“The Other One” – From directors Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic comes this taut psycho drama about one woman’s fall into loneliness, obsession and self-destruction. Anne-Marie (Dominique Blanc) has broken up with her boyfriend Alex (Cyril Guei), but the two remain friends, talking on the phone almost everyday and meeting for meals outings. One day, Alex tells Anne-Marie that he’s met someone and will not be as available anymore to see her. Soon Anne-Marie is peppering him with questions: How old is she? What is her name? Where does she work? Alex is reluctant to give answers, but from what little he does disclose, Anne-Marie becomes unhealthily fixated on this other woman, trying to discover her identity and why Alex is no longer interested in her. Unlike films that fall into similar territory, the script by the directors (adapted from the novel by Annie Ernaux) goes beyond the usual triggers like jealousy and lust for Anne-Marie’s behavior. Issues of self-worth, societal expectations and gender power all come into play painting a rich, if disturbing, character in Anne-Marie. Bolstered by gorgeous cinematography and a narrative that unfolds with a methodical mystique, “The Other One” takes the genre in a new direction. [B]
“Stella” – Written and directed by Sylvie Verheyde, “Stella” is a beautifully bittersweet coming of age story set in the working class surroundings of 1976 Paris. The film follows the titular character over the course of her first year of junior high school. Her parents own and work at a local pub, which they also live above, that is the kind frequented by hoodlums and drunks with hearts of gold, who are also like extended family members. Her school on the other hand is made up mostly of kids from middle or upper class backgrounds, who Stella keenly notes early in the film, are sheltered from the kinds of things she sees at home. Verheyde’s thoughtful script sidesteps the usual markers of these kind of films, and aims to get the intimate moments right. And she does. Stella is about the friendships, new interests and small victories that are so precious in those wavering moments between childhood and adolescence. Bolstered by a strong supporting cast including notable work by Guillaume Depardieu and Benjamin Biolay (who is a dead ringer for Benicio Del Toro), “Stella” offers an honest perspective of a child from a hardscrabble background who is determined to define herself and her place in the world. [B+]
“One For The Road” – First time director (and long time producer) Philippe Goudeau plays it safe in his adaptation of journalist Herve Chabalier’s acclaimed autobiography about his battle with alcohol addiction. There are no fancy narrative tricks here – the film starts with Herve checking into rehab and ends with him checking out. In between, we will meet a rogues gallery of fellow AA members (each with their own set of quirks) and learn everything we already knew about from other movies about getting clean. The usual benchmarks of an addiction film are here, with people dying or relapsing as the arc of the story requires, with tears and big speeches to drive the story home and punctuated by the occasional flashback to Chabalier’s boozing days. Because the film unravels with all the finesse of an after school special, the story is emotionally inert. We know everything that’s coming and when it arrives we feel nothing. Curiously, the most interesting part of the story – how Chabalier, a well known journalist – managed to work and hide his problem for so long isn’t even addressed. As Goudeau’s film goes into its second act, with its intense focus on the rehabilitation process, we began to feel we were the wrong audience for the film. For people who might be in denial, struggling or have a friend who is battling this disease, “One For The Road” nicely outlines the difficulties that one is faced with when deciding to leave the bottle behind. But as a film, it’s even keeled to the point of lethargy, while asking us to give ourselves to the story, when it hardly offers anything for us latch on to. [C-]
