Une place sur la Terre (2013)
Directed by Fabienne Godet

Film Review

After her promising debut feature Sauf le respect que je vous dois (2005) and arresting documentary about the former convict Michel Vaujour, Ne me libérez pas je m'en charge (2008), director Fabienne Godet delivers a much more typically French kind of drama for her third feature, a film that sensitively depicts a delicate romance between two fragile and seemingly ill-matched individuals.  Une place sur la Terre (a.k.a. A Place on Earth) is a compelling and poignant étude romantique that is far more about the need for companionship than the fulfilment of an earthy amorous desire - a love story of an altogether different hue from what most of today's cinemagoers are used to.  Boldly understated, both in its writing and direction, it focuses more on the deeper feelings of love, the process of establishing an emotional bond with someone, rather than diving in and merely regailing us with the crude mechanics of romantic passion.

Chopin's powerfully evocative music sets a suitably melancholic tone at the start of the film, and Godet sustains this sense of inner yearning throughout her film, assisted by two extraordinarily talented actors.  It is hard to imagine that Benoît Poelvoorde was once only a comic actor, a weirdly anarchic personality who would keep cropping up in either wacky auteur films like C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992) or lowbrow mainstream comedies such as Le Boulet (2002).  Now, as he nears his sixth decade, he is held in much higher esteem.  One of Belgium's most respected dramatic film actors, he is perfectly suited to play introspective, ambiguous characters of the kind he portrays so magnificently in Godet's film.  Here, Poelvoorde conveys so much with virtually next to no dialogue, revealing a soul that has grown sick of life and yet pines incessantly for human contact that will draw him from his pit of melancholia, out into the sunlight.

Ariane Labed, a comparative newcomer to cinema, is admirably cast as Poelvoorde's improbable redeemer.  Not only does she provide a sunny contrast to his gloomy persona, but she also mirrors his profound sense of inner suffering.  Antoine and Elena may look as if they have nothing in common (the age difference is painfully noticeable), yet, through Labed and Poelvoorde's subtly expressive performances, we quickly realise that they are ideal soul mates, both afflicted with the same malaise for living that prevents them from even imagining that they can ever be happy.  Through Chopin's inexpressibly beautiful music, they form an immediate bond and at no point do we doubt the reality of the spiritual renewal that ensues, so authentic and richly nuanced are the performances.   Despite an unedifying smattering of clichés in its second half and a slightly botched ending, Une place sur la Terre manages to be an intensely moving piece of drama, revealing in Fabienne Godet a director of considerable promise and compassion.

Film Synopsis

Antoine is a jaded 40-something photographer who has become disillusioned with life.  He finds living by himself ever more difficult, and this is probably why he shows such a keen interest in his next-door neighbour's son Matéo.  With his mother so frequently away from home, the little boy is grateful for the company, and Antoine keeps them both amused by his colourful reinterpretations of children's fairytales.  Matéo can have no idea how unhappy his friend is - to him, Antoine is the most cheerful and amiable of souls.

One morning, the distant sound of a piano being played breaks through Antoine's miserable ruminations.  It is the most stirring sound the photographer has ever heard and accords perfectly with his present state of bitter melancholia. The music is coming from the building opposite.  The piano player turns out to be an attractive young student named Elena, who has her own reasons to be unhappy with life.  Little does Antoine know the profound impact this young woman is about to have on his life...