An average movie

I wasn’t really sure about to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by François Ozon, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though I enjoyed most of Ozon’s directorial efforts from the last 20 years, to be honest, I didn’t care much about this one though. Basically, it was one of his least accessible movies and, if you don’t share his passion for Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s work, it is rather hard to get into the damned thing. Apparently, it was a remake of ‘Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant’ which I haven’t seen which probably didn’t help either. In fact, this movie was also based on Fassbinder’s play which explains why the whole thing took place in von Kant’s apartment. By the way, I usually have a weak spot for such minimalistic chamber pieces like this one but, in this case, it did feel rather claustrophobic though. Another issue was that I didn’t care much for the characters involved. I mean, I won’t blame Denis Ménochet who gave here such a strong performance and it really felt like he was disappearing into this character. It was also intriguing that the character was also really similar to who Rainer Werner Fassbinder himself might have been including his tumultuous romantic relationship with El Hedi ben Salem, a Moroccan guy who was his lover and an actor in many of his movies, especially ‘Angst essen Seele auf’ which is usually considered as his magnum opus. I also enjoyed Stefan Crepon whose character might seem meaningless but, thanks to him, the always silent Karl was actually quite mesmerizing to behold. However, I didn’t care much for Amir who was, in my opinion, reduced to a pretty toyboy with no skills or qualities whatsoever. Concerning Isabelle Adjani, to be honest, I was slightly disappointed and I was expected more for her first time working with Ozon. Sure, she wasn’t bad but she wasn’t given much to do after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in François Ozon’s work. 

6/10