While it may not be comfortable for an amateur film critic to admit, I have always been vulnerable to the lure of celebrity and prestige. And hot guys. My longest and most vital cinematic crush has been Louis Garrel. Ever since I saw him in The Dreamers, I have been a fan girl for him. I am not embarrassed to admit that I have watched/slogged/suffered/enjoyed movies simply for the joy of seeing my french dream guys face. I think admiration, desire, that giddy joy one gets from seeing someone they find utterly beautiful, onscreen is one of the great joys of cinema. Movie star crushes are one of cinemas most essential pleasures and connection and shouldn't be discounted. Silly they mean seem, but movies wouldn't be the same without beautiful movie stars and their swooning fans.
Louis Garrel's face is interesting and Gallic and some might call him ugly. He has a big nose, a fivehead, and moles on his face. In films and in life he usually wears over sized collared white shirts. His hair is unruly to the point of looking nearly unkempt. But all of those things that others find dirty or unattractive or strange, I like (no wonder I call him Monsieur Dirty Hot). I have always liked a little bit of ugly in my pretty. And Louis has it. His hair, unkempt as it is, may be the greatest to ever grace the silver screen. It's lush and dark and messy in that impossibly perfect, natural way. He has a big nose, but it fits his face, and his face is like a Roman statue. As for his acting skills: one of my favorite critics once called him "indefatigably gormless" and another that I respect, when talking about a surprise cameo he had in literally the last frame of a film said, "Also , Louis Garrel is in the movie, but the movie ends seconds after he appears, which is how all movies featuring Louis Garrel should work". Dessolez Les Haters. I would say that moment is a perfect heartthrob moment, and Louis definitely doesn't give us many of those. It showed a great awareness and humor about his persona. Louis is a subtle performer and he has suffered by never pushing himself outside of his comfort zone, but he has a magnetic screen presence and does that suffering french lover thing, oh, so perfectly. Phillipe Garrel isn't just Louis' father. he is in fact a respected filmmaker in his own right. I have watched multiple P. Garrel joints only to see that Gallic God that is Louis. And I have also subjected my poor husband to it. Regular Lovers was so long and boring, I'm sorry. And Frontier of Dawn was intriguing for half of it until the electroshock therapy(?!) and then in the last five minutes. I skipped A Burning Hot Summer even though it had the burning hot Monica Bellucci. But Philippe's last movie, Jealously was on Netflix streaming and it was only an hour and fifteen minutes. And it had Louis.
Phillipe Garrel's films always have fairly simple plots and Jealously is no exception. The film opens with Louis (this is also his character name. P. Garrel is big into autobiography in his film) leaving his wife, which is witnessed through a key hole by his daughter, Charlotte. Louis moves in with his depressive, husky voiced lover, Claudia (Anna Mouglalis). Both of them betray each other to varying degrees. We see jealously in all of its forms. Someone contemplates suicide. Love is torture. Etc. This is pretty much the story of all of the Phillipe Garrel movies I've seen, I think they could all be named "Only Love Can Hurt Like This." Sounds fun, right?
But at the end of those 80 minutes, I was shocked. I didn't feel like I wanted to die. In fact, I kind of liked Jealousy. It didn't have the oppressive sadness of the other films. And it looked gorgeous. And it had a semblance of humor. It confirms every stereotype you may have had about the French. That they are cheaters and liars and revel in it or at the very least don't seem to care. That they love baguettes, wear stripes and smoke like chimneys. But it also has the deep feeling of love that only French people seem to have. Do you know what I mean, where they declare their love and it seems so serious and so deep and so sexy that you almost swoon and think, oh my god, I want to live in a freezing garret?! It also has this great warmth, because Louis has this adorable daughter who seems to be an archetype of French childhood. She wears a striped sweater and asks existential questions. She is sweet and charming and adorable and heartbreaking. And even though Phillipe leaves us with that notion that romantic love is fleeting and can only lead to deep unhappiness, this time he gives an alternative. Paternal love: the real love story at the heart of the film is between father and daughter. Louis thinks he can't love anyone more than Claudia; but in the end he realizes that that feeling will pass and the deepest love he will ever feel is for his child. Its sweet but not in a treacly way. Anna Mouglais is fantastic as Claudia. She has this voice that is so deep it almost sounds fake. But it is so unbelievably sensual and tragic that you completely understand why our protagonist is so taken with her. She may be the other woman, and in some ways the villain of the film, but she is imbued with such humanity in the performance that your heart bleeds for her. Louis has charm on his side in this film. His scenes with Olga Milshtein as Charlotte are super charming and natural. He has a natural, easy charisma. The scene where he chastely holds a stranger's hand in a movie theatre is maybe the sexiest thing you will see all year. His performance is earthy and confident, and much more mature than anything I've seen him in.
This surprised and heartened me. Every love story between two adults in P. Garrel's films ends in tragedy and no one seems particularly happy to be with that person. I swear, I have never seen lovers in his films smile or have fun together. They always seem on the verge of tears. Louis and Claudia aren't really that different. She can't find a job and cheats on him when he leaves town for a night. He kisses his costar and seems indifferent to Claudia's suffering. Those kind of characters can make it hard to invest in their relationship But what P. Garrel slyly does it make both characters sympathetic when your first instinct is to detest both of them. Louis may be a philandering jerk but he genuinely loves his daughter and gets joy from being with her. Claudia may be insecure and emotionally distant but she dotes on Charlotte and makes friends with Louis' sister. Charlotte is the glue that holds the film together, she makes us look at all of the characters in a better light. That may be because in this film, Louis isn't his father's conduit, Charlotte is. We are seeing the action from the perspective he had when Louis' grandfather, Maurice left his family. I always felt that Phillipe seemed so hard on Louis, making him play unsympathetic characters who ultimately died horrible deaths but with Jealousy there is a real tenderness that was unexpected and deeply felt.
Its funny, I watched the movie because of my crush on Louis, I'm not afraid to admit it. And I didn't have much respect for Phillipe as a director. His films always look fantastic but seem so remote and almost parodies of what people think art films, or particularly French films are. After watching Jealousy, my love for Louis is as strong as ever but I also gained just a little bit of respect and admiration for his crazy dad.
Julie
