Old times and old timers

>>Il ne faut jurer de rien is a farcical period piece and
À force de rêves looks at the energetic elderly

by Malcom Fraser
and CHLOE ROUBERT

                                    Historical Hijinks: Il ne faut jurer de rien

l ne faut jurer de rien

We anglos usually associate the period piece with sober drama, stiff-upper-lipped repression and the dreaded names Merchant and Ivory. This historical film, though, is firmly planted in the opposite tradition. A romantic farce that’s fluffier than a litter of kittens, it’s set in Paris in 1830. Fine-fabric merchant Van Buck (Gérard Jugnot) meets the stuffy Baroness de Mantes (Marie-France Santon), a wealthy widow assiduously trying to marry off her beautiful but impetuous daughter Cécile (Mélanie Doutey).
 

Jugnot comes up with the notion of hooking Doutey up with his caddish nephew, Valentin (Brice de Nice’s Jean Dujardin) in the hopes of getting his hands on a slice of the Baroness’s family fortunes. Dujardin, a bon vivant and regular whorehouse customer, wants nothing to do with it, but is interested in getting Doutey in the sack; he’s so confident he can pull it off that he bets his uncle he’ll marry her if he can’t.

The premise sounds pretty ridiculous on paper, and it’s not much less so on film. The overall silliness is redeemed by the charm exuded by both the leads. Dujardin’s bad-boy act is pretty clichéd, and Doutey’s fiercely independent spirit is surely anachronistic, but they’re both very likeable and certainly worth gazing at onscreen. Those without a fine knowledge of French history may be a little confused by the topical references to the era’s political upheaval, but they don’t take up too much screen time. All in all, it’s a slight but enjoyable bit of fun for the arthouse crowd. (MF)
 

À force de rêves
 

At some point in your teens—the day your favourite pet died or when your crush left school forever—you may have promised yourself to live every day as if it was your last. I don’t need to remind you that this fell through, because, well, that’s life. There are still a few hopeful believers out there, though, such as Serge Giguère, director of the documentary À force de rêves.
 

To demonstrate this, Giguère followed five people, ages 75 to 92, over several years, with the premise that following one’s passions and embracing mortality is the best way to live happily. Giguère is a talented and patient cameraman, and creates a very intimate space in which his protagonists are comfortable to share their anxieties, hopes and ideas about life with a touching honesty.
 

Nevertheless, even this relaxing environment doesn’t make it any less depressing to hear about ancient clocks, model airplanes and cutting trees for two hours. The movie’s overt symbolism (those model airplanes, falling leaves) is pretty mundane, and the message, “live life to the fullest,” is totally clichéd.
 

I have nothing against spreading the good word, or against old people confronting death, which, granted, must be stressful and sad. But exploiting that certain cuteness older people are supposed to offer when they talk about their past is really cheesy. Apart from one of the protagonists, Marc-André Péloquin, who somehow made me stay throughout the screening, this isn’t worth it. (CR)

both Films  open

Friday, Jan. 26