ALL IS FORGIVEN is a patient, quiet film about damaged relationships being mended. The first hour is an uncompromising look at a complete arse-hole. Victor (Paul Blain) is a married man with a young daughter. He is also an abusive, adulterous, work-shy, self-pitying junkie. His wife Annette (Marie-Christine Friedrich) puts up with him until she can't take any more, and walks out with their 4-year old daughter, Pamela. The second part of the movie sees the now teenage Pamela (Constance Rousseau) edge toward a reconcilation with Victor.
At first glance, this movie has everything that usually winds me up. No real sense of plot or momentum - just a series of lingering scenes shot with handheld cameras. Victor is a complete shit and Annette is weak to keep taking him back. But the scenes are so authentic - so well-written, so natural, so well-acted - that I became engrossed in this train-wreck. In the second half, I was as fascinated as Victor to see how Pamela had turned out as a teenager. I was on tenterhooks at their first meeting. Particular praise has to go to Constance Rousseau who manages to capture all the shades of curiosity, fear, and child-like courage of the teenage girl. One wonders if writer/director Mia Hanson-Love is yet another Cahiers du Cinema contributor who is destined for great things.
ALL IS FORGIVEN/TOUT EST PARDONNE played Cannes and London 2007 and went on release in France in September 2007.
At first glance, this movie has everything that usually winds me up. No real sense of plot or momentum - just a series of lingering scenes shot with handheld cameras. Victor is a complete shit and Annette is weak to keep taking him back. But the scenes are so authentic - so well-written, so natural, so well-acted - that I became engrossed in this train-wreck. In the second half, I was as fascinated as Victor to see how Pamela had turned out as a teenager. I was on tenterhooks at their first meeting. Particular praise has to go to Constance Rousseau who manages to capture all the shades of curiosity, fear, and child-like courage of the teenage girl. One wonders if writer/director Mia Hanson-Love is yet another Cahiers du Cinema contributor who is destined for great things.
ALL IS FORGIVEN/TOUT EST PARDONNE played Cannes and London 2007 and went on release in France in September 2007.
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