Strayed film review

certificate_15

STRAYED

One of contemporary France's most able directors, Andre Techine may not be a household name on this side of the Channel despite the fact that his work often surpasses many of the Gallic offerings that are released over here. If you've never seen one of his films, then 1998's Alice and Martin is a good place to start: a beautifully-shot, searing love story starring Juliette Binoche which perfectly displays his way with both his actors and the camera.

Techine's latest is based on a novel called The Boy With Grey Eyes by Gilles Perrault and is the story of a doomed relationship overshadowed by the Second World War. Emmanuelle Beart stars as Odile, a mother who at the beginning of the film finds herself part of a mass exodus from Paris, along with her teenage son and her young daughter. This long and hot march is threatened by frequent German bombing raids - impressively filmed - and soon the trio are stranded, with only a cheeky young man (Gaspard Ulliel) for company.

Ulliel, familiar to UK audiences from his role in A Very Long Engagement and now jumping forward a conflict, is Yvan: a broody, mysterious and self-confident lad who impresses Odile's kids but leaves her cold. Yvan knows the ways of the forest and soon leads them to safety in a house left empty by its fleeing neighbours. The question is whether or not they will all be able to survive together, and whether the intense dislike between the two adults will change into something else.

The film examines the impact of war on everyday people leading everyday lives, in a languid style that reminds us of Terrence Malick. Indeed, only five minutes in and we are already treated to slow tracking shots of cornfields, as the situation of the central characters is placed firmly in a natural context. At several times Techine shows how he is capable of creating moments of great tension out of seemingly nothing, and it's a film where the characters and their situation become more and more interesting as it develops.

Beart and Ulliel work very well together, as do the actors playing her children, and when the inevitable happens there is a real sense of passion about it. But it's the war that dominates this film and shows how it levels us all, and that is a message that is as prescient today as it was 60 years ago.

Paul Hurley