Revoir Paris

When unknown gunmen enter a Parisian restaurant and start shooting people that were enjoying their evening soirée, innocent lives are lost and the lives of those who survived are altered forever. Winocur's film portrays an already mundane fact of life, of armed terrorism that has entered the main stream of our lives, threatening to become an expected normal daily reality everywhere.

The survivors of the attack are seeking closure by gathering to commiserate and memorialize. After the traumatic event, Mia (Virginie Efira) is desperately searching for the cook who held her hand while they were hiding together during the shooting.

The search bears fruit and she eventually succeeds.

It's an enjoyable film, certainly worth the time. My major issue with it is that it's predictable. The lead reminds me of Jeff Bridges in Fearless and William Hurt in The Doctor. Both have traumatic experiences that make relationships with current lovers difficult if not impossible; a change of life is called for. That's what these films apparently require for plot, but is that true? Millions of men return from war to the same wives, jobs, lives. Other check boxes are ticked off: the co-survivors to whom the lead now more strongly relates; the initial accusation of guilt, later disspelled; the noble member(s) of the minority underclass that gets the lead all through it. For these requirements, sometimes the plot has phony constructs. Having said all that, the movie keeps you entertained, if it isn't really moving.

After Mia survives an attack in a restaurant where many other patrons perish, she is left unable to remember what happened. Her attempts to recall the event throughout the movie appear to change her life and pull her into a different direction. In typical fashion for many French movies, tedium ensues. If you have a good hour and 45 minutes to spare, it will engage you and possibly bore you at the same time. French filmmakers are good at that, not sure why.

When I read a description of this film, I was going to skip it as the topic didn't interest me. Then I thought that it would be nice to see Paris and I could skip through the boring parts. There are so many places where a film like this could have fallen down a rabbit hole and been written off. Like focusing too deeply on those who died or individual grief or revenge or another direction, but it didn't.

It focused on Mia a victim three months after the tragedy, who starts trying to piece that night together. She stumbles across a survivors group and they share information from that night which leads her farther along. This was a much better technique than having Mia sit on a psychiatrist's couch trying to remember and flashback after flashback.

A fine film, not to be missed.

A leaky pen. A notebook. A Birthday cake. A tattoo. Details. Some clear, others vague. Mia (Virgine Efira from Verhoeven's BENEDETTA) is a young Parisian woman in a stable relationship. One night, by happenstance, she finds herself in a restaurant. Out of nowhere, an armed assault. She's injured. Blacks out - but, survives.

Alice Wincoer's gently searing drama is loosely based on a coordinated 2015 terrorist attack on several sites in the Paris area (her brother was a survivor). Wincoer who co-wrote with a pair of screenwriters, always keeps the focus on Mia and the other survivors and their friends and families from that cafe. The terrorists are never clearly seen, nor are the other attacks explicitly spelled out.

Mia is more than merely shell-shocked. Her psychological wounds are more debilitating than her physical ones. Because she passed out, her memory of the event is scattered. The survivors form a support group and they help one another remember - if they choose to. Some want to reconnect, others recoil. Thomas (Benoit Magimel) was a man who's Birthday the cake was for. He is one of the 'lucky ones' in that he has full memory of that fateful night.

Wincoer (who wrote the screenplay for the wonderful Oscar nominated MUSTANG), does a fine job here inviting the viewer to piece together Mia's journey along with the character. The audience is never ahead of the woman, nor does the filmmaker rely on sensational dramatic turns to amp things up. It all unfolds at a placid pace. There are a couple of jolting jump cuts as if to remind one that such shocks could happen to anyone, anytime.

REVOIR PARIS doesn't have a pat ending. Mia and Thomas have their lives impacted, but they are all individuals and what may hold for one, may not for another. All that is certain is uncertainty, but there's also a kind of solace in living in the moment and embracing those around you while one can. REVOIR PARIS is one of the most moving movies of the year.