Grande Ecole
by Robert Salis
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: ?lodie Navarre, Alice Taglioni, Arthur Jugnot, Gregori Baquet, Jocelyn QuivrinDirector: Robert Salis
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-09
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Fox Lorber
Movie Reviews of Grande Ecole
Movie Review: What Isn't About Sex, Money and Ennui?
Summary: 4 Stars
This film centers around Paul (Gregori Baquet)-son of a classist Marseilles builder, a father who makes his son wear suits when he is still a toddler and insists on sending Paul to an elite business school to learn marketing and management despite the fact that Paul excels in literature. Paul has a girlfriend Agn?s- an advocate against the death penalty, and student at the neighboring liberal arts college. Paul stays on campus in the dorm and his roommates are the passive Chouquet (Arthur Jugnot) and the pinnacle of French upper-class society Louis-Arnault (Jocelyn Quivrin), who at the outset, has no problems claiming what he needs for himself (the biggest bedroom) declaring "first come, first served", like a true plundering capitalist.
Paul begins attending Louis-Arnault's water polo matches and is invited to a post-game shower room-where ominously the girls are strictly forbidden from entering. Paul sits on the bench viewing the team playfully soaping each other and becomes aware of his bi-sexuality. Paul steals Louis-Arnoult's boxer shorts and begins engaging in his sexual fantasies on his own. Later, while strolling the campus, Paul and Louis-Arnault, meet a young handsome Arab painter, who is being belittled by his boss with racist comments. Paul comes to the young man's rescue and a tender sexual chemistry is created.
Agn?s senses Paul's awakening bi-sexuality and bets Paul which one will have the desirable Louis-Arnault first. Paul uses the young arab man as a means of exploring and satisfying his desire for Louis-Armoult. Louis-Arnoult seems attracted to Paul but ultimately concludes "If I loved you, what could I do about it." In the end, it is the young arab man who is the most grounded and free. You sense he will be the happiest of all the characters in this film. Agnes and Paul have an exciting, tender, and incredibly mature sexual relationship-surely she will help Paul heal. Louis-Arnault and his girlfriend who are both satisfied with fantasy of upper middle class life and don't want to delve into things too deeply, will be full of ennui.
This film is "very" French in that it is full of almost cliched ideas about wealth (the rich aren't happy, experience no brotherhood unless it is in an extremely competitive atmosphere, the poor are free and moral.) The references are subtle-the liberal arts school Agnes is working on a death penalty case for a man who was convicted in Texas without evidence, while Paul and Louis-Arnault learn how to be successful businessmen via lessons from America's corporate takeovers and LBO's of the 1980's (Nabisco)-capitalism as bad and good.
The extras on the DVD are very good and include a discussion of Foucault's philosophy and the understanding of 'desire'.
An excellent, well-made, quality, subtle film that will leave you pondering.
Summary of Grande Ecole
At a school that breeds France's cultural elite, a young man experiences heterosexual and homosexual attraction, power games and racial conflict. Directed by Robert Salis. 5.1 surround sound, 16x9 anamorphic 1.85:1 presentationGrande Ecole merges the delirious ogling of naked flesh with highfalutin' cultural theory from abstruse thinkers like Michel Foucoult--a whiplash-inducing combination that could only come from the French. Paul (Gergori Baquet), a middle-class student, arrives at a snooty economics school and finds himself lusting after his new roommate, the upper-class Louis-Arnault (Jocelyn Quivrin)--even though Paul already has a hot-and-heavy relationship with his luscious girlfriend Agnes (Alice Taglioni). Paul's sexual confusion leads him into an affair with a handsome Arab groundskeeper named Mecir (Salim Kechiouche), who falls helplessly in love with Paul. Grande Ecole awkwardly combines race and class consciousness, the defense of a death-row inmate in Texas, and an extensive shower scene with the school's water polo team--but what finally gives it heart is Mecir, whose love for Paul seems doomed to tragedy. --Bret Fetzer
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