Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: GARANCE [Cannes Film Festival - Cannes, France]
Many films in this year’s lineup are people battling with their addictions on a functional (and non functional level) but sometimes the performances are more transformative than the story that they are telling. “Garance” [Competition] tells the story of an actress (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who for all intents and purposes is keeping up with the Joneses. She is trying to maintain a career but watching a boyfriend that has no ambition (similar structure in "A Woman’s Life") sapping her life away. There is an event that happens and she is very matter of fact in how she deals with it. It makes sense but also the amount of time that transpires in the film is not exactly clear. She seem to just be living her life. Maybe she is partying too much but it is relative to the people she hangs around with. She is not getting the best jobs but she seems happy. She begins to try the other side of her sexuality and seems comfortable in it. The shots keep coming but it isn’t like "Leaving Las Vegas". Garance simply thinks she is functioning until everyone says that she is not. This is, of course, a very fine line that happens in everyday life. Exarchopoulos as Garance, the main character, holds the screen. You see her hurt, her pain, her ignorance, her work ethic and definitely her intelligence. It is little things that culminate.
It is about enabling of course and Garance's new girlfriend is guilty of this too. She was alone and waiting for someone for so long that she was willing to look past certain things (in many ways for her own selfishness though you can tell she loves Garance). This is not the only tragedy in Ida’s life but it does force things into perspective. It is not just one thing but it does culminate at a certain point. While the film is not melodrama, it does drift close to it but the central performance is always razer sharp which lifts the main performance up beyond what the story might be. The transformation back and forth of Garance is interesting for the character, even physically because it is subtle things, the way she dresses, the way her eyes move, her body language. And especially when the film moves towards the end, specifically in a kitchen where a half bottle of wine stares at Garance, where you feel the character on a cliff and yet the dialogue does a bit of reverse psychology. This again really reflects the intelligence of the character (and Exarchopoulos' talent). While the film is not the whole package, Exarchopoulos as the actress playing the character is riveting. There is a a continual progression of bravatic performances in films this year aren’t narratively as sharp as the characters they are showing. "Garance" also means Another Day. This of course is an idiom to recovery and while Garance's journey is not over, her adjustment has been realized. B
By Tim Wassberg
