11/02/2014 - Emmanuelle Devos makes an astonishing trip back to nature when faced by her worn-out relationship with Mathieu Amalric. An unusual film directed by Sophie Fillières

"We never talk about anything any more"; "We never dance any more"; "We're getting old": life as a couple is definitely a far cry from a life of bliss for Pomme and Pierre, the two protagonists in If You Don't, I Will [+see also:
trailer
film profile]  bySophie Fillières, unveiled in the Panorama at the 64^th Berlinale. Played by the excellent Emmanuelle Devos and Mathieu Amalric, our pair of 40-year-olds unreel an everyday life of feelings that have run dry, accompanied by veiled aggressiveness, mini settlings of scores, eloquent silences at breakfast, routine walks in the forest, "social" commitments that stir no enthusiasm, and slightly fanatical obsessions. It is an observation of a present on the decline and an uncertain future, hardly spiced up by little hints of jealousy ("You don't like it when people like me"). On the basis of this portrait of a couple, which is very well conveyed and not lacking in humour, but all in all rather banal at first glance, Sophie Fillières nevertheless succeeds in carrying off a rather bold and very unusual film by telling how Pomme strangely takes off, escaping to the solitude of the forest in search of a new meaning to give to her life.

Just recently, there have been lots of female characters dissatisfied with their lives and trying to find a way out or a new breath of life in French cinematographic production (one can cite among others On my Way [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Lulu in the Nude [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Domestic Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Bright Days Ahead [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), though Pomme (Devos) sets off into new territories, abandoning her companion on a woodland path and spending almost two weeks, alone and in survival mode, in the midst of nature. A flight on an impulse which leaves Pierre irritated, then dumbfounded, before he decides to set about finding her several days later (in vain, in an area of 11,150 acres criss-crossed by 444 kilometres of paths). Pomme, however, (who will later introduce herself, when hitch-hiking, by the name of Gena Rowlands; a very telling reference...) must above all take a good look at herself and discover quite simply whether she still has a kind of desire to live, now that she knows she is not immortal (she has just been treated for a benign tumour) and that her son is too old for her to keep on over-protecting him.

Borne along by the very real talent of Emmanuelle Devos, If You Don't, I Will avoids the inherent risks in its surprising plot; the sequences in the forest are tinted with the atmosphere of a realistic tale which could easily have descended into something quite incongruous. The well-controlled staging, convincing dialogues and beautiful photography handled by Emmanuelle Collinot all contribute perfectly to a film which is certainly likely to throw spectators fond of rationality, but which expresses very effectively the (feminine ?) emotions ranging between things left unsaid and sudden, almost insane explosions. We see human equilibrium on the fringes of normality, which reinforces the rather off-the-wall style of Sophie Fillières.

(Translated from French)