Les égarés

Odile, a schoolteacher war widow flees Paris with her 13YO son and 6YO daughter as the German army advances upon the city, and on the way she coldly rejects a wounded soldier's desperate pleas for a lift. Later, when the column of refugees are strafed by German fighters and her car is destroyed, they are rescued by a strange crew-cut young man, Yvan. Recognizing his talent for survival, the helpless mother and children attach themselves to him. They all move into a large abandoned house that he discovers in the remote countryside, whereupon the illiterate Yvan scavenges for food by trapping rabbits and stealing chickens from distant farms. Odile lies to her children to protect them from the horrors of war, but continues to distrust Yvan for his suspiciously obscure origins. Techine seems to portray each member of this displaced family selfishly engrossed in their own need, perhaps intending them to represent the fragmented French nation itself. When Odile asserts herself as the matriarch of this family, grudging bonds of affection begin to form - but the balance is upset when the outside world finally intrudes on their pastoral idyll, and the characters contradict their earlier behavior in strangely inconsistent ways. The resourceful Yvan's mysterious background is eventually revealed, only for Techine to impose an especially counter-intuitive destiny upon him. "Les Egares" is beautifully shot and is never less than absorbing, but the characters' emotional detachment becomes an obstacle to intense involvement in their story.

Plots dealing with human relations taking place in closed environments are not easy to show on screen - even if the background is challenging and characters have to develop. In spite of catchy and versatile beginning, the events later, especially mansion-related ones, seem protracted at times, although there is more dynamism than statics. The romantic link is not evolving sufficiently, and it's climax is somewhat peculiar.

Luckily, all major performances are good, including the children who provide realistic approaches, not difficult to achieve sometimes... But when the credits appeared, I had to admit that I had expected more, since it was a French film, and the French are usually vibrant and spirited, but the overall atmosphere was more like a Dutch or Scandinavian one. Or were the war-time Frenchmen all so depressed and torpid?

"Strayed (Les Égarés)" can't quite decide if it's a grittily realistic World War II drama or one of those let's-set-up-a-plausibly-extreme-situation-and-see-how-humans-react games.

The believable set-up of a widow and two children amidst frightened refugees fleeing Paris in 1940 is reinforced with intercuts of black-and-white newsreel-type footage. The second act in an isolated farmhouse with a helpful teenage boy suspiciously strains credulity, but the acting, particularly by Emmanuelle Béart, convinces us to accept the exploration of humanity.

But the arrival of retreating soldiers just confuses the bifurcation as it overlays both genres such that we just don't understand the characters' motivations in the climax, whether as realism or metaphor.

As in writer/director André Téchiné's "Alice and Martin," there's a final coda that adds new information on a character to change your perceptions. The novel it is based on does not appear to be available in English to see what he changed from the source material.

It is also possible Téchiné is making points about French political history, of which I was only able to pick up a few of the references as I know little about Vichy France, such as the house they are squatting in belongs to a Jewish musician who clearly will not be returning and the son's example of cultured singing is a German lieder.

The cinematography by Agnès Godard is beautiful.

Even when he's not in top form, Téchiné makes movies that tell you more per frame than just about anyone around. In this case, he's using a screenplay that is just a little too glib, with a closing plot twist well beneath his league. But his handling of young actors is, as always, impeccable, and his ability to convey the confusion and uncertainty of life as it is lived, moment to moment, remains unsurpassed. The opening scenes of ordinary families fleeing Paris and being strafed on the open road by the Luftwaffe are masterful, haunting and, alas, still and always timely. And you get several of what you always come back to Téchiné for: unforgettable portraits of wholly unique and credible human beings.

The film has been poohpoohed in France and as a result may never make into a proper U.S. release. Compared to a lot of what does get hurled out into the art-house market here, "Les Egarés" is a towering masterpiece and, for all its manifest imperfections, needs to be seen by serious moviegoers everywhere.

"Strayed" is the second French movie released in the U.S. recently in which fleeing urban refugees seek to outrun the German Army when the so-called "Phony War" turned very real in the spring of 1940. Where "Bon Voyage" combines a serio-comic homicide and some high-strutting portrayals of sundry officials, a movie star, hangers-on and their sycophants, as well as a conventional anti-Nazi plot, "Strayed" is director Andre Techine's finely honed and narrowly focused look at a family trying to survive.

Odile (Emmanuele Beart) lost her husband in the early days of the war (he died a hero-a must for any French WWII film). She and her two children, Philippe (Gregoire Leprise-Ringuet), thirteen, and Cathy (Clemence Meyer), about eight, abandoned their Paris home as German forces surged towards the city. Their car was destroyed by a marauding enemy plane and they narrowly escaped death. Trekking into the woods they're accompanied by a mysterious young man, still a teen, Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel), a fellow who seems to have considerable wilderness skills and whose very short hair was not in fashion among young French men at the time. A clue about his past. Yvan is not forthcoming about his pedigree or his recent activities.

Yvan breaks into a lovely house abandoned by its owners, classical music performers. Before letting the family in he insures that they will be there for a while by several acts of sabotage.

The story unfolds with relationships developing across age and gender lines, not without problems. Philippe befriends Yvan who can be haughty and dismissive of the younger boy, causing the latter pain. Cathy is a genuine, normal for her age pest, the kind who both exasperates and amuses. And the beautiful Odile finds it hard to resist being attracted to their mysterious benefactor who knows how to bring "home" if not the bacon, then the bunny.

Unlike "Bon Voyage" there are no anti-Nazi polemical messages here. Technine provides the basic facts: loss of a husband and father, dislocation that, perhaps, was unnecessary (although Odile does remark that she wouldn't collaborate with the invaders), a dark, almost scary at times benefactor springing up from nowhere. Adapting to rapid change in a lush and verdant countryside still largely unmarked by combat is the key.

Scenes are shot with mostly close-ups so that the characters' faces relay feelings. Very good cinematography.

Technine is a good storyteller and Beart is quietly effective in the very familiar role of "What's a mother to do?" She hasn't resolved the loss of her husband - she still grieves - but she also can't repress her femininity and sexuality. Odile is very believable as are her kids.

An impressive French film.

8/10