Mauvais Sang (1986)

As a deadly virus which infects people who have loveless sex sweeps Paris, a lonely pariah attempts to steal a potent antidote, only to fall for the mistress of his partner-in-crime. Is the infectious young love the cure to the bad blood?

Director:

Leos Carax

Writer:

Leos Carax

Stars:

Michel Piccoli, Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michel Piccoli	...	Marc
Juliette Binoche	...	Anna
Denis Lavant	...	Alex
Hans Meyer	...	Hans
Julie Delpy	...	Lise
Carroll Brooks	...	The American woman
Hugo Pratt	...	Boris
Mireille Perrier	...	The young mother
Serge Reggiani	...	Charlie
Jérôme Zucca	...	Thomas
Paul Handford
Charles Schmitt
François Négret
Philippe Fretun
Thomas Peckre

Storyline

Marc (Michel Piccoli) recruits Alex (Denis Lavant), son of his former, now dead colleague. Alex is a card shark with a big dream to go out to the world and leave his own mark. His determination leads him to break up with his girl friend, Lise (Julie Deply). Alex initially refuses to help Marc and Hans for their "job" of stealing the culture of new drug. But Anna (Juliette Binoche)'s charm and beauty were irresistible. Alex joins the elders. Alex's dance to David Bowie's Modern Love illustrates unfolding emotions of young Alex moving into an adult (graying if not dying) world. The interplay among the generations, between genders, among social classes, memory and hopes, all played against black and white and occasional red back drop. Anna's cobalt blue robe punctuates the moment when Alex confesses his love for her.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to halley's comet | ex convict | post punk | paris france | love | 

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Taglines:

...love that burns fast but lasts forever...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite Official site [Spain]

Country:

Switzerland France

Language:

French

Release Date:

26 November 1986 (France)

Also Known As:

Mauvais Sang

Filming Locations:

La Défense, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,482, 1 December 2013

Gross USA:

$40,988

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$58,731

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films Plain Chant, Soprofilms, FR3 Films Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

An essential film of the Cinema du look movement of France.

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Quotes

Alex: I was a frighteningly silent child, apparently. I kept silent... but that's not right. Silence keeps us.

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Connections

References Pierrot le Fou (1965)

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Soundtracks

J'ai pas d'regrets
Performed by Serge Reggiani
Lyrics by Boris Vian
Composed by Jimmy Walter (as J. Walter)
disques J. CANNETTI
ed. RAOUL BRETON C. WAGENHEIM

User Reviews

Joint internal flight

I think music used throughout this reveals quite a bit of the cinematic exercise.

• Prokofiev's Roméo and Juliette, so a ballet, a cinematic opera on forbidden love between youth that aches to dream. Love that cannot be consummated in the ugly day of light and has to take to dreams, liebestod, Tristan and Isolde.

• Limelight tied into this, that precious bit of Chaplin beneath the big old sappy narratives that was purely evocative body, that was in essence a dance between innocence and star-crossed fate.

• David Bowie, 'Modern Love' aptly enough, so the rush of purely energetic instrumentation, dazzling camera beats, irony, New Wave atonality, in this case the song randomly caught on radio and meant to guide feelings, a dadaist gesture. Denis Lavant leaps across the frame with his wiry seething-petite frame that reminds a bit of the old silent comedians, he's a real pleasure to watch just move.

In something like Beau Travail also with Lavant and operatic, space is arranged bodily, the whole thing is cinematic and flows. Not so here. The guy responsible for this wants to be a little like Godard, so we have the interminable recitations, the poetry, the deliberately crude crime plot where you only need a gun and a girl, always Godard's weaker spots.

This too bad. Because there are visual moments here that left me practically giddy, for example love as a matter of leaping from a plane, a matter of joint flight and tenderly balancing mid-air.

Instead we get a patchy, stuttery ride that only now and then blossoms into some internal scenery.

The opportunity missed is that the eye dances but is not fully consumed with its musical capacity. Nouvelle Vague ruins this by proxy. I like to think that Wong Kar Wai saw this and immediately knew which parts worked.