Mes provinciales

The second cycle of German auteur Edgar Reitz's 'Heimat' deals with a group of students in various artistic disciplines who spend their time Thinking Big Thoughts and Remaining True To Their Artistic Visions before real life forces them to grow up and face the necessity of compromise. It is also, for no good reason, filmed in black and white. However, while I loved 'Heimat', I am not so enthusiastic about the markedly similar 'A Paris Education' from writer-director Jean-Paul Civeyrac.

Student of philosophy (which in itself should be enough to set alarm bells ringing) Etienne leaves his native Lyon for Paris, where he is to study film. There he meets a number of other students, including Jean-Nöel, whose talents are more organisational than artistic; Valentina, who views life with a wry amusement; and Mathias, whose Olympic-level pretension annoys some of his fellows but fascinates all of them. There is also Annabelle, not a student but a full-time activist who works as little as possible because 'all work is exploitation'. In-between high-minded discussions about 'honesty in film' and suchlike, this merry band also ruminate on life in the big city (the original French title of this film is 'Mes provinciales').

I think the reason why I did not warm to this as much as I had hoped is that central character Etienne is quite dull: this may be due to actor Andranic Manet's portryal - neither his facial expression nor his tone of voice are particularly fluid - but it is as if the character has been created merely as a cipher around which the other, more interesting, characters can orbit. Fortunately these are played by some engaging actors: Corentin Fila (previously seen in the UK in teenage angst piece 'Being Seventeen') as Mathias and Jenna Thiam as the cheerful Valentina are particular stand-outs.

Seen at the 2018 London Film Festival.

Would certainly imagine this French film, written and directed by Jean Paul Civeyrac, will only appeal to a certain slice of cinephile. At nearly two and a half hours in length and beautifully shot in black and white, the movie follows the journey of Etienne (Andranic Manet) as he leaves his girlfriend and family behind in Lyon to travel to attend film school in Paris.

The film is heavily dialogue driven and, at times, can seem pretentious or intellectually moralizing but there's plenty of interesting discussions as well on movies, literature, and the human condition. It was engaging enough for me to want to see what would happen to the young protagonist as he grappled with relationships, career, and his own self doubts.

Overall, as mentioned, the movie will not appeal to everyone but for those that like these types of French films that make your brain cells work, I believe there are some rewards to be found here.

A handsome French film student moves to Paris. Although full of self-doubt, he projects an impression of serious purpose. Everyone he meets, male or female, seems to fall in love with him.

Which year the film is meant to be taking place is unclear. The students despise the leaders of the student rebellion of 1968 for being phonies and sellouts. But they still speak to each other, and there are no smartphones to be seen.

The film is very French. The young people are almost an Englishman's caricature of French intellectuals: they talk endlessly, read voraciously, quote philosophers and poets, smoke cigarettes, strike poses, and argue interminably about changing the world. It is charming at times, but tedious too often.

It is also very long. 2-and-a-quarter hours feel more like 3-and-a-quarter. The youths are supposed to be film students. Have they never learned about editing, about pace?

I was close to giving this a 7 and in truth it's about a 6.4 as the current aggregate score suggests rather than a straight 6. From the outset the skill of the filmmakers is evident. It looks gorgeous in monochrome and I was anticipating something special. Within twenty minutes, though, I was wondering if the whole thing was a very clever joke, as the central character, an expressionless plank of wood straight from a Robert Bresson film (he is name checked), drifts around aimlessly, talking about what film means with various free-thinking characters, and trailing after an even bigger snob than himself. It's how one imagines French film if pulling only on stereotype. A parody. To be fair, if the main character wasn't such a boring dud I think I would have loved it, but he is, so I didn't. Not awful, though. Glad I saw it.

I enjoyed the last 30 minutes but until then a A Paris Education struggles to find its purpose past the onslaught of name dropping and nostalgia for 60's intellectualism. Main characters are one dimensional, they are merely film students-often mouthpieces for the writer-more than they are humans,. The charmful women characters bring so much life to the film, it is a shame they are not more present on the screen