The Departure

If you're in the States, it seems there's a 99% chance you won't get a chance to see this consistently entertaining film, save for the outside possibility it's shown in a big-city arthouse theater. As you might've read from the description above, it concerns Marc (a typically charming, uncharacteristically manic Jean-Pierre Leaud), an automobile-obsessed young hairdresser in Brussels struggling to obtain money needed to finance the car he needs for an upcoming race. With no assistance from his coworkers, Marc enlists the help of Michele, the loyal girlfriend he keeps at arm's length (the likeable Catherine Duport) not only because of his immaturity, but his single-minded focus on car racing. As the earlier commentator said, a main reason for seeing this film is the charismatic presence of Leaud (it seems a tailor-made film for him), but another draw is the quiet intelligence Duport exudes, and the film's markedly mid-60's style. Krzysztof Komeda's energetic, jazz-tinged score is conspicuous yet completely relevant. Jerzy Skolimowski managed to craft a funny, modish, and assured film in a language that he apparently didn't even speak! Certainly worth a viewing, if you get the chance.