COURTESY OF HIFF
Francois Morel stars in "Un Couple Épatant," the second film in "La Trilogie."
Appearances are deceiving. The picturesque town of Grenoble, France, is harboring some unsettling secrets. An escaped political terrorist hiding behind various disguises. A hypochondriac driven to frenetic, and comic, paranoia. A heroin addict who depends on her police husband to get her the drugs she desires. 3 tales set
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in a French town
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» Implausible yawner
» Con vs. conBy Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.comAll of their stories intersect in a well-made trilogy of films by director Lucas Belvaux, who himself does a yeoman's job as the lead in the first installment of "La Trilogie," titled "Cavale (On the Run)." That and the two other films that combine to make an intriguing whole were shot over a six-month period, using the same ensemble cast in an overarching plot, with each film emphasizing different scenarios of the story with different characters, all of them couples: the self-styled '60s revolutionary Bruno (Belvaux) and his former comrade-in-arms Jeanne (Catherine Frot); the flustered Alain (Francois Morel) and his lovely wife, Cécile (Ornella Muti), in "Un Couple Épatant (An Amazing Couple)"; and the sad-eyed addict Agnes (Dominique Blanc) and her loving husband, Pascal (Gilbert Melki), in "Apres la Vie (After Life)."
While all the protagonists exist and interact during the course of a day, Belvaux shows that their own particular stories -- whether comic or tragic, in the foreground or the background of each couple's story -- show them in a different light with each film of the trilogy.
Every film also has a different dramatic tone to it, whether it's the inevitable push of the crime thriller in "Cavale," the romantic comedy undertones of "Un Couple Épatant" or the nearly tragic angst of "Apres la Vie." It's to Belvaux's credit that he's able to pull off such an ambitious film project -- what could've been a valiant, if failed, exercise in cinema is an engrossing study of human behavior.
The middle-class town of Grenoble itself, in the southeast of France near the Italian border, plays a crucial role in "La Trilogie." Its centuries of architecture feel intimate, much like the films' stories, with its winding city roads that the protagonists travel back and forth on. Grenoble is nestled within nearby mountains, and a chalet owned by Alain and Cécile also plays an important role as both a meeting place and a sanctuary.
"La Trilogie"
I -- Cavale (On the Run)
II -- Un Couple Épatant (An Amazing Couple)
III -- Apres la Vie (After Life)Part of the sixth annual Hawaii International Spring Film Festival
Playing at Signature Dole Cannery 10
>> "Cavale" -- noon tomorrow
>> "Un Couple Épatant" -- 3 p.m. tomorrow
>> "Apres la Vie" -- 3 p.m. Sunday
The chalet becomes the last hideout for the most intransigent of all the characters, the escaped radical Bruno. It's because of his flawed hold onto the revolutionary promises of the '60s that he gets his inevitable comeuppance through a decidedly meek and ignoble end.
The only person who tries to help Bruno see the error of his ways is Jeanne, who, with husband and child, has matured past such inciting activity and plays the reluctant conscience to Bruno. But he's too strident to change, and as Bruno searches for the man who ratted on him and his youthful comrades decades ago to wreak his vengeance, it is Jeanne who has the last word against Bruno once he endangers her own family's lives.
"Cavale" is a taut, methodical thriller with an especially effective minimalist score by Riccardo Del Fra, who did the unobtrusive music for all three films.
JEANNE, LIKE the other two women in "La Trilogie," Cécile and Agnes (both sisters), are instructors at the same college, and while Jeanne's role recedes into the background as a secondary character, their stories are featured in the next two films.
"Un Couple Épatant," the middle film of the trilogy, is the lightest of the three, with actor Morel executing a fine comedic turn as the earnestly "ill" patent lawyer who dramatically dictates every new malady he thinks he's suffering from into the microcassette recorder he always has on hand. It's a comedy of errors and unfounded suspicions, done at a quick and engaging pace. Italian actress Muti, whose striking beauty has aged and matured along with her acting, is a pleasant surprise as the frazzled wife.
"Apres la Vie" comes off as your typical European art-house film, filled with angst and existential queries, but the smartly constructed film has two fine performances in Blanc and Melki. She plays the drug addict who equates the love of her husband with the drugs she brings him from a blackmailing dealer (who is the man Bruno is after -- see how this works?). Pascal, her husband, is equally delusional, equating the suffering he alleviates in her life as true love.
Their love is severely put to the test as Agnes' supply is cut off, until her husband finds Bruno for her dealer. In the meantime, through Cécile's prompting, he's investigating Alain's strange behavior. Pascal's growing affection for Cécile, while looking like a light romantic comedy construct in the middle film, deepens when one finds out how desperate their failing relationship has become.
Overall, while it's conceivable that you can just take in one or two of these films at the festival this weekend, it's really worth the effort to see "La Trilogie" in total to appreciate the full effect of Lucas Belvaux's work.
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