Review by Stephen J Brennan taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98 Boy Meets Girl features Carax in his first outing with long time collaborator Denis Lavant (also seen in Mauvais Sang and Les
Amants du Pont Neuf). |
Capsule by Dave Kehr, from the Chicago Reader The revelation of the 1984 Cannes festival was this first feature by 23-year-old Leos Carax. In its fervor, film sense, cutting humor, and strong autobiographical slant, it suggests the first films of the French New Wave (there's something in the arrogant iconoclasm that specifically recalls Godard), yet this isn't a derivative film. Carax demonstrates a very personal, subtly disorienting sense of space in his captivating black-and-white images, and the sound track has been constructed with an equally dense expressivity. The hero is a surly young outsider who has just been abandoned by his girlfriend; as he moves through a nocturnal Paris, his adolescent disillusionment is amplified into a cosmic cry of pain. The subject invites charges of narcissism and immaturity, but Carax' formal control and distance keep the confessional element in a state of constant critical tension. With Denis Lavant and Mireille Perrier. |
Carax's first feature was both hailed and criticised for joining Beneix's DIVA and Besson's SUBWAY in creating the 'cinema du look' - giving priority to sound, vision and style over language. But the film stands out for its use of music (including Bowie, Gainsbourg and the Dead Kennedys) as a tool to deliver and distract from the simple plot which the title accurately describes. After breaking up with Florence, the rootless Alex (Lavant), obsessed with a need for romantic fulfillment, falls in love with Mireille (Perrier) and contrives to meet her at a party. Shot in stunning black and white in nocturnal Paris, Carax introduces us to strange, brooding characters and doomed lovers, themes and personalities which he returns to in his later films Mauvais Sang and Les Amants du Pont Neuf (in which Lavant plays the fire-eating lover). Boy meets Girl is invigorating filmmaking. With a nostalgic nod to J.L Godard, Carax uses startling imagery and extracts eloquent performances. Print source: Artificial Eye, 13 Soho Square, London W1V 5FB |