Mia Hanson-Love, 2009, France, 110 mins
Cast: Chiara Caselli, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Alice de Lencquesaing
Review by Mike Bartlett
Directors, writers, composers – they've all been the subject of affectionate biopics. But producers? The evil money men with whom one enters into a Faustian pact for the sake of some cash? Well, in Mia Hansen-Love's second feature, we get a very different perspective on these much-unloved figures.
Her film was inspired by Humbert Balsam, a tireless promoter of independent cinema in France. The protagonist of her story, Gregoire Canvel, is, like him, an overworked, struggling producer making art films for the love of it rather than for any significant financial gain. But the accounts are now too far into the red and disaster looms... To say any more would be to spoil the overall trajectory of the narrative, yet anyone familiar with Balsam's career can guess where it's going. Suffice to say that Hansen-Love divides her film into two parts: a masculine first half that follows Gregoire's business dealings and a feminine second half that shows the impact of these dealings on his wife and children.
Curiously for a female director, it's the first half that's the most convincing. It offers an unusually frank insider's view of the movie business, where directors are conniving divas buoyed up by long-suffering production managers, and celebrated auteur pieces are finished by the skin of everyone's teeth, more by happenstance than skill. It's also a sympathetic exploration of the way work comes to dominate all other aspects of life, the jittery editing schema conveying both the frenetic nature of the producer's lifestyle and the crumbling sense of self that is the result of it.
The second half is quieter, more reflective and, to be honest, less absorbing. The ensemble cast are simply superb, the children's naturalistic performances being particularly noteworthy. But a certain energy is lost when Gregoire (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) leaves the scene. Hansen-Love has crafted a film about family, but it works better as a film about cinema. When the family leave Paris at the end, it feels less like a new stage in their lives and more like a statement on that city's status as the hub of the international indie circuit. The bubble has burst, the industry is imploding, and the battle-worn survivors are fleeing for the hills...
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