Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Grégoire Colin
Intro:
... a tour de force of acting.
This intense domestic drama from renowned French director Claire Denis (Let the Sunshine In, High Life) is also titled ‘Fire’. This is also apposite, as it is all about the way in which love can flare up and burn us. Songs and poems throughout the ages have lamented the fact that love is a double-edged sword. And yet, to be without love is to be safe at the expense of really living.
Denis explores this age-old conundrum by taking the story of a marriage and the intercession of an old flame. In the opening credit sequence, we have the sweetest realisation of the nice side of love. A couple, Sara (Juliette Binoche) and Jean (Vincent Lindon) are spending love-filled days together on holiday. They go swimming, they dine, they luxuriate in each other’s company. However, when they get back to their little flat in Paris, old tensions start to reappear. Jean is a rugby coach. He has a past. He was in jail a while back, but he is now rebuilding his life and enjoying the routine of knowing that Sara will be at home. However, when his old friend and colleague Francois (Grégoire Colin) walks back into their lives, things get tense. Sara and Francois were in a relationship once, and she is wary of seeing him precisely because she fears that her desires for him have not gone away. No prizes for guessing that the proximity of Francois does indeed cause problems.
Most of the scenes are set in the couple’s flat and, as they bicker and row, the camera increasingly tightening on their faces. There are many complex scenes which start simply and then build to great intensity. Some of these are a tour de force of acting. Denis does not judge her characters, but she doesn’t spare them either. Both protagonists are selfish in their way, and both are torn between what they want from the other and what they are prepared to do themselves. As noted, the level of acting is the key to making this film succeed. It is certainly not a comfortable film to watch, but with two of France’s finest screen actors at the height of their powers it is well worth seeking out.
