À tout de suite (2004)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Benoît Jacquot

Writers:

Benoît Jacquot (scenario) and
Elisabeth Fanger (story)

Release Date:

8 December 2004 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

A girl from bourgeoisie discovers the pleasures of banditism, following her lover in his lifestyle.

Plot Keywords:

Bank Robbery | Morocco | Lesbian | Paris | Greece

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Isild Le Besco	...	Lili
Ouassini Embarek	...	Bada
Nicolas Duvauchelle	...	Alain
Laurence Cordier	...	Joelle
Forini Kodoukaki
Léonor Graser
Emmanuelle Bercot	...	Laurence
Odile Vuillemin
Catherine Davenier
Nicolas Pignon
David Ayala
Olivier Augrond
Sabri Lahmer
Fatiha Cheriguene
Olivier Foubert

Also Known As:

Right Now (International: English title)

Runtime:

95 min | Argentina:95 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

France

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:R16 | Hong Kong:III | Argentina:16 | USA:Unrated

Company:

Natan Productions

Trivia:

The film originally used Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" repeatedly throughout the film, and this version was screened at festivals. However, Pink Floyd charged a steep licensing fee for use of its song outside of those festival screenings, and so all instances of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" were replaced, with the song "Richochet Pt. 1" by Tangerine Dream, in order for the film to be released in commercial cinemas.

Movie Connections:

References The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Soundtrack:

Do the Boogaloo

not a great film, but somehow many of its images, and subtle moments, are still with me years later

A Tout de Suite is one of those little-seen and little-known French films that play for a couple of weeks at the Angelika theater in New York City- and subsequently get a playing once or twice on the Sundance channel- and it stays fairly in obscurity for the rest of cinema's days. I saw it first in the theater on a whim, and I was pleasantly (if that's the word to use) surprised on how effective the minimalistic style used by Benoît Jacquot helped suppress the probable insufferable melodrama.

It tells the story of Lili (Le Besco), who is 19 and is surrounded by a kind of teenage wasteland, though mostly through her relationship with a man who is a thief. He gets in a botched bank robbery and has to hide away, and she does so with him...all the way out of France and into a Muslim country (or what seems like it, maybe it was Morocco). It's not anything that leads to any big point about adolescent angst or disillusionment or even about bourgeois discontent, but it's a fascinating film for what Jacquot decides to show with small scenes, of moments so contemplative just based around how he and his DP shoot the actors (mostly in close-ups), and how time feels not totally joined together in a weird way. And while IMDb says different, as I remembered seeing it the Pink Floyd song Shine on You Crazy Diamond was used to fantastic effect, in a similarly subdued manner. Nothing is very highly charged with emotions, and if they are it's only in small, sudden bursts; everything is so under the surface it's as if everything will come out at the seams as Lili wanders in a daze around a foreign country- a true Lost in Translation scenario, all based on a faux-love situation.

Bottom line, if you want to watch some good- and yes, pretentious- film-making, this is one to keep an eye on for a real late-night screening on IFC or Sundance or whatever, and see if it's worth the couple of hours. I was very glad I took a chance back in 2005 in that near empty theater, even if I haven't seen the film since, as it has that authentic, independent feeling that leaves one oddly satisfied.