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By
DEBORAH NICOL
Ah, to be young and flighty.
Pascale Bailly directs Audrey Tautou ("Amélie's"
lovely sprite) in a tale of a twenty-year-old in
and out of love, while weaving in and out of
various spiritual explorations.
Though Tautou is her cute, endearing self, her
character lacks a central likeability. She pouts
like a thirteen-year-old when things do not go her
way, and has a tendency to blow situations out of
proportion. To complicate matters, she surrounds
herself with friends and boyfriends who do the
same. With every new man arises a new religion,
and vice versa, that implies a lack of focus
rather than a healthy curiosity.
The central problem of this story lies in its lack
of details. Right from the start our heroine
attempts suicide, we later meet her step dad whom
she has an utter hatred for, and her boyfriend has
an alternating boredom/frustration with his
religion, all for which we have no clear idea of
their developments. Tautau chooses to convert to
his Judaism, much to her boyfriend's chagrin,
though she insists it is for her soul, not his.
Details are alluded to, but not in such a way as
to hint to a more detailed story, and so the
audience is left disinterested. Rather, these
aggravations are merely bullet-points for her
character, scribbled on the script just like the
scribbled chapter titles of the movie.
The director is just as scatterbrained and
unfocused as the story. In the beginning he
attempts to present the past and present in
flashing, quick edits. This eventually subsides as
he tries a few other random tricks, but nothing is
consistent.
Though Tautou may be great in other films, this
movie is not. DVD extras include a photo gallery. |
