GOTTA SEE IT # 4 - "LE CHIGNON D'OLGA"
"Le Chignon D’Olga"
Starring: Hubert Benhamdine, Nathalie Boutefeu, Florence Loiret, Serge Riaboukine, Marc Citti, Antoine Goldet, Valerie Stroh, Clotilde Hesme. Jean-Michel Portal.
Written by: Jerome Bonnell
Directed by: Jerome Bonnell
Colour – 2002
89 mins.
This film is a ghost story – though not in the way you would expect. There are no scenes of doors mysteriously closing or of otherworldly voices warning of impending doom, but this low-key French gem about emotional, creative and physical paralysis is haunted by a character who’s never physically present and is only mentioned in one short scene.
Gilles (Serge Riaboukine), Julien (Hubert Benhamdine) and Emma (Florence Loiret) are a family coping with the loss of a wife and mother. She’s gone and, yet, she’s not gone. Gilles and his kids rarely, if ever, talk of her, specifically, yet her presence is undeniable. She exists in the things that Gilles, Julien and Emma don’t say to one another. She is felt in the looks they give one another, in the subtext of their conversations, in their silences.
Each one of their lives has been stopped in its’ tracks by this loss - Gilles, a children’s novelist, is suffering a serious creative block; Emma has dropped out of school; Julien, a gifted concert pianist, no longer even plays. These moments are so casually mentioned that if you weren’t paying close attention, you’d miss them. There are also odd, yet moving moments that also speak to their loss – Gilles breaking down at a costume party, Julien momentarily losing it and chasing some sheep around their farm and Emma coming across pictures of her mother while searching for a new photo to use for re-registering at school. They are small, brief yet touching moments that catch you by surprise.
Bonnell’s writing/directing style is minimalist. His scenes are sketches – brief moments that always hint at something bigger without necessarily delivering on it. He’s restrained, in that particular French filmmaking way, and by being so, he leaves space for us to wander and wonder. He captures the awkward rhythms of life – its’ confusion, its’ start-stop nature. He creates the sense that we are truly peeking in on real people who are not at all certain of how to deal with what has so cruelly been delivered upon them.
Lest I leave you with the sense that “Le Chignon D’Olga” is all sadness, there are moments of real humour - particularly one scene where Julien tries to play hero to get the attention of a woman with whom he’s obsessed. The woman is Olga and she works at a book store that Julien frequents. She’s beautiful, elegant, and though she is a secondary character, her name is the only one to appear in the film’s title. There’s good reason. Bonnell doesn’t spell it out, but there is a scene later on in the film where she appears to Julien and it’s this brief flicker of a moment that solidifies her role in the film.
Bonnell is a director who trusts and respects his audience. It’s all there and he knows that if we are game, we will search and find the connections and make sense of it all. Another example of this first appears to be a subplot involving Julien’s attempts to help his friend Alice (Nathalie Boutefeu) deal with her emotional mess of a boyfriend. It is in the playing out of this story thread and its’ contrast to the Olga thread where Bonnell weaves his subtle emotional magic. This portion of the film is moving and simple and brilliant - it lingers in the mind and heart for days. This movie will too, that is, if you’re game.
Starring: Hubert Benhamdine, Nathalie Boutefeu, Florence Loiret, Serge Riaboukine, Marc Citti, Antoine Goldet, Valerie Stroh, Clotilde Hesme. Jean-Michel Portal.
Written by: Jerome Bonnell
Directed by: Jerome Bonnell
Colour – 2002
89 mins.
This film is a ghost story – though not in the way you would expect. There are no scenes of doors mysteriously closing or of otherworldly voices warning of impending doom, but this low-key French gem about emotional, creative and physical paralysis is haunted by a character who’s never physically present and is only mentioned in one short scene.
Gilles (Serge Riaboukine), Julien (Hubert Benhamdine) and Emma (Florence Loiret) are a family coping with the loss of a wife and mother. She’s gone and, yet, she’s not gone. Gilles and his kids rarely, if ever, talk of her, specifically, yet her presence is undeniable. She exists in the things that Gilles, Julien and Emma don’t say to one another. She is felt in the looks they give one another, in the subtext of their conversations, in their silences.
Each one of their lives has been stopped in its’ tracks by this loss - Gilles, a children’s novelist, is suffering a serious creative block; Emma has dropped out of school; Julien, a gifted concert pianist, no longer even plays. These moments are so casually mentioned that if you weren’t paying close attention, you’d miss them. There are also odd, yet moving moments that also speak to their loss – Gilles breaking down at a costume party, Julien momentarily losing it and chasing some sheep around their farm and Emma coming across pictures of her mother while searching for a new photo to use for re-registering at school. They are small, brief yet touching moments that catch you by surprise.
Bonnell’s writing/directing style is minimalist. His scenes are sketches – brief moments that always hint at something bigger without necessarily delivering on it. He’s restrained, in that particular French filmmaking way, and by being so, he leaves space for us to wander and wonder. He captures the awkward rhythms of life – its’ confusion, its’ start-stop nature. He creates the sense that we are truly peeking in on real people who are not at all certain of how to deal with what has so cruelly been delivered upon them.
Lest I leave you with the sense that “Le Chignon D’Olga” is all sadness, there are moments of real humour - particularly one scene where Julien tries to play hero to get the attention of a woman with whom he’s obsessed. The woman is Olga and she works at a book store that Julien frequents. She’s beautiful, elegant, and though she is a secondary character, her name is the only one to appear in the film’s title. There’s good reason. Bonnell doesn’t spell it out, but there is a scene later on in the film where she appears to Julien and it’s this brief flicker of a moment that solidifies her role in the film.
Bonnell is a director who trusts and respects his audience. It’s all there and he knows that if we are game, we will search and find the connections and make sense of it all. Another example of this first appears to be a subplot involving Julien’s attempts to help his friend Alice (Nathalie Boutefeu) deal with her emotional mess of a boyfriend. It is in the playing out of this story thread and its’ contrast to the Olga thread where Bonnell weaves his subtle emotional magic. This portion of the film is moving and simple and brilliant - it lingers in the mind and heart for days. This movie will too, that is, if you’re game.
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