User reviews

Those who enjoy serious cinema (this is the way I describe the films I like to watch) and have some knowledge of filmmakers, are aware of the fact that Jacques Doillon is recognized as a tender, kind hearted filmmaker who specializes in poignant stories about children. This film proves that he has tried his hand at making off beat films too. "La Pirate" is one of those rare, off beat films which can only be made in France." The Pirate" is a film not about pirates as the title suggests but about people trouble by love. The sad thing is that one of these people is a married woman whose husband is giving her hell.Jane Birkin is nice as the victim whose situation is rather peculiar as she loves her husband too (played by her real life brother Andrew Birkin). Philippe Leotard is an enjoyable part of the film. He plays the detective hired by the uxorious husband. Many viewers who watched this film at Créteil Women film festival 2006 were quick to add that the Dutch star Marutschka Detmers was the real "point of attraction" of this film. This view was also shared by the leading lady Jane Birkin who said that she was enamored by her beauty.If you have lived in Paris, you would be able to recognize some of the places where "La Pirate" was shot. For ex-I had no trouble recognizing the road near "La Chapelle" station. In 2007 it is still the same as it was in this 1984 production.

I've seen quite a bit of French films, antiquated and new. But this one by far has been the most tricky out of them all. On one hand, you witness these beings, struggling in their dealings of love amongst other twisted emotions of many. You could decipher what it all means, the love and hate, disgust and misery. It's all there, but what I couldn't help but witness (it was like a sore on the lip, hard to miss really) was the fact that the group constantly flailed about like children, focused on one thing and then the next, a pain to keep up with. It's as if their emotions tumbled like a snow ball effect, each character absorbing the others emotions like a leech-sending each one into a chaotic frenzy of emotions and back and forth events.

My opinion may seem like a simplistic approach to the meaning of it all, but it was a strange viewing to say the least, given that civilization appeared nonexistent when alarming matters took place and the unstable group seemed the type to give any outsider the idea that they may all be better off locked away in padded rooms...

An interesting film, no doubt. However, life resembles all trades of human actions and feeling, and this was certainly a display.