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Cap Tourmente In French (1993) Barbara: "You people seem to be in love with each other." Jeanne and her daughter Alfa have an inn by the shore. The inn is failing, and customers are going elsewhere. Jeanne's son Alex (Roy Dupuis) comes home, disrupts the family, and behaves so badly that he makes the situation worse. Alex is a disturbing character. I admit I was a bit freaked when the movie started with him kissing a man full on the mouth and then making a pass at his own sister. (He even makes something that could be interpreted as a pass at his mother.) Alfa says Alex is sick, but never says what is wrong with him. In fact, it's never clear what's actually going on with Alex. Is he mentally ill? In love with his sister? Jean-Louis? Himself? Alex appears to love everyone but at the same time, he is so amoral that it seems unlikely that he is capable of love at all. It's also hard to tell how the others feel about Alex. Jean-Louis kisses Alex passionately, but sleeps with Alfa. Alfa rebuffs Alex's pass by kicking him in the crotch, and then she dances with him a very sexual way. Jeanne touches Alex when he's naked and sitting on the old, wrecked ship. None of this is ever explained. And that is probably because this is one of those films where people behave in a bizarre fashion and everything means something else. I think Alex is just a plot device. He's the uncontrollable chaos that comes into their lives, like the metaphor they use of a horse in a storm. They are all on stormy seas. Barbara, a Russian girl who stays at the inn after her bicycle breaks down, says the inn is like a boat. Alex spends a lot of time on an old, wrecked ship, plus the film begins with Alex at the prow of a ship, and ends with Jeanne in the same pose. There's a scene where Jeanne is playing the piano, and Alex takes over, puts in a player piano roll, and the entire family sings "Stormy Weather." Alex builds a tower of glasses and then knocks them down. While painting the house, he falls and spills paint everywhere, including on family members. The fireplace smokes the family out of the house. Symbolism R Us. Interestingly enough, Alex carries his cello everywhere, and there's a lot of singing. (I think this is the first time I heard Roy Dupuis sing.) I wonder what the cello is supposed to represent? He continually plays the cello (badly), drops it in the sand, tosses it in the ocean to see if it will float, and finally smashes it against Barbara's bicycle. And Alex's brief affair with Barbara is just fascinating. They don't communicate because she cannot speak French and he refuses to speak English, even though he speaks the language. In one scene I particularly liked, they argue in Russian and French, neither understanding the other. He tells her he is speaking from his heart, and of course, he has made certain that she won't understand him. Roy's performance is exceptional; it's hard to take your eyes off him. He stares at people in an inappropriate way that is particularly disturbing. Physically aggressive, he constantly invades their personal space, touching them without their spoken or unspoken invitation. And he looks very different than he has in other roles. Blond and tan, more muscular and heavier than he usually is, he reminds me of James Dean or a young Marlon Brando. And yes, he does a nude scene, complete with dangly bits. Can't be bad. This movie is interesting, compelling and uncomfortable at the same time. I watched it twice and didn't get bored, even though my French is not what it should be. Three out of four stars, Billie |
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