English Title: Declaration of War
Original Title: La guerre est déclarée
Year: 2011
Country: France
Language: French
Genre: Drama
Director: Valérie Donzelli
Screenwriters: Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm
Cinematography: Sébastien Buchmann
Editing: Pauline Gaillard
Cast:
Valérie Donzelli
Jérémie Elkaïm
César Desseix
Brigitte Sy
Elina Löwensohn
Béatrice de Staël
Anne Le Ny
Frédéric Pierrot
Michèle Moretti
Philippe Laudenbach
Bastien Bouillon
Elisabeth Bion
Katia Lewkowicz
Gabriel Elkaïm
Rating: 7.6/10
English Title: Custody
Original Title: Jusqu’à la garde
Year: 2017
Country: France
Language: French
Genre: Drama
Director/Screenwriter: Xavier Legrand
Cinematography: Nathalie Durand
Editing: Yorgos Lamprinos
Cast:
Denis Ménochet
Léa Drucker
Thomas Gioria
Mathilde Auneveux
Florence Janas
Sophie Pincemaille
Saadia Bentaïeb
Emilie Incerti-Formentini
Coralie Russier
Martine Vandeville
Jean-Marie Winling
Mathieu Saikaly
Martine Schambacher
Jean-Claude Leguay
Jérome Care-Aulanier
Jenny Bellay
Julien Lucas
Rating: 8.1/10
Two French films pluckily wrestle with familial tribulations, actress-turned-director Valérie Donzelli’s second feature DECLARATION OF WAR focuses on a pair of parents whose child is diagnosed with brain tumor whereas CUSTODY, Xavier Legrand’s feature debut, covers a custody case and the ugly truth of domesticate violence with spectacular restraint.
Both topics can reverberate universally, but Donzelli and Legrand have very different, even disparate approaches to press home their impact. DOW is inspired by the real story of Gabriel Elkaïm, the son of Donzelli and her ex-partner, actor Jérémie Elkaïm, who suffers a major brain disease as an infant. In the film, Dozelli and Elkaïm play a young couple named Juliette and Romeo (how fateful their destiny is set in store for them!), together they have a baby boy Adam (Desseix), but their domestic bliss is evanescent. When Adam is 18 months old, he is discovered having a brain tumor and after an operation, the cancer proves to be malignant, therefore Romeo and Juliette expend next few years living in the hospital with Adam, who needs to be treated medically on a quotidian basis.
If the premise looks dreary and distressful, that’s the last thing Donzelli tries to evoke in her film, which is why, she over-dramatizes the most heartbreaking moments, viz. when the family members receive the bad tidings, to dull the edge of its pathos (their reactions are explosive rather than implosive), also by introducing Adam at the age of 8 (played by Gabriel himself) right out of the box, audience is reassured that all will be well. DOW plays up to the solidarity between Romeo and Juliette, and among their extended families throughout, meantime, it is also crucial to point up that even in the face of unforgiving adversity, people needs to offload their pressure and kick up their heels once in a while, an “open kiss” party could just do the trick, Donzelli and co. practice what they preach, seeing everything through rose-colored glasses, it is the Gallic spirit billowing out of the most arduous ordeal for a brace of young parents, a sentimental French chanson can just bob up at the drop of a hat, traversing different places to form a duet of the heart.
Holding on to dearly its cinema-vérité fashion, which tallies with its authentic take on the clinical but professional doctors and hospital staff, DOW also flourishes on the organic, mutually counterpoised performances from Donzelli and Elkaïm, who are in perfect sync in their two-shots and their lingering affections fro each other makes a strong case that true love should never be possessive.
Yes “possessiveness” is the bane in CUSTODY, a sequel follows Legrand’s Oscar-nominated short film JUST BEFORE LOSING EVERYTHING (2013). But for those who haven’t seen the short, the film astutely opens in a custody court hearing, and allows audience be the judge, without any background info, solely pursuant to the court proceedings (chiefly through the two lawyers’ statements), whom shall we root for? Antoine (Ménochet), a father who seeks shared custody of his 11-year-old son Julien (Gioria), or Miriam (Drucker), Julien’s mother and Antoine’s ex-wife, who, one day, simply whisked away Julien and his elder sister Joséphine (Auneveux) from Antoine (JUST BEFORE LOSING EVERYTHING details what happens in that specific day), and accuses him of being violent. Even with Julien’s letter, in which he indubitably states that he doesn’t want to stay with Antoine, can we permit the father a second chance? I think most of us would concur with the judge’s verdict. That is exactly what Legrand lays bare, in the dearth of testimony, the law is more likely to fail to protect the victim of domestic abuse.
If Miriam’s obvious lack of awareness of collecting physically evidence (in the short film, we can see bruises all over her body) is a necessary plot device to veer the narrative into that particular grueling direction, CUSTODY compensates by generating the thrill and tension by contemplating danger in extreme propinquity when Julien is obligated to spend time with Antoine, and it soon dawns on audience that what a monster the seemingly benevolent father is. Although he never lays a finger on Julien, but the sheer emotional abuse he unleashes on his prepubescent son is so staggering and deeply unnerving, praise be Gioria, a wunderkind who could withhold such a fusillade of hectoring, coaxing and threatening, then responses with utterly stunning reaction shots, so much so that viewers might seriously concern about his traumatized mentality.
