Love and Its Complications, Truthfully

Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble/We Won't Grow Old Together (1972) - Pialat

Jean (Jean Yanne) and Catherine (Marlène Jobert) are on the verge of breaking up after 6 years. But it's always been tumultuous between them. Love works in a mysterious ways and they both can't get away from each other no matter how unhappy they both are. I've seen this in relationships and in families before- they've known each other for long enough time that they can be extremely mean to each other. Brutish Jean who works as a cameraman, says very hurtful things to Catherine. But he half expects that she will come back to him and they will get together since they love each other. After such one make up session, Catherine says that she loves him less now. However miserable Jean is, he doesn't see that he is losing her because he is still in love with her. And she being a little more adult of the two, breaks up with him. You fall out of love. Love fades. But it's never gone gone.

As usual, Pialat brings out virtuosic performances from his actors. We Won't Grow Old Together is an unsentimentalized grownup love story that rings true however painful.

Satan in Plain Clothes

Under the Sun of Satan (1987) - Pialat




Young priest Donnisan (Gerard Depardieu) is struggling with his faith. His doubt leads him to self-flagellations of the body and mind. His superior views this as arrogance. On the way to another parish by foot, Donnisan has an unnerving encounter with satan in plain clothes. Satan's parting word is that Donnisan is a marked man. He then meets 16-year old harlot, Mouchette (Sandrine Bonnaire) who just murdered her older lover. It is a miracle that he can read through the girl's soul. He is convinced that it's satan's doing, not god's.

All this sounds outlandish and theatrical, but it's a Pialat film. It means everything is straightforward and extremely subtle. Heady, wordy theological exchange between Donnisan and his superior (played by Pialat) can be sometimes too dry. But Pialat never wavers in his no frills approach. Mouchette's storyline takes up the better first half of the film without interruption. The two encounter later in the film with stirring intensity that is quite something to see. The cold look of the film is completely appropriate for this somber, religious themed drama. Depardieu and Bonnaire are outstanding.

A Broken Heart

Police (1985) - Pialat
What makes a good Policiér: a tension filled plot where criminals always get apprehended at the end? Well orchestrated shootout sequences? A stoney faced hero with macho attitude? A good moral lesson? Memorable villains? Pialat's Police has non of that. When it's all said and done, it's about a broken heart. Then why is it infinitely more watchable?

Gerard Depardieu plays a tough veteran detective Mangin in a busy police district in Paris. He apprehends a couple (Simon and Noria) who are suspected in drug trafficking after a tip from a source. After grueling interrogation, Noria (Sophie Marceau) is released but not Simon. Now his brothers are getting antsy. With a pretty superintendent trainee in tow, Mangin, Noria's lawyer and Noria go out dancing. Hey, we are all human beings aren't we? Men, women, attraction...things happen. One day you slap her around and manhandle her, the next day you are making out with her. It seems Noria is taking advantage of everyone- the lawyer, Simon, Mangin, as she steals a suitcase full of money and drugs from Simon's brother who is in the hospital after getting stabbed in the gut multiple times while attempting revenge on the informant.

The best part of the film is Mangin and Noria driving around 'til dawn making out and talking, as if they were 15 year old teenagers in love. After he finds out what she has done, he returns the bag full of money and drugs to the guys to save her. She leaves. No promises are made that they won't track her down, no retaliation or shooting, no dying in your lover's arms or anything. Not even a goodbye kiss. Mangin quotes someone, "Deep down everything is rotten, or wait, was it everything is awful?" It's all realistic but not minimalistic. Devoid of drama yet human connections seem genuine and real. She was a cold bitch but he will no doubt miss her

Brimming with Life

Loulou (1980) - Pialat




Nelly (Isabelle Huppert) is a middle-class married woman. She meets a low-life scoundrel Loulou (Gerard Depardieu) at a disco. She knows he's bad and that's what's attractive about him. She leaves her husband André (Guy Marchand) and shack up with Loulou in a hotel room, then into a flat. He doesn't work and has an assortment of friends who go in and out of jail and always end up crashing at their place. Things are not so cut and dry with André, since she still works for him and he still has strong feelings for her. Nelly too, sometimes gets crossed with Loulou's wayward lifestyle. But yes, sex is good and yes it is sometimes thrilling to help out his illegal operations (stealing stereo equipment). She buys him things and pays for the flat. Then again, he constantly gets into trouble- gets stabbed in bar fights, gets tangled with other girls and their jealous husbands and shotgun wielding mental friends. Nelly gets pregnant. Would she keep the baby?

Brimming with life, Loulou features the one of the cutest couple in the cinema history. Pialat's steadicam long takes are perfect for capturing their lively relationship. Huppert is just adorable and Depardieu is natural in his silly, goofy, charming lowlife portrayal.

Beauty of Youth

A Nous Amours (1983) - Pialat

Pialat's raw, unblinking portrait of a promiscuous teen girl is one of the best growing pains films I've seen. Suzanne (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a 15-year old flirt who stays out late every night with different boys. After her stern but adoring father walks out on his family- leaving her hysterical mother and her creepy, underachieving brother to content with by herself, Suzanne goes through a series of men, leaving broken hearts everywhere. She's not the one to love but to be loved. She gets into constant, brutal physical fights with her mom and brother leaving her black and blue. Vibrant Bonnaire is a revelation. Her baby fat still intact, she is the perfect personification of the beauty of youth. Pialat himself memorably plays Suzanne's cynical, frank father who is the only one understands our heroine. Nice to see young Cyril Collard playing good-natured Jean-Pierre, one of the suckers who later gets talked into marrying Suzanne. I love Pialat's unsentimental, objective approach to this 'coming of age' story. Even though it's Suzanne's story, he never lets us forget that she's not the center of the universe. It rings much truer to me.