Les passagers (1999)

Director:

Jean-Claude Guiguet

Writers:

Haydée Caillot (writer)
Jean-Claude Guiguet (scenario)

Release Date:

2 June 1999 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A tramcar in the suburbs of Paris, a woman commenting on its passengers who are as different as a young man with flowers...

Plot Keywords:

Swimming Pool | Talk To Camera | Sex | Masturbation | Paris France

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Fabienne Babe	...	Anna
Philippe Garziano	...	Pierre
Bruno Putzulu	...	David
Stéphane Rideau	...	Marco
Gwenaëlle Simon	...	Isabelle (as Gwénaëlle Simon)
Véronique Silver	...	La Narratrice
Jean-Christophe Bouvet	...	Le Voyageur
Marie Rousseau	...	Christine
Laurent Aduso	...	La Malade
Thomas Badek	...	Le Golden Boy et le Médecin
Emmanuel Bolève	...	Le jeune homme
Jean-Paul Bordes	...	Le Prêtre
Serge Bozon	...	Un Voyageur
Sébastien Charles	...	Raoul
Marie-Christine Damiens	...	Marie

Also Known As:

The Passengers (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

France:93 min | Argentina:93 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color | Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby SR

Certification:

France:U | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Company:

Little Bear

Trivia:

Visa d'exploitation en France #93545

Movie Connections:

References La maman et la putain (1973)

Soundtrack:

Spleen

Food for thought...

Really a series of brief scenes and sketches which looks a little like a compendium of ideas for shorts (at least one episode is indeed a development of a short which Guiguet had made three years earlier), brought together through an inveterate people-watcher on the Metro who acts as a chorus-figure for the various incidents. The essential oddity here, initially hard to adjust to because it's so unlike the French cinema's normal practice these days, is that in the majority of the sketches characters do not naturalistically say what they might in reality say but recite what they would probably like to say if they were brave enough, or honest enough, or had the opportunity to speak their thoughts aloud. Sometimes they even recite a text, but in unconventional ways: La Fontaine's fable of 'The Dog and the Wolf' provides a truly sweet moment, rather a sentimental one you might think, except that the text also provides a key to the speaker which is, to say the least, critical, once it's brought into contact with other episodes and other contexts. Guiguet's ideal, evidently, is to bring together reflections on the personal, the social and the political: the connections don't always flow with perfect grace, particularly to the conclusion which went to places that the rest of the film hadn't bothered fully preparing the way to. Not every episode seemed equally useful or appropriate (the foot story, in particular, felt forced into a film not its own). But there are enough unpredictable rhymes between episodes, and contradictory signals as to how we're to react to those episodes, to leave healthy food for thought at least on the mechanics and ethics and indeed politics of relationships straight and gay, and certainly a brilliant demonstration of cinematic significance drawn out of observing small things and small movements. yes/YES