Strayed (3/10)

Copyright © 2004 by Tony Medley

Odile (Emmanuelle Beart) is an unhappy young mother of two children, 13 year-old Phillipe (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), and his eight-year-old sister, Cathy (Clémence Meyer). While fleeing the Nazi invasion of Paris in 1940, German fighters strafe their procession and they are stranded in the countryside. A strange drifter, 17-year-old Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel) helps them and they follow him.

What follows is a slow, boring tale that seems to have little premise and no point. I was mightily disappointed. Unless you like watching grass grow, I can’t imagine anyone being entertained by this. Odile is unhappy and lifeless, except for one lovemaking scene with Yvan that seems to come out of nowhere.

This does present a picture of the despair faced by ordinary people in the face of Nazi aggression in World War II. Poor Odile and her children are left with just the clothes on their backs. The German fighters strafe and bomb defenseless civilians. No wonder Odile is so unhappy. I’m sorry they couldn’t have come up with a story that was at least mildly interesting. But this is just Odile and her family and Yvan surviving for a few days, and that’s it.

Oh, there’s a mystery about Yvan as he can’t read and he’s odd and we don't know who he is or what he's about. But it’s not enough to carry the movie, and it doesn’t.

Don’t waste your time. You won’t regret not seeing this. In French with subtitles.

June 5, 2004

The End

 

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