goer put it nicely when walking out the doors: "well, this was 3 hours of my life I'm never getting back".

I was bored today and decided to look up the most recent Cesar Award nominees and winners. That's how I ended up with this "motion picture" and I decided to go ahead to see it because I WRONGLY thought i would be thrilled for the 2hrs45mins but Alas!, tis was not to be.

It should have been made into a documentary enlightening viewers of the French nuclear tests that were conducted in Mururoa and the physical and environmental consequences that followed. Rather than making this a feature length film and putting us through this travesty. My rating is this high only because of the scenery.

It felt like a bad April fools day prank.

Benoît Magimel is the easy going French High Commissioner "De Roller". Charged with representing the French Government on it's Polynesian outpost of Tahiti where he travels the island in his chauffeur driven Mercedes glad-handing and pretty much going from party to party. The arrival of an admiral (Marc Susini) and some rather hunky sailors on his island soon has tongues wagging, though. Before he knows it, his placid existence is being disturbed by increasingly popular - and disturbing - rumours that the French are to restart nuclear weapons testing nearby. Of course he is assured not, and makes similar assurances to the population himself, but when local girls start to go missing the presence of the military and a general sentiment amongst the locals seems to encourage a view that it's time to assert their own independence. This creates more problems that begin to cause our diplomatic quite an headache. Can he sort it all out? Is there even anything to sort out? The thing with this film is that it is far, far too long. The story could easily lose an hour and no harm would be done. The plot, political mischief and island intrigues, would benefit from that tightening up too - perhaps sparing us from the many shots of his car! Magimel delivers an efficient characterisation here, but he is largely left to his own devices as the supporting cast struggle to build upon a rather thin storyline that needed a bit more shoring up to sustain the interest as it rambled on. It has it's moments, but sadly just not enough of them. Oh, and it's pretty wet down there!

Great contemplative film that carries something from Apocalypse Now without apocalypse (unless it's the ghostly presence of Marlon Brando playing tricks on me) and Below the Volcano. A port, a nightclub, the sea, sailors, dancers, receptions - all elements linked by Benoît Magimel. It's a poisonous film whose motives (a submarine, a rumour, political and social relations, violence, colonization, etc.) initiated do not give any tension to the film (it's not a thriller as it has been written), the film is on the contrary a sort of stable state, stirred by waves. The photography is sublime. A magnificent film.