-
This sexy one-night-stand from director Claire Denis examines the brief interlude between two strangers who meet during a Pairs transit strike. In the opening sequence, Laure (Valerie Lemercier) is packing up her apartment to move in with her boyfriend. After loading her car, she is soon in the thick of a gridlock traffic jam. As the voice on the radio reports traffic conditions and urges motorists to offer a lift to stranded commuters, Laure languidly observes the city at a standstill: the signs, the other cars, the people walking or waiting. Jean (Vincent Lindon) wanders through the traffic, sizing up the scene. He approaches Laure and asks permission to get in. When he enters her car, he brings the aroma of sexual tension. Thus begins their night that holds the alluring promise of a pure sexual experience, unencumbered by any emotional baggage.
After briefly separating, they reconnect and then abandon themselves to the night and to each other. With sparse dialog throughout, the extreme close ups of their faces and (some not easily identifiable) body parts, they play out their desires, without urgency. Taking a break from the trysting, they go out to a café, behaving simply like a hungry couple. An interesting blend of curiously non-erotically charged sex and a languid slow pace, perhaps unintended is the notion that sex detached from emotion can be a snooze. Like caviar and champagne, it's not necessarily sensational.
One of the more interesting aspects is the persona of the city itself. The crowded rush hour streets, jammed with people, but each insulated in the bubble of his or her car, separate from each other. We get a glimpse into the dynamic of another couple in the café who clearly are not having a night filled with sensuous coupling; another glimpse into the apartment residents who retrieve some of the things that she discards. That Laure and Jean are so ordinary, so unglamorous and exposed, but not known, is intriguing. Both actors deliver fine performances, full of nuance, which may ultimately save the film.
At 90 minutes, it's still overlong and gets a bit tedious. It feels unnecessary to spend that much time with them. Still, in the morning, when they move on with their separate lives, what lingers is the essence of indulging a fantasy and being none the worse for wear. Not in the league with Denis' Beau Travail, Friday Night is still passable.
|