REVIEWS
Confession Of A Child Of The Century Reviewed by Lee Marshall
The calamitous miscasting of UK indie rock singer Pete Doherty is, to give Mr Doherty credit, not the only flaw in this turgid adaptation of a novel by French 19th-century writer Alfred de Musset. This is the second cinematic version of de Mus-
set’s novel after Diane Kurys’ Les Enfants Du Siecle (1999). But whereas that Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel-starrer focused on the scandalous relationship between de Musset and female writer and saloniste George Sand, on which the novel is based, Verheyde rewrites the characters in order, one can only guess, to big up the decadent post-
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Romantic mood and not distract us with real his- torical people. The problem is that we are left with little except mood; precious little drama or emotion ripple the surface of this extended style exercise. The Doherty tie-in might be expected to raise
some interest in English-speaking territories for this English-language fi lm, but actually the oppo- site could be true. With the lead actor’s mumbled lines dubbed or subtitled, audiences have a slightly better chance of escaping his wooden perform- ance. A modicum of theatrical action is inevitable in
the film’s co-production territories, and spot-on costumes, some nicely grainy handheld photogra-
Fr-UK-Ger. 2011. 121mins Director Sylvie Verheyde Production company Les Films du Veyrier International sales Wild Bunch,
www.wildbunch.eu Producer Bruno Berthemy Screenplay Sylvie Verheyde, based on the novel by Alfred de Musset Cinematography Nicolas Guerin Editor Christel Dewynter Production designer Thomas Grezaud Music NousDeux the Band Main cast Charlotte Gainsbourg, Pete Doherty, August Diehl, Lily Cole, Volker Bruch
phy and a pleasant enough soundtrack at least make the fi lm worthy of the big screen on a purely audiovisual level. But distributors elsewhere who embraced Verheyde’s delicate coming-of-age story, Stella, are unlikely to rise to the bait this time. Doherty plays Octave, a listless young man whose
life is a round of parties and male camaraderie. When he discovers his fi ancée Elise (Cole) playing footsie with another man, a duel ensues, in which Octave is wounded. After expounding his ennui to best friend Degenais (Diehl), the languorous youth meanders into some rather prettily shot debauchery in a series of receptions that descend into decorous orgies. When his father dies, Octave heads for the country, where he meets Brigitte (Gainsbourg), a widow 10 years his elder. After a struggle between passion and conscience that only seems believable for Brigitte, the two become lovers. With a more or less permanently bored expres-
sion, Doherty looks like he would rather be some- where else; he only comes alive in a few passages of what look like improvised laddish dialogue. If the intention was to play on Doherty’s chaotic lifestyle in casting him as a libertine, the effect is to show him up as a rather timid schoolboy. At least Charlotte Gains- bourg gives the role her best shot, mining depths of emotion that occasionally persuade us there is some- thing tragic going on beneath the surface. But the episodic script does nothing to back this
up. Verheyde’s decision to focus on her lovers’ tiffs and bondings to the exclusion of the rest of the world means the dramatic stakes are set low. Rarely has decadence seemed so dull.
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May 22, 2012 Screen International at Cannes 15 ■
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