Live from TIFF: Les Bons Debarras
Les Bons Debarras ***1/2
Directed by Francis Mankiewicz
114 Minutes
I was slated to see "Weirdsville" when things changed and I decided to see "Les Bons Debarras,"-part of the Canadian retrospective of Francis Mankiewicz. And in the end it was pretty neat to see a film part of that series. And the movie is very good. This is a kind of black comedy dramatic horror film, meshing so many different genres. The opening credit sequence was quite funny, and I didn't know what direction the film was going to go in. It twists emotions, and changes character roles, and features one of the best, and oddest, performances by a young actress that I have ever seen-that is Charlotte Laurier in the lead role.
Laurier plays Manon, a young girl of about twelve who lives with her mother in Quebec. There are clues that her mother, Michelle (played by the pretty Marie Tifo) used to be a drinker and used to sleep with several men at a time, and Manon seems to keep a close watch on her. She doesn't like to go to school, but reads "Wuthering Heights" in her spare time (honestly not my favorite book). Manon has a kind of special love for her mother-one that could be viewed as downright Oedipal in reverse-and one day while a mechanic named Guy begins to pursue Michelle relentlesly, Manon keeps an eye on her mother, causing her problems and making her feel terrible about herself, all for love.
When the film ended, the first thing that struck me was how Laurier could have also been played by Bette Davis, if Davis was younger of course. It is a character that Davis would have done, almost as subtly creepy as her work in the great "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Laurier was at the screening, and you still see a resemblance between the two. Laurier does great work, at times playing a mother role in a mother/daughter relationship in reverse, and at times she is downright creepy, saying very obsessive things to her mother. What she really is is for you to judge, but at times you'll see her as a pain and creep in the eyes of Michelle, and then there is this more sweeter and sensitive side, even though on the whole she is quite a child terror.
Mankiewicz lets the story unfold slowly, lingering on several shots and scenes for minutes at a time-its not ideal movie for a late night. But it is always intriguing, you can't guess the outcome, or even the conflict at times. And the ending is a very haunting final shot and final line, that when the silent end credits come up you really do reflect greatly. I feel very lucky that I got to see this film at the festival, and a rare French film from that era that I enjoyed greatly.
Directed by Francis Mankiewicz
114 Minutes
I was slated to see "Weirdsville" when things changed and I decided to see "Les Bons Debarras,"-part of the Canadian retrospective of Francis Mankiewicz. And in the end it was pretty neat to see a film part of that series. And the movie is very good. This is a kind of black comedy dramatic horror film, meshing so many different genres. The opening credit sequence was quite funny, and I didn't know what direction the film was going to go in. It twists emotions, and changes character roles, and features one of the best, and oddest, performances by a young actress that I have ever seen-that is Charlotte Laurier in the lead role.
Laurier plays Manon, a young girl of about twelve who lives with her mother in Quebec. There are clues that her mother, Michelle (played by the pretty Marie Tifo) used to be a drinker and used to sleep with several men at a time, and Manon seems to keep a close watch on her. She doesn't like to go to school, but reads "Wuthering Heights" in her spare time (honestly not my favorite book). Manon has a kind of special love for her mother-one that could be viewed as downright Oedipal in reverse-and one day while a mechanic named Guy begins to pursue Michelle relentlesly, Manon keeps an eye on her mother, causing her problems and making her feel terrible about herself, all for love.
When the film ended, the first thing that struck me was how Laurier could have also been played by Bette Davis, if Davis was younger of course. It is a character that Davis would have done, almost as subtly creepy as her work in the great "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Laurier was at the screening, and you still see a resemblance between the two. Laurier does great work, at times playing a mother role in a mother/daughter relationship in reverse, and at times she is downright creepy, saying very obsessive things to her mother. What she really is is for you to judge, but at times you'll see her as a pain and creep in the eyes of Michelle, and then there is this more sweeter and sensitive side, even though on the whole she is quite a child terror.
Mankiewicz lets the story unfold slowly, lingering on several shots and scenes for minutes at a time-its not ideal movie for a late night. But it is always intriguing, you can't guess the outcome, or even the conflict at times. And the ending is a very haunting final shot and final line, that when the silent end credits come up you really do reflect greatly. I feel very lucky that I got to see this film at the festival, and a rare French film from that era that I enjoyed greatly.
posted by Eric at
5:08 AM
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