Strayed
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Movie Reviews of Strayed
Movie Review: Lost, strayed, stolen . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
This film by French director André Téchiné is set in the summer of the civilian exodus from Paris during the invasion of the German armies at the start of WWII. Viewers expecting to be informed by a recreation of historical events will be disappointed, as this film has other things on its mind. Instead, it becomes a psychological study of a war widow with two children who falls under the influence of a mysterious teenage boy as they take refuge from aerial strafing in an isolated, empty house deep in the wooded countryside. In many ways, the time and place are unimportant; it could be just about anytime, anywhere.
The young man keeps food on the table by snaring rabbits in the woods and tries to gain possession of a confiscated gun, the mother's young son tries unsuccessfully to win his friendship, and two French soldiers spend an overnight at the house. Meanwhile, erotic tension slowly builds, though there are at least fifteen years between the widow and her young protector, and the film takes a long time deciding whether to consummate it. Eventually, the reality of the outside world intervenes and the story resolves itself as the mystery of the young man is at least partly solved. Slow, but with a few unexpected revelations. The DVD includes interviews with Téchiné and the author of the novel on which the film was based.
Movie Review: Hiding in Plain View
Summary: 4 Stars
Set during the German occupation of France during WW II, "Strayed" (Les Egares) is a quiet, subtle film directed by the estimable Andre Techine and brimming over with valid psychological insight and emotional awareness.
"Strayed" tells the story of a widow (Emmanuelle Beart) fleeing Paris with her children: she's prim, proper, a school teacher used to a particular middle-class sense of decorum and restraint, who comes upon an unsettling, "natural" young man (Gaspard Ulliel) who lives by his wits and exhibits an intense knowledge and intuition of how to survive.
It is 1940, the Germans have taken over Paris, France is in disarray, yet these scared and wary people bond together: each one learning things from the other that don't come naturally to either of them. They find a safe place in an empty villa, once occupied by a Jewish couple and therein all four set up a home.
In many ways then, "Strayed" is about the Universal conflict between the Natural and the Ordered Life and to Techine's credit, one does not win out over the other. Instead, these characters find a place in their hearts willing to compromise, accept their differences and find a kind of love motivated by desperation and survival.
Movie Review: Les Egarés
Summary: 3 Stars
Despite its WWII setting and frightening opening sequence, STRAYED ("Les Egarés") is a quiet and pastoral film. The movie concerns itself with a small family holed up in a chateau with an oddly self-reliant teenager named Yvan. It's a blessedly small story, and frankly, not much happens. (I repeat: Not much happens.)
This is not a criticism; intimate mood pieces are fine by me, leaving the viewer at leisure to evaluate the acting performances. Though at first she seems a cipher, I was impressed by Emmanuelle Béart's acting. Only having seen her in "glamorous" roles before, I was impressed by her ability to look pensive and melancholy in a role where she is uncertain of her place in the scheme of things. The lion's share of dialogue belongs to her son and Yvan, with a daughter thrown into the mix seemingly as an afterthought.
Anyway, at one point a visiting French soldier tells Béart that she needs to snap out of her dreamland. That's how I felt watching this movie; it was a very pleasant dream, but its plot had no momentum and could be interrupted at any point without ill effects... and then returned to again.
SIDELIGHT: The DVD's cover is strictly for marketing; this is by no means a torrid love story.
Movie Review: Plops to a conclusion
Summary: 3 Stars
Yes the leads are excellent. Yes the scenery is lovely. Yes that is one good looking woman. Yes the tale has a tension hanging over it. Guess what folks? That's not enough for a good film.
The eventual coupling of these two folks, all over the cover of the box yet lasting a few seconds but still too long, struck both me and my wife as incomprehensible. (And I know what we "learn" at this moment, which wasn't surprising to me.) This woman, who has truly sacrificed for her children, would not risk pregnancy here. Would she? This life of hunger and fear and desperation and worry and privation would not be enhanced by a baby. Nope---we found it implausible, distracting, and all too obligatory.
And the grainy black and white film of collapsing buildings and frightened refugees only shows how "unreal" the color scenes were. We never truly felt engaged.
Movie Review: It was but I wasn't quite pleased........
Summary: 2 Stars
I have picked this movie up at the library the other day because it looked pretty good. When I was done watching the movie I realized that it wasn't what I really expected.
First I like to say that I like the fact that the main characters are cut off from the rest of the world which makes the movie more present, like something that could be happen here and now. Most of the time you don't get the usual distraction of local color - costumes, old cars, etc- to show that this really is the past. Personally it does get quite annoying at times when movies use a lot of sepia coloring or historical allusions like famous news radio broadcasts so that you can't forget for a moment the distance between then and now.
Moreover I think this movie fits into a trend of recent studies of history. A lot of books or documentaries on historical events stress the importance of understanding individual experiences to get a glimpse of the big picture. This is the first time ever seeing these actors and actress of this film. The children performance I thought was phenomenal. The plot and the direction of the film was great but I felt that it could have been more, I'm not too sure if the director's films are mostly made that way or that his preference.
One of the main reasons I was disappointed on this film is that I thought it would have lots of passion in it, but it wasn't release until the end of the movie. I don't know maybe I set myself up on this one. The cover made it seems as though the movie was filled with passion from beginning to end.......boy was I wrong. "Strayed" just left me hanging. Secondly the movie was way too short and incomplete. I didn't like the fact it ended abruptly like the rush man? I needed more.
Other than that, it's a well French cinema, which is the kind most film critics leniently praise precisely for wandering. You've got a storyline leading nowhere at times, characters discovering nothing so that nothing important happens. The pictures are usually nice and.....uh.... there's a little sex to thank you for waiting. Then it's over and you wonder why you wandered into this film.
"Strayed" is a well made movie that gives an authentic feeling and creates an intimate arena for these lost souls but unfortunately the film didn't quite reach my needs.