Il sale delle lacrime

I was hyped for this beautifully filmed gallic love story set over the course of a Parisian timeline - but I found it much less subtle, a Toned-Down Philippe Garrel outing than I was expecting. The linchpin is the character of Luc, the story almost spends the entire film with him and his journey to find love. It is solidly acted with nice settings, background score and decent direction. The supporting actress especially Djémila, shows depths of emotions that made this character seem very real. Strongly complimenting the story is André Wilms as Luc's Father, the scenes between them is a worthy piece of admission as a standout in the film. The character dynamics in the film are interesting and there is an intriguing laid back atmosphere throughout. This movie had the potential to be much better, but it doesn't impact much. On the plus side, this is watchable story, but with full of bittersweet moments and heart.

This is the story of a charming, easy-going young man, Luc, who enjoys having a regular (female) sex-partner. That's pretty much all we ever find out about him, which could be seen as a downside of this generally enjoyable movie. Because Luc is so charming and easy-going, he has no problems meeting young women in different cities who are eager to become his sex buddy, almost right off the bat. That suits him just fine, until a lack of responsibility on his part causes him problems.

A provincial bedmate of his, Geneviève, informs him that she is pregnant. He asks "de quoi?" (with what?), and when she informs him of the obvious, he accuses her of having trapped and betrayed him. From this we would have to conclude that they were having what we now call "unprotected sex," and that he had just been assuming the young woman was taking birth control pills or something along the same lines, such that he did not have to do anything to avoid a pregnancy. (He is in no position financially to support a child.)

A young woman in the Paris suburbs, Djemila, who falls for him when he comes to the capital to take an entrance exam, agrees to a (cheap) hotel room tryst for a weekend (she will have to pay), but when Geneviève "forces" Luc to go to a party with her, he doesn't bother to call Djemila to tell her he won't be able to join her. She is, of course, broken hearted.

And so things go. He meets another young woman in Paris once he starts school there, Betsy. She convinces him to let one of her colleagues, Paco, stay with them. Luc discovers that Betsy is also having sex with Paco, but he just sort of lets it ride.

As you might imagine, eventually Luc's world falls apart, since he seems to live in a perpetual haze of niceness and nonchalance.

There are lots of things one could criticize here, I suppose. Luc wants to follow in his father's footsteps as a menuisier (cabinet maker), but we never find out why, and never hear why it's so important to him that he would decide to go to Paris for three years to get a diploma in it from the most select school in France. (No, it doesn't seem that he's just looking for an excuse to party away from home like too many American college students.) Nor do we learn much about his relationship with his father. As a result, there isn't a lot to Luc, for us, other than the fact that he enjoys having sex. For a 100-minute movie, that's not a lot of character development. The three women he has sex with are developed even less.

All that said, I wasn't bored, and found the whole thing pleasant. Just the way the young women found Luc. I really wish someone would have told the director that Luc's last line in the movie, as it is, comes out of nowhere and really strikes a false note.