Director: François Ozon
Talent: Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas
Release Date: 29th March
François Ozon’s latest offering blurs the lines between fact and fiction in this mischievously amusing musing on the creative muse, the artifice of writing, and “the dictatorship of sex.”
When Germaine (Luