Mouret caught in own trap in Please, Please Me!
After Change of Address [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2006) and Shall We Kiss? [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Venice Days 2007), Emmanuel Mouret returns to French theatres with Please, Please Me! [+see also:
trailer
film profile], on release today by Pyramide.
The director-screenwriter-actor stars in the film – produced by Moby Dick Films and co-produced by Les Films Pelléas – alongside Frédérique Bel, Judith Godrèche, Déborah François and Jacques Weber.
Lauded by most critics and alternating between a burlesque tone reminiscent of Blake Edwards’ The Party and Eric Rohmer’s gallant banter, Please, Please Me! centres on Ariane (Bel), who believes that her partner (Mouret) is fantasising about another woman.
Hoping to free him from his obsession, she asks him to have an affair with the woman in question (Godrèche), who turns out to be the daughter of the French President! There follow several twists and turns in which nobody manages to fulfil the promises of desire.
"I feel that we’re often torn between a desire for debauchery and another for fidelity, purity and absolute" explained Mouret. "This story enabled me to play with my favourite cinematic ingredients: desire, charm, suspense, awkwardness, fantasy, feelings and a little cruelty. The film is structured like a fable whose moral could be "one is caught in one’s own trap".
Besides Françoise Huguier’s documentary Kommunalka (Pierre Grise Distribution), there is only one other French release on this week’s line-up: Abel Ferry’s debut feature High Lane [+see also:
trailer
film profile], produced by Sombrero Films and released by its co-producer Gaumont.
In this horror film, whose cast includes Shooting Star 2006 Fanny Valette, Raphaël Lenglet, Johan Libéreau and Nicolas Giraud, a mountain climb turns into a nightmare. The director commented: "We shot the film in real conditions, without special effects. It’s also a study of human behaviour in extreme conditions [and] the need to face one’s fears in order to survive".
(Translated from French)
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