Dormez, je le veux! (1998)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Irène Jouannet

Writers:

Irène Jouannet (writer)
Marie Nimier (novel)

Release Date:

9 September 1998 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Cora is a teenager and has a lot of problems (mostly because of the relationship with her parents). One day she meets Katz...

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Hypnotism | Based On Novel

Cast

Féodor Atkine	...	Katz
Céline Milliat-Baumgartner	...	Cora
François Berléand	...	Paul, l'oncle / Raymond, le père
Jean-Louis Loca	...	Pedro
Catherine Frot	...	Marie-Louise, la mère
Alain Floret	...	Jean-Charles
Michel de Branc	...	Le libraire
Ahmed Ben Tayeb	...	Le restaurateur
Pierre Gérard	...	Le second libraire
Diane Fourdrignier
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marie-Christine Adam
Pathy Bad
Alexandre Billon	...	Le jeune belge
Colette Delange
Bruno Tuchszer	...	Le Bajshuvé

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Certification:

France:U

Company:

C.R.R.A.V

Go to sleep instead of watching that!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

*Warning: this comment may contain a spoiler at the end! (but you'll be informed again before it so you can read the start without worrying!)*

The title means `I want you to sleep!' and they don't have to tell us that because it's more enjoyable if we sleep! This movie is a catastrophe! Never a film has shown a relationship between an adult and a teenage girl so badly as this one. It tries during 1 hour ½ to discuss the problem of a pseudo-paedophilia in a very strange way and it awfully fails. Even if -contrary to me- you didn't like `Lolita' or `Léon' (`the Professional'), believe me: they are better than this! `Dormez je le veux' was certainly too ambitious compare to what it was able to do! The direction, the story, the lighting. every technical or `artistic' detail in the film are closer to a bad French TV-movie than a movie for cinema. (By the way I saw it on TV and I'd never heard of it before when it was supposed to have been released!). It's impersonal and it alternates between a `politically correct' way to tell the story and a too ambitious way to do it. Moreover it's naively stupid sometimes so it becomes a little bit shocking but not for the reasons we could expect at the start. Only some few sequences are a bit more ambitious and daring, e.g. when young actress Céline Milliat-Baumgartner is in the bed with Féodor Atkine or when she appears topless. In fact most of the time there is a lack of daring and when the film dares more it maybe dares too much -mostly if you compare to the rest- and very badly! It's an inconsistent road-movie with different acting skills. Atkine is quite good in his role, Catherine Frot acts very well in a role which is perfect for her (a `disconnected' woman like in `Un Air de Famille'.) but unfortunately she has a little role, François Berléand is also brilliant in the 2 different roles he has (but like Frot he's too absent!) and Jean-Louis Loca is quite bad. The young Céline Milliat-Baumgartner has to improve her acting skills even if she's OK. Her little resemblance to Nathalie Portman is a bit disturbing during one scene: indeed at one moment, Cora (Celine Milliat-Baumgartner) says to the hotel receptionist that she's Katz's (Feodor Atkine) wife! Doesn't it remind you another scene with Nathalie Portman and Jean Reno in a movie called `Léon'? Hem. To finish with let's speak about the only very good scene which allowed me to give a generous 3/10 instead of 1: the end! (*so don't read what's next if you don't want to know the end!*). What a pity that the movie is not all the time as good as the end where Cora tries to put a baby to sleep by hypnotising him (and in English!). Finally some original and interesting thing!