Ménochet inhabits the revolting character with sonorous precision, and his crocodile tears attest that procuring for sympathy is a possessive abuser’s common shenanigans, a means to continue this vicious circle. Drucker has a more sidelined presence as Miriam in the first half, but takes the central stage when the situation deteriorates, she becomes more and more aware of the forthcoming danger, her steadfast gaze and upright posture eclipse her petite figure, especially in the climax, sheltering a startled child, she trembles, wheezes but also recollects herself in her worst nightmare, like the final girl in a horror movie, only we can vicariously feel her fear, her desperation, along with Gioria’s, they’re visceral to the core, what a searing masterpiece of acting and Legrand’s phlegmatic control of all the actions totally obliterates his greenness.
Both films are big players in the César Awards, DOW reaps 6 nominations and CUSTODY is the top honor recipient, including a triumphant victory for Drucker and Legrand’s script. The former is a box office success while the latter is a critical darling, together they represent the top-tier of filmmaking which discreetly probes into the complicated dynamism among a nuclear family unit, two sides of a coin, one life-affirming, one cautionary, both are the bread of life we cannot get enough of.
referential entries: Joachim Lafosse’s OUR CHILDREN (2012, 6.7/10); Jacques Audiard’s DHEEPAN (2015, 7.1/10); Léonor Serraille’s MONTPARNASSE BIENVENUE (2017, 7.4/10).
男女主角共同编剧,女主角导演,真是充分的“作者电影”。影片很复古(旁白,插曲之类),比较有新意的是角度(详写的都是类似影片所忽略的东西)。偶尔还有些幽默感。不过这两个演员都像是从欧容片子里走出来的(然而他们都木有跟欧容合作过……)
OST好听!
开车跳接、蓝白红色调、海边情节,向新浪潮致敬?
作者真人真事:爱可以战胜一切。很温馨的一部电影,ost很棒,结局稍有些不给劲(仓促)。有些遗憾的是,两人和儿子一起战胜了病魔,但两人最后还是分手了。2012年法国电影展。ps,今年法影的主题很近,如《幸福时刻》《命运的宣战》
Le paradoxe français
Pourquoi c'est tombé sur nous? Parce qu'on est capable de le surmonter.
缺乏创意和真实性抵消后,还是部不错的电影
2012/4/17,法国影展,国泰1厅;无憾圆梦《月球旅行记》;开头和《幸福的事》真像,着眼于法国年轻一代对于婚恋生育的探讨,携手共抗困难拍得很美,配乐虽动听但有刻意之嫌,整体有点头重脚轻,结尾仓促;此次影展总体水平平均,题材风格明显,温情居多,4月上海真的很巴黎。
配乐很赞!
处女作,很多东西都可以原谅,很多东西也都值得赞扬。格局架构挺工整,节奏安排也挺有意思。但最大问题是很多编排都有些过火,如几处快节奏配乐与画面分离的太开,男演员得知病情的反映。不过也不乏佳句,如女主的奔跑和一些交叉剪辑。以及情感的爆发力。
如果这是部中国电影,当夫妻俩破产卖房之后,电影也就该悲剧收场了,哪会像法国的政府医疗机构一样买单呢。改编自两位主演的真实经历,当罗密欧与朱莉叶相遇,变成了一场与宿命的宣战,最终有情人还是输给了命运,他们分开了,电影却刻意避开了痛苦,只剩记忆中那种不怎么真实的泛黄的美好。★★★
祝福一切
有诚意,欠能力。表现痛苦不是只有咆哮,交待事情不应该依赖旁白,情绪也不能只靠音乐来推动。看得我起码走了一半时间的神
有些奇怪,但是拍摄手法比较新颖。年轻人面对生活中的难关真的能如此淡定吗?
原声音乐不错,但真的很不喜欢女一这个型!
好真!
用上所有可能的叙事方式,却不觉得花哨,反而更显细腻。Valérie自编自导自演非常全才,如此绝望的故事却处处都是乐观和希望,片中好几处泪点我差点没Hold住。OST更是抢尽风头首首动听。
配乐很潮啊 很阳光很温暖的片。
#戛纳预习# 这真是一部神奇电影,明明是最俗套不过的苦情励志战胜病魔电影。导演却偏偏用最不节制方式杂糅了法式歌舞和喜剧桥段。可到了影片的结尾,所有那些在影片开端处与现实主义正典美学背道而驰的令人厌恶的庸俗与夸张,却堆积成了不可思议动人情绪。一种特吕弗式电影风格化结果。
“男:为什么这种事会发生在我们身上?女:因为我们有能力战胜它。”这句台词我那会发在时光短评上现在移到豆瓣也看见了类似的一个,但忘了哪句是当时电影里的字幕了好巧。根据女导演瓦莱茜·唐哲丽和男友杰瑞米·埃尔卡伊姆的真实经历改编,并由他们本人出演。观于2012百老汇法国影展。