À vendre (1998)
Directed by Laetitia Masson

Film Review

This profound and provocative analysis of a woman's quest for fulfilment and self-realisation viewed from the perspective of an embittered solitary Italian is a stunning yet shocking piece of cinema.  The merging of past and present into a continuous kaleidoscopic sequences of images creates the feel of an impressive psychological drama, laced with the intrigue of a bizarre crime mystery, strangely reminiscent of Citizen Kane.

This artistic overload is impressive but it weakens the film in other areas, such as a clarity of narrative and characterisation.  Also, some of the violence in the sex scenes is very explicit and quite off-putting.  However, overall the film has a positive impact, and its structure and style are so refreshingly original that it cannot fail to leave its viewer indifferent.

Sandrine Kiberlain, a rising star in French cinema, is captivating, although her performance is curiously detached and lacking in emotion. However, the film's star is undoubtedly the charismatic Italian actor Sergio Castellitto, whose performance reveals so much emotional baggage that the film feels more like an investigation into his character's psychology rather than that of the mysterious France Robert.

Film Synopsis

Luigi Primo is a private detective hired by a disappointed bridegroom to track down the woman who jilted him on his wedding day.  The woman, France Robert, left without warning, taking with her a bag of money.  No one, not even her family, knows where she may have gone or why she left so suddenly.  In the course of his fraught investigation, Luigi travels from Paris to Marseille, and it is in the latter city that he learns something tangible about the elusive young woman.  Apparently, she forces her boyfriends to give her money in exchange for sex, and then she abruptly moves on when the relationship begins to look as if it getting serious.  France's strange behaviour at first puzzles Luigi, but gradually he begins to find himself drawn to her.  Will he be her next victim...?