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Carrément à l'Ouest
2001 Drama
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Director:
Jacques Doillon
Starring: Lou Doillon, Caroline Ducey, Guillaume Saurrel, Camille Clavel |
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Summary
Alex is a drug-dealer and swindler with a violent streak. When one of his clients,
a student named François, fails to give him the money he is owed, he reacts as
he always reacts, by beating up his debtor. François’ girlfriend Fred intervenes
but she finds she is strangely drawn to Alex. Later, at a nightclub Fred meets a
young woman of her own age, Sylvia, who turns out to be easy prey for a scheme she is
hatching. Fred’s plan is to observe Alex as he seduces Sylvia. Things begin
well: both Sylvia and Alex take the bait and the three young people find themselves in
a luxury hotel suite, paid for by Alex’s ill-gotten gains. But, inevitably, complications
arise. Fred has underestimated the complexity of her two victims, and has also misinterpreted
her own feelings for Alex…
Credits
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Review
With Carrément à l’Ouest, director
Jacques Doillon returns to a favourite theme of his, the myriad complexities of relationships
between adolescents experiencing their first taste of romantic love. More than perhaps
any other it is the subject which best defines Doillon’s particular brand of realist cinema,
and one in which he excels. Whilst Carrément à l’Ouest is certainly
not the best example from the Doillon stable – it lacks the depth, artistic style and
emotional force of some of his earlier achievements – it nonetheless succeeds in evoking
the vulnerability and inconsistency of young men and women as they find their feet in
the early stages of adulthood.
The film stars Lou Doillon, the daughter of Jacques Doillon and his wife Jane Birkin, and Caroline Ducey, the star of Catherine Breillat’s controversial 1999 film Romance . The lead male role is played by Guillaume Saurrel in, surprisingly, his first film appearance. All three actors earn distinction for their convincing performances which are naturalistic to the extent that it’s hard to believe most of the script wasn’t improvised. At times, the story feels a little implausible and the pacing a tad leaden, but the sincerity and raw talent issuing from both sides of the camera makes it seductively easy to engage with this latest offering from one of France’s most accomplished filmmakers. © James Travers 2006 Write a review for this film... User Comments
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