`LA SEPARATION' A COUPLE'S MANIFESTO.Byline: Stephen Holden The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times ``In a couple, one suffers and the other one's bored, and vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. .'' This bitter little epigram epigram, a short, polished, pithy saying, usually in verse, often with a satiric or paradoxical twist at the end. The term was originally applied by the Greeks to the inscriptions on stones. , spoken near the beginning of ``La Separation'' and repeated later, sets the tone of this small, exquisitely acted French film that traces the deterioration of a marriage gone stale. Pierre (Daniel Auteuil Daniel Auteuil (born January 24, 1950) is a French actor. He was born in Algiers, Algeria, to French parents who were both opera singers. His starring role in Jean de Florette ), a book illustrator, and Anne (Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Huppert (French IPA: [iza'bɛl y'pɛʀ]) (born March 16, 1955, Paris) is a French actress. She was raised in Ville d'Avray, a western suburb of Paris. ), a businesswoman, appear to have a serene domestic partnership, until one night while at the movies Pierre caresses his wife's hand and she impatiently pulls it away. When they arrive home, he asks her what was wrong, and she tells him he was bothering her. It isn't so much the words that are exchanged as the actors' facial expressions and body language that tell the sad story of Pierre and Anne's unraveling partnership. Huppert's Anne is a glum glum adj. glum·mer, glum·mest 1. Moody and melancholy; dejected. 2. Gloomy; dismal. n. 1. , shifty-eyed enigma. In those rare moments when she can bring herself to meet Pierre's pleading gaze, she stares back him with a clenched clench tr.v. clenched, clench·ing, clench·es 1. To close tightly: clench one's teeth; clenched my fists in anger. 2. jaw and a look of blank, defiant fury. Pierre, on his part, is initially fearful, abject and courtly. But when Anne spills the beans and announces she has fallen in love with another man, his hurt pride and jealousy begin to simmer. It takes weeks before they reach full boil in a harrowing scene of domestic violence reminiscent of the battle royal in Ingmar Bergman's ``Scenes From a Marriage.'' The couple have a little boy, Loulou, who is 15 months old when the movie begins. Brief sections of the film consist of Pierre's home videotapes taken of his baby son while he delivers an impromptu voice-over narration. ``La Separation'' doesn't pretend to be an in-depth exploration of Pierre and Anne's relationship. We are never shown Anne's lover, nor is his identity revealed. And except for her remembering an early date in which he cooked dinner for her, there are no recollections of Pierre and Anne's better days. The movie, directed by Christian Vincent Christian Vincent (born 9 February 1980, Windsor, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian dancer, choreographer and actor. He is most famous for co-starring as Ricky in the LOGO sitcom Noah's Arc, which chronicles the lives of four men in the black/Latino gay community. , who wrote the screenplay with Dan Franck, gives only a flavor of the nagging, petty conflicts that have accumulated into a crisis. They are annoyances as small and recurrent as Pierre's forever forgetting to turn off the lights and the television set. We never observe Pierre and Anne in bed, nor does the film give any sense of the couple's physical chemistry or lack of it. Even after Anne claims to have fallen in love with someone else, she insists that she hasn't stopped loving Pierre, although there are few signs to support that assertion. When she embraces him, she seems to be reaching out to console him rather than to express any love. The film's biggest flaw is its lack of evenhandedness. The movie is clearly on Pierre's side. But there is a reason the movie leaves out so much crucial information. By not giving a marital history, it forces us to see for ourselves what is the matter. It has to do with a lack of communication. Like so many couples - maybe like most couples at some points in their marriages - Pierre and Anne have settled into a routine in which everything is taken for granted Adj. 1. taken for granted - evident without proof or argument; "an axiomatic truth"; "we hold these truths to be self-evident" axiomatic, self-evident obvious - easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind; "obvious errors" and nothing discussed. Petty grievances, brushed away in the interests of maintaining the comfortable status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. , are stored up. But once one partner begins exacting revenge, a destructive chain reaction is set off that is impossible to control. ``La Separation'' shows us a hundred small failures of communication that have created the gulf: the small gestures of refusal and disgust, the meaningful looks that are not followed up with words and the negative power that comes from withholding, evading and keeping the lid on. THE FACTS The film: ``La Separation'' (not rated). The stars: Isabelle Huppert, Daniel Auteuil, Louis Vincent, Jerome Deschamps and Karin Viard. Behind the scenes: Directed by Christian Vincent. Written (in French, with English subtitles) by Vincent and Dan Franck, based on the novel by Franck. Produced by Claude Berri. Released by Phaedra Cinema. Running time: One hour, 28 minutes Playing: Laemmle's Music Hall, Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. . Our rating: Three stars. |
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