|
|
Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteuil star in this French black and white caravan adventure through Europe. Paradis plays Adele, a lost soul for whom brief affairs (brief meaning a few minutes to a few days) that serve only to lead her on to the next guy who will, hopefully, offer something more than his penis. She is an unlucky, visceral girl who does not beg for pity. Seeking an end to her misfortune, she decides one Parisian night to jump into the Seine. Along comes Gabor (Daniel Auteuil), who stops and offers her a proposition: since she has nothing to lose at this point, why not join him? He is a knife-thrower and she is to be his target. On the one hand he tells her luck is his specialty. On the other, if he misses, well, she did want to jump off that bridge, right? At best, he will show her something exciting where her role is pivotal—at worst, he will just prolong the inevitable. She jumps anyway, and he goes in after her. A relationship has begun. After they leave the hospital, the wanderer becomes the target. Gabor's full attention is on her. He whisks her off to Monaco, to beauty parlors, boutiques, and fancy hotels, all paid for with his scheming. She still manages to fall into the loveless arms of strangers (notably a contortionist), but the only true mutual intensity shared is when he hurls knives at her. This is not a sexual relationship—though the intensity and trust involved during the knife throwing create a fiery atmosphere. Their seduction of each other is not sexual, though it is physical even if they don't touch, and above all heartfelt. Neither Adele nor Gabor are seeking sexual pleasure, though Adele's persistent liaisons are almost funny in their lack of passion. Ironically she keeps leaving an obviously intense guy for 30 seconds of fun with strangers. Adele does prove to be his good luck charm. She wins at the casinos and wins a new car in an Italian lottery. She poignantly asks, this luckless girl, if this is the only kind of luck there is. Though he was to be her luck charm, she has become his Lady Luck. Is fortune more than winning big? For the both of them, obviously. The knife throwing scenes are most intense. The public has tired of mere knife throwing, so Gabor must up the ante. Adele is covered with a white sheet-he aims for her silhouette. Adele is placed on a spinning wheel-again his aim is perfect. In a private knife throwing moment, Adele goes to find him at a train station in Italy after she has left him for an Italian waiter. In an abandoned barn, her body framed by blades of light between the wood planks, he pelts the wood with knives, eyes closed. The trust shared between them is immeasurable and makes most modern day love stories about as compelling as telephone commercials. As this is a girl who knows not what she wants, she next leaves him for a newly wed Greek. Particularly moving in the following scenes is that though apart, they speak to each other as if the other were sitting along side, as only soulmates can. Mercifully, the scenes lack the cheesiness that would be inherent in the American version. Thankfully they can talk to eachother, because they are lost in Istanbul and Greece, respectively. Half child, half woman, Paradis plays the perfect blend of innocence tempered with the weathered wisdom only known to those with no luck. Auteuil, for his part, plays very well a loser with some fire left in him. Their fatalist-yet-sparky chemistry is perfect, and Tom Waits could easily write a song about them. The tragi-comic edge to the movie infuses some humor into pitiful situations. From the scene at the hospital where they are warmed back to life next to the other bridge jumper (who urges Adele "to keep trying") to love scenes with circus contortionists, there is an energy that moves from one scene to the next. The music chosen keeps the beat moving, from Cuban dance songs to Marianne Faithfull, and lends a dose of old time charm to this very modern tale. Before you jump, see this movie first.
 |
|
