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Fontaine brings a view that's unique exploring love and desire's truths
By Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Published on Thursday, Jul 16, 2009
No matter how old, successful or powerful you are — and no matter how much in command of your life you may be — love and sex can still make a complete idiot out of you, under the right (or wrong) circumstances. This truth plays out often enough in public life, and it's the subject of The Girl From Monaco, an odd and slightly comic thriller from France from director Anne Fontaine.
Fontaine, over the past decade and a half, has been steadily putting together a body of work, as a writer and director, that explores the dark and dangerous side of desire. Dry Cleaning (1997) is probably her best-known film in these parts, but there have been others, including Into His Hands (2005), a terrific thriller about a proper married woman who finds herself falling in love with a serial killer. That such a story could be psychologically rich, and not sensationalist or absurd, is testimony to Fontaine's particular and peculiar vision.
In The Girl From Monaco that vision meets up nicely with Fabrice Luchini, the fussy and mercurial comic actor, who here plays a top defense lawyer who comes to Monaco on a case. Because it's a high-profile murder trial, the defendant's family hires a bodyguard to stay with him at all times. And so, right away, we have a nice pairing of opposites: Luchini, who is quick, loquacious, cerebral, and Roschdy Zem as the bodyguard — watchful, terse, elemental.
Some movies create an inviting world for the viewer. This is one of them. Monaco, as presented here, is a mix of opulent splendor and small-town coziness, with a lively nightlife. And then there's the title character — the girl from Monaco, Audrey, played by Louise Bourgoin with a beauty and energy that are somehow both unsettling.
The lawyer first sees Audrey on a news show, doing the weather report for a local TV station. (Europe is full of fantastically beautiful young women, who may or may not know anything about meteorology, doing weather reports.) Later, when he happens to meet her, she immediately takes a tremendous interest in this man twice her age. She's friendly, flirty, engaging, inviting — and he's, by turns, alarmed and delighted. She is either the best or worst possible thing that could happen to a middle-aged guy. Or both.
The Girl From Monaco is a great showcase for Luchini, one of the most distinct, idiosyncratic and just-plain-likable actors working today. He is innately comical, and yet so formidable, both in personality and intellect, that he is very much a dramatic actor, as well — not to mention, one in possession of a wonderful gift: Luchini's reactions, second by second, moment by moment, are readable in his eyes, even when he's still. Much of the fun of this film is in watching Luchini try to get a read on his loyal but impassive bodyguard, and in watching his knowing descent into abject helplessness when confronted by a sexy young woman's attentions.
It's a measure of Fontaine's intelligence as a director — and, dare we say it, to the advantages of a having a female director — that Audrey remains distinct, unsettling and never easy to quite pin down throughout. Audrey is Louise Bourgoin's first screen role, and yet, either through Fontaine's guidance or her own sense of proportion, she never tries to charm or assure us. She keeps something in reserve and at times she even dares to be repellent. It's an audacious debut, in a notable, worthwhile picture.
Details:
Movie: The Girl From Monaco
Rating: R (some sexual content and language)
Theaters: Cedar Lee
3 Stars
No matter how old, successful or powerful you are — and no matter how much in command of your life you may be — love and sex can still make a complete idiot out of you, under the right (or wrong) circumstances. This truth plays out often enough in public life, and it's the subject of The Girl From Monaco, an odd and slightly comic thriller from France from director Anne Fontaine.
Get the full article here.
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