I decided to watch this movie because I have read many excellent critics and because this book is used in Quebec's "cegeps", some kind of a post-high-school, and my girlfriend talked about it with me. Indeed, I am very happy to have seen this intense movie. It is really a great and close to perfection. Even though I have even seen one or two better films this year, this movie is at least the best drama I have seen in the last five years.
This movie is absolutely convincing. It has very intense images and words and has a very slow paced and sad atmosphere. The movie begins very calm but the tension raises very fast and you really feel more and more with the tragic characters. This movie makes you cry, it makes you angry, it shocks you. Once again, it is a Quebecker movie that is cut into pieces and may mix you up a little bit in the beginning. You see scenes from the present where Jeanne and Simon are first parallely looking for the truth and trying to fulfil her last will, you see scenes from the dramatic past of her mother at different stages of her life and you also see scenes from the past of her family. The movie shows not only a couple of interesting and diversified characters (played by mostly unknown and indeed extremely talented actors), but also magnificent and intense landscapes, shocking crime and war scenes and insights of a foreign culture and the clash of the generations and ideologies in the past and the present. The movie is much diversified and very intellectual.
Many people were surprised by several twists and a very intense and dramatic ending. It is true that the development the movie takes is really shocking but I have seen a few things coming and wasn't that surprised in the end, but that almost does no harm to the atmosphere and tension of the movie. The movie tells in a very philosophical way about the irony of fate, peace and war, love and hate, vengeance and forgiveness, saints and sinners. It is uneasy to watch the movie and you still think about what you have heard and seen for quite a while after the movie.
Almost everything is perfect in this movie. There are two minor reasons why I don't give the best note. First of all, I was somehow able to predict some of the punches at a certain point in the movie and I have already seen more intense and shocking dramas that very even more uneasy and heavier to watch than this one, for example "The pianist". Second, some scenes in the beginning of the movie are not done very well by the camera man. In the scene where Jeanne is in her mathematic class and when she looks for some accessories in her room, the camera is disturbingly shaking and moving all the time but not to create an effect of uneasiness, because there are no similar scenes later in the movie during way heavier scenes. Those two scenes (that would not have been complicated to produce or film again) are just not well done and the director should have seen and corrected that before sending the final product to the festivals and cinemas. In a perfect and intense masterpiece, this little detail is really something that could harm the reputation and professionalism of the whole brilliant work. The next time, they should be more concentrated on the movie's perfection and keep their eyes open or invest the money in a good camera director instead of some war scenes.
But all in all, I think that we can really talk about an extremely good movie here! It is surely worth watching it and I agree with those ones who would like to see this movie represent Canada at the Oscars.
