La Passerelle (1988)
Directed by Jean-Claude Sussfeld

Film Review

La Passerelle is one of the more unusual French romantic dramas of the 1980s, effectively a two-handed piece performed by two very capable actors - Pierre Arditi and Mathilda May - which examines, with intelligence and sensitivity, the Oedipus complex.  A little boy's apparent suicide attempt when confronted with a naked Arditi at first appears unfathomable, and it isn't until the very final shot of the film that we comprehend what drove the child to such a desperate act.  A former assistant to Claude Sautet and Gérard Oury, Jean-Claude Sussfeld directed only four films for the cinema, of which this is the third, the bulk of his career being devoted to French television.

With its tentative foray into childhood psychosis La Passerelle anticipates Susseld's last and arguably most interesting film, Quand j'avais 5 ans je m'ai tué (1994).  Arditi and May are both compelling actors but their performances are a little undermined by an unpolished script that is unevenly paced and slides ungraciously towards melodrama in a few places.  Jany Holt, a French diva of the 1930s and 40s who excelled in such films as Serge de Poligny's La Fiancée des ténèbres (1945) and Georges Lacombe's Le Pays sans étoiles (1946), shows up as Arditi's old nursemaid, still a compelling actress in the twilight of her remarkable career.  Despite its conventional mise-en-scène and a tendency to sidestep some serious themes (class prejudice flares up briefly but is quickly forgotten) La Passerelle still manages to be a thoughtful and involving drama, worth watching for its adult exploration of unfamiliar themes.

Film Synopsis

Jean Nevers and Cora Elbaz are two neighbours who have yet to become acquainted.  He is a 40-something bachelor who lives by himself; she is an erotic dancer in her mid-twenties who is bringing up a five-year-old son Antoine by herself.  These two people have nothing in common but they are soon to forge a close relationship as a result of a near-tragic accident.  Jean is about to take a bath when he manages to lock himself out of his apartment.  The only way he can get back in is via the balcony that connects his and Cora's apartments.  But as he crosses the balcony, totally naked, he takes Antoine by surprise.  The boy drops from the balcony and crashes into the ground beneath, with the result that he ends up in a deep coma.

As her darling son lies in hospital in a critical state, Cora desperately hopes he will recover.  At this stage, she has no reason to doubt that the boy simply fell off the balcony by accident whilst playing.  Meanwhile, Jean allows himself to be tortured by the incident and, thinking he is at least partly to blame, wonders if he should confess his part in the accident to Cora.  To that end, he makes an awkward attempt to get to know his neighbour, but this merely causes her to become suspicious.  Jean and Cora sense a mutual attraction, but a possible romance is threatened by feelings of guilt and recrimination that will never leave them unless Antoine makes a full recovery...