Director: Jethro Massey

Stars: Marie Benati, Jérémie Galiana, Laurence Vassière, Margot Joseph, Gilles Graveleau, Fanny Cottençon

As the title suggests, British-French writer-director Jethro Massey’s debut feature aims for Nouvelle Vague discursive whimsy a la Jacques Rivette, but there is something affected and ill-judged about its execution. Galiana is Paul, an American ex-pat photographer whose career has stalled. He is now working at an estate agent while fending off the advances of his amorous boss Valerie (Vaissiere) with whom he once had an affair. Walking though the Place de la Concorde, he spots Paulette a beautiful eccentric young woman kneeling down as she tries to imagine the last moments of Marie Antoinette before her execution. Paul takes her picture, then Paulette asks him to cut her hair. They begin seeing each other, visiting scenes of historical crimes and musing on their lives. Paulette stipulates that they are not to touch and that Paul is not to ask her about her parents. A physical relationship does develop however, and the couple eventually go to see Paulette’s parents in Salzburg. Paulette’s obsessions with Marilyn Monroe and Elvis seem rote and uninteresting, while the script’s attempts at edginess with its various nods to historical atrocities and Hitler and the Nazis are as tedious as they are baffling. Marie Benati is at least able to bring charm and pathos to Paulette, a character that could have been merely capricious and unappealing.

David Willoughby

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