By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Alain Resnais
Starring: André Dussollier | Isabelle Carré | Lambert Wilson | Laura Morante | Pierre Arditi | Sabine Azéma
Original language title: Coeurs
Country: france, italy
Year: 2007
Running time: 120
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498120/
Bruce says: “Alain Resnais is eighty four and by now must have had plenty experience feeling lonely. PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES is all about loneliness and appears the work of a subject matter expert. Theirry (André Dussollier) is a realtor and bachelor who lives with his sister Gaëlle (Isabelle Carré). Charlotte (Sabine Azéma), his secretary, moonlights as a caretaker of the elderly. She is caring for the cantankerous foul-mouthed father of Lionel (Pierre Arditi), a bartender at a bar in a four star hotel that Dan (Lambert Wilson) frequents day and night. Dan’s fiancée Nicole (Laura Morante) is using the services of Thierry to find a larger apartment, one more suitable for two than her small place. The problem is that Dan never shows up for the appointments to see what’s currently available. Gaëlle meets men over the internet; night after night she sits in the Café Dezal awaiting her assignation with a red poppy on her coat so that she can be spotted easily in the crowd. Most men never show up or if they do they leave without any contact. The one exception is Dan who turns to the Internet when he and Nicole have a trial separation.
“The wild card in this demi-dozen is Charlotte who is a religious fanatic and amateur dominatrix while appearing to be the most normal and well-adjusted of the lot. She tries to cheer up Thierry with tapes from a spiritual TV show called ‘Songs That Changed My Life.’ Celebrities choose songs which have given them inspiration such as ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ and ‘Ave Maria.’ Did Charlotte purposely forget to erase the sex acts that appear on the tape after ‘Songs That Changed My Life’ ends?
“Based on a play by Alan Ayckbourn PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES is only mildly adept at relaying its message. The six characters in search of love or approval all appear to be too well off to be as miserable as the script would have them be. Their dwellings, even their places of work, are all decorated to the nines. The gloss makes the supposed reality seem superficial. Who really cares if these people are lonely?
“Each scene begins and ends with a snowfall that would be the envy of any outpost north of Hudson Bay. The purpose is to give the viewer a clue about the coldness of the characters’ lives. When the men go indoors the snow sticks to their coats and refuses to melt. Once, Resnais slips and brings the snow inside to hammer home the obvious.
“On the more positive side, some scenes are quite humorous and others, very touching. The actors are all terrific. I’m not particularly a Lambert Wilson fan; I find him too self-conscious an actor. But most audiences would probably outvote me based on his seemingly universal sex appeal. 3 cats”