Search

A Tout De Suite

2004, Movie, NR, 95 mins

A Tout De Suite: Review

A TOUT DE SUITE
starstarstarstar
Set in Paris in 1975, this sensitive, low-key film is another exquisitely crafted volume in French director Benoit Jacquot's collection of films about young Frenchwomen at pivotal points in their lives. Nineteen-year-old art student Lili (Isild Le Besco) lives with her indifferent father and cranky older sister in a flat large enough for Lili to smuggle her best friend in each night and out the following morning without anyone noticing. One afternoon after class, the girls slip into a tony café, where they allow a young man named Gerard to buy them sandwiches and champagne. Impressed, they agree to meet him later that night at a club, but Lili's really far more interested in Gerard's handsome Moroccan friend, 23-year-old Bada (Ouassini Embarek), who, like Gerard, claims to be involved in real estate. It doesn't take long for Lili to learn the truth about where Bada gets those thick wads of bills he carries in his pocket. After a whirlwind courtship, Lili gets a call from Bada. He's trapped inside the bank that he, Gerard and their cohort in crime, Alain (Nicolas Duvauchelle), have just robbed; a bank guard, a cashier and Gerard are all dead, the bank is surrounded by police and Bada probably won't make it out alive. But when he does manage to escape, Lili agrees to hide Bada, Alain and a suitcase of stolen francs in her bedroom until they can figure out a way to leave France. When they do, Lili impulsively leaves with them. At first it's all a grand adventure that takes them first to Spain, then Morocco; Lili and Joelle (Laurence Cordier), Alain's girlfriend, think of themselves as a couple of bourgeois girls romantically on the run with a pair of criminal roughnecks. "It was the good life," an older Lili notes in voice-over. "I don't know if it was real life." The reality of her situation hits the minute they arrive in Greece. Delayed by a customs official who wants to know exactly what she's doing in Athens, Lili is abandoned by her panicky traveling companions. Alone in a strange country with no contacts, no friends and no money, Lili's awfully big adventure quickly becomes a nightmare. Having already explored young female sexuality in THE DISENCHANTED (1990) and unexpected pregnancy in A SINGLE GIRL (1995), Benoit's take on l'amour fou is typical of the director's best work: sexually explicit but never exploitative and shot in dim black-and-white that recalls more adventurous times in French cinema, as does Le Besco's bold, brilliant performance. leave a comment --Ken Fox
Advertisement

Advertisement

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. Dancing with the Stars
  2. The Game
  3. NCIS
  4. American Idol
  5. Wife Swap
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Michelle Obama
  2. Adam Lambert
  3. Tiger Woods
  4. Kym Johnson
  5. Donny Osmond
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
  2. The Blind Side
  3. 2012
  4. Planet 51
  5. A Christmas Carol
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Adam Lambert
  2. #5 Adam Lambert - For Your En...
  3. V
  4. #20 Adam Lambert American Mus...
  5. NCIS
more top videos