L'amour avec des si

First thing to bear in mind is that,although labelled "nouvelle vague" when he began,Claude Lelouch actually hated this school "which killed all the directors I liked" .

This one may sound "nouvelle vague" ,but ,fortunately it does not concern young people contemplating their navels ,soul-searching....and no "deep" , "meaningful "but empty sentences either .instead ,the viewer rejoices in the presence of tongue-in -cheek conversations or broadcasts .

"L'Amour Avec Des Si" is a very intriguing work ,much better than Lelouch's interminable pretentious blockbusters: his sense of humor which would emerge again in entertaining comedies such as "le voyou" or "la bonne année" , is present in the riotously funny scene of the restaurant ;his disgust for death penalty would be the subject of one of his best efforts "la vie l'amour la mort" .

A sex maniac -whose responsible for many rapes , women and child abuse - escapes from jail ,steals a car and heads for the snowed up of Normandy ; he gives a lift to a hitch-hiker ,a naive young girl who "does not believe in rapes,it's only in the movies or in the novels ".What will become of her in the hands of such a monster? The man reveals himself considering ,tender, romantic and gallant :only a façade?

The movie is intertwined with cinema verite interviews in the street (a process Lelouch would resume in "vivre pour vivre" ) by Jacques Martin : many persons are asked about their thoughts about rape : the average man (and mostly woman) ; the general opinion adds up to a consensus that well... Men can be monsters but women are sometimes teasers.A second cinema verite live commentary about a miners strike is downright unseemly :social concern has never been Lelouch's forte.

In many a thriller ,the unexpected end has now become de rigueur.Here ,Lelouch double -jumped his future contenders by giving the viewer TWO unexpected ends (and even three ,if we consider the hero's last sentence)