A divorced father spending one Saturday at an amusement park with his estranged kid - the theme has been visited and revisited by huge numbers of filmmakers, but although being the umpteenth movie dealing with the subject "La nuit sera longue", a medium-length film written, directed and starring Olivier Torres, has nothing trite. It stands out on the contrary. And this thanks to its two strong points, its radical approach of unassumed paternity and the muffled violence of its tone. Set in the space of a single day, from dawn till dusk, this bitter chronicle concerns Jean, an offhand would-be writer waking up with one of his numerous one-night stands, literally kicking her out of his apartment, then fetching his little boy Simon at his former wife's, taking him to the Jardin d'Acclimatation (both a zoo and an amusement park) in the Bois de Boulogne, until finally driving him back late to his furious mother and getting back home ready for a long, lonely night... On the face of such summary, you realize at once that it is not in the "action" as such that you will find excitement. This is a slice of life, not a thriller! But even without car chases,explosion and plot twist, your attention is sustained throughout, mainly through the twofold portrait it draws, one subtle and nuanced (of Simon, the little boy), the other accusatory ( of Jean, the thoughtless self-centered father). Showing sympathy for Simon's helplessness (supposed to have a good time for his outing, he will be seen left to himself several times, drink beer, vomit the meal he shared with his father, go to bed in the deleterious atmosphere of a row...), Olivier Torres charges Jean with all the sins possible (indolent and full of himself, he has no sense of responsibility : not only is picking up girls and bedding them much more important to him than taking care of Simon but he dares scold for the bad things he did during his absence). The action in fact is the product of your mind as you can't help experiencing strong feelings while watching the film, mainly of pity (for Simon) and revolt (against Jean). At the same time, Olivier Torres deftly avoids over- simplification. Simon on the one hand is not an absolute cutie, he is an ordinary child who makes mistakes, who rails insults at his dad behind his back while, for his part, Jean, has a certain charm and is not openly detestable, at least at first sight.
On the whole "La nuit sera longue" is filmed without ostentatious effects, which does not mean without style. Torres places this pseudo idyllic outing to the park in a context of snow and biting cold, quite in keeping with the father's lack of human warmth. Superbly captured by Caroline Champetier's cinematography, the Jardin d'Acclimatation, frozen by winter, exudes a mournful melancholia. The director also makes the most of the fairground attractions (the hall of mirrors, the shooting gallery, the merry-go-round) and the zoo animals which he films in such a way as to make them rather threatening than recreational. But, as I said before, all these impressions are rendered with discreet efficiency. Nothing to do with German Expressionism!
And icing on the cake, "La nuit sera longue" is graced with two excellent performances, that of Olivier Torres himself, who portrays the indignant father with remarkable restraint, and of Lou Rambert-Preiss as his son, who under the direction of the former, manages to hit the right note in each of his scenes. Both have (quite rightly) been given a joint best actor award at the Gruissan Film Festival. Recommended.
