Don't Look Back

Selected for competition in Cannes this year and the closing film at Singapore's French Film Festival, Don't Look Back is a rather straight-forward psychological drama starring two European actresses who would need no introduction in Monica Bellucci and Sophie Marceau playing the same role of Jeanne, or so it seems.

We're introduced to Sophie's version first, where she's attempting to write a novel after a series of successful non-fiction works, for the sole reason of revisiting her much forgotten, and likely repressed past. Despite her publisher's persuasion to abandon the idea because it's only to dig up some skeletons best left hidden, she forges forward and bit by bit discovers that she's starting to lose her mind, where furniture starts to be in places she no longer remembers, and family members start to look physically different, which of course is enough for anyone to freak out. And the icing of the cake, she morphs from French looking Sophie Marceau, to the Italian babe Monica Bellucci. Which is not a bad thing of course, considering one can morph into somebody less attractive or endowed even.

In the meantime, we're left to wonder if Jeanne (in whichever version) is starting to lose it, whether it could be an extreme and early onset of the Alzheimer's, as roads become unrecognizable, husbands become someone else, and scars disappear and reappear. It's an extreme case of severe identity crisis where one is thankful that it doesn't take the cop-out route and make everyone wake up from a bad nightmare.

It's an extremely well made psychological piece which explores the fear that comes with losing the things that we hold dear, and also the uncomfortable sense of being outside an established comfort zone, journeying into the big unknown, deducing what actually is happening, despite not knowing where to start, and the developing suspicion that everyone is in on the joke, except for yourself.

It's tough to compare who was the better Jeanne, because Sophie disappears for the most part from the second act onwards. Screen time shared by both actresses in the same frame is extremely limited as well, so we'd only get to savour one sold performance after another, turn-based. There's a proper explanation to everything that's happening, though one has to be patient in order to allow the narrative to reveal itself in due course. So meanwhile, accept what's presented, and try to piece together the jigsaw yourself.

Many angles are possible to represent personality disorders. Delivering an exciting movie with this subject is a challenge which I believe writer/director Marina de Van succeeded with beautifully. The tension and attention span gradually increase as does the spectator disorientation with subtly changing details to full decors. The physical changes are superbly rendered and here again the spectator starts to loose his/her reference points. In other words, we are inside Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci and move with her/them to try and understand. Both actresses perform splendidly and beyond feeling for their life's search, one leaves the movie with a strong bond for both personalities. In summary, I liked the movie for the storyline, the subtle crescendo along the time line, the actresses performance and the total attention span to try and understand (if I had been part of their life, I would have tried to help, but probably to no avail). I am a little sad for the low rating (6 at the time of this review).

I must admit I envy the viewers that raved about this film in their reviews. My intelligence is not that vast. In reality, my intelligence is quite-quite limited, so I can only say that if during the first 15 minutes or so of watching this movie I was enthralled with it, little by little, because of its incredibly twisted story line, I was starting to have so many doubts and questions about the goings on on the screen, that eventually I lost interest in this very confusing dark movie.

Many-many things don't make any sense, for example, Bellucci, all of a sudden develops a very noticeable limping --no explanation for it-- in order to lose it completely for the next scene and thereafter.

What?

What happened?

Was she surgically intervened from an old crippling paralysis while the lights were set for the next scene or was just a shoe too small given to her by an unscrupulous wardrobe mistress?

The change of actresses was done digitally in a very fascinating way, like in "The Legend of the Wolf", but much more subdued.

The intervention of digital effects in straight movies will be, from now on, a fascinating tool to tell stories and also because unexpected in this kind of movies.

Well, the whole thing attempted to be a superb movie, but it fell down on its face with a fatal crush.

"Ne te retourne pas" was a quite of surprise to me. Psychological drama, with touch of a "Twilight Zone"-type fantasy, moved me in strange directions, and paths the movie so meticulously followed throughout it's course. The story of a parallel reality between the past and the present, told in a narrative style that resembles a dream, focuses the viewer on constant change of pace with twists and turns until the answer is found. Main roles beautifully portrayed by Sophie Marceau and Monica Belluci, two of the most exquisitely beautiful actresses of this day and age, are right on the spot of the story and we follow the plot to satisfying conclusion that gives a perfect explanation to it all. Of course this movie does not appeal to Avatar audiences that expect movies which don't provoke thinking.

This is a first film by Marina de Van that I had a chance to watch, and this young lady is in my humble opinion the future of French and world cinema. Such neatly constructed, no nonsense, cerebral film, which gels as a meticulously structured mosaic is hard to come by these days. Watching it is a fulfilling pleasure. Fantastic!

And to not give things away, you're not sure whether there's a psychological thriller or some odd crime-horror thing going on until near the end. Fortunately, it does stay consistent with the story it tells, so the ending isn't illogical or a surprise simply for the sake of surprise.

As is becoming more common recently, you're dropped into the story from the character's point of view with no setup and only minimal context, seeing the world almost completely through her eyes.

It also brings in some interesting facial/body visual FX morphing to help tell the story, so fans of the main actresses get their wish in seeing what they might look like if combined.

There are a few annoying plot inconsistencies and story development limitations, but if you ever wondered what a chick-flick thriller might be like, you now have an answer.