21/09/2009

Alternating between a Flemish and French-language film, this time a Flemish title will try to win over US critics, one year after Eldorado [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Felix Van Greoningen’s third film, The Misfortunates [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
film profile] was unveiled in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May.

As noticed on the Croisette, The Misfortunates, is more or less a concept, involving naked cycling in public, still drunk from the night before, or even that very morning. Plunging viewers into the depths of rural, poverty-stricken Flanders, The Misfortunates recalls the extreme hardship of My Way Is the Highway [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

And as in Koen Mortier’s film, any accusation of voyeurism is refuted by the narrative device, the writer-witness character, who observes and describes. But unlike that of My Way Is the Highway, the hero of The Misfortunates belongs to the society he depicts, and thus avoids cynicism.

For beyond the inextricable social and emotional poverty of most of his protagonists, Van Groeningen seeks, finds and offers hope and redemption. And it’s the narration of this reality, its fictional representation (in the sense of being acted out again) which makes it possible to transcend it and reveal its tenderness and humanity.

We don’t know what the Oscar chances are for The Misfortunates, but one thing is certain, and was confirmed by its Cannes screening. The film seems to correspond to what foreign audiences expect of Belgian films: social exoticism, alcohol-fuelled surrealism and unexpected bursts of affection.

The film meets all the criteria, so we’ll just have to wait and see if US critics are as impressed as the Directors’ Fortnight audience.

The film was produced by Dirk Impens for Menuet, who are in with their second chance of competing for the golden statuette, after the nomination of Stijn Coninx’s Priest Daens for the 1993 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

(Translated from French)