A raw film with an excellent cast, about a love triangle of confused people in their early 30s which relates friendship like we relate love.
Geometry and rom com lovers will be happy, the love triangle is back to theater. But what’s new when you’ve already read « Dangerous Liaisons », saw its teenager film adaptation from the 90s « Cruel Intentions » or discovered the restored version of « César and Rosalie » (Claude Sautet, 72’) ?
Louis Garrel, who played in around 20 movies as an actor, mainly in his father’s, Philippe (Regular lovers) chose « César and Rosalie » as an inspiration for his first feature “Two Lovers”. A movie about people in their early 30s, a bit confused, who talk about love like we could talk about friendship.
Mona (Golshifteh Farahani, seen in Exodus and Syngué Sabour – the Patience stone and soon in Pirates of Caribbean 5) works in a small bakery at Gare du Nord during the day but spends nights in prison where she is doing the time she has left working there. Clément (Vincent Macaigne, one Cesar nomination as best newcomer actor for « La fille du 14 Juillet » and seen in « Tonnerre ») is a second-class actor and falls deeply in love with her. He goes every day to Gare du Nord for a smile but never spends a lot of time with the one who sees him as a friend. When he decides to introduce his best friend Abel, to her, there is something in the air between them.
Some topics in cinema are timeless as soon as you are able to have a fresh look or you can adapt them to your time. Louis Garrel made a contemporary film where young adults keep dreaming about life they won’t probably have, have odd jobs and are completely lost in their love life.
This is the genuine angle of this movie and of this triangle. Clément and Abel have been friends for a long time but do not dare to talk together about things that matters. And when a secret woman appears, their friendship explodes. In this movie, love is never showed (ellipse and blur are doing the job), friendship is discussed and evaluated as it is showed in a marvelous scene where Clement makes his point clear with Abel.
« He’s lucky, he is thinking about me all the time, he is less alone than me» said Mona. This sentence sums up perfectly the characters’ mindsets. They are selfish and try to cling to every type of feelings as soon as they could fill their empty life.
The three main actors are excellent. Golshifteh Farahani (not that easy to write) is perfect in the role of a young woman, focused on her own desires who is burning inside and ready to explode. Vincent Macaigne has this constant Droopy look and this so particular phrasing coming straight from the Moon during most of the film but when his character is amazed or furious, you see a wide range of emotions in him. In 2013, The Observer compared him to Gerard Depardieu in his early years. Without going that far, his charisma and the emotions he can perform should make him to be one of the most important French actors if he agrees to join more mainstream projects.
The scenario is not revolutionary and you have the feeling that actors improvised a lot taking advantage of the great chemistry between the trio. It’s not really a comedy, the funny part often comes from Clément and his absurd way of speaking or seeing things.
The lighting is almost natural, the photo is visually cold, the staging often uses fixed shots and in the end the audience can be fully focused on the actors and their emotions. It makes that movie, raw and deeply set in reality.
Finally, the music is split between a very nice score from Philippe Sarde (Sautet’s composer, again…) used as a perfect substitute of dialogs in key moments of characters life and some pop songs played when they let go & enjoy. (Incredible hypnotic dance scene of Mona in a deserted pub in the middle of the night to the rhythm of « Easy Easy » by King Krule).
This is not a hilarious movie or the kind of film you might want to watch every christmas with your family. But it’s a nice first film, connected with its era and you will be delighted to (re)discover it in 10 years to check on the filmography of these excellent actors. By this time I keep praticing writing down properly “Golshifteh Farahani”.
Is it #DudeChick certified ?
A nice film to see but once.
#Dudechick, what’s that ?
Watch the trailer
[sixthtype_review post_id=”20679″]
image source: Lions Gate Film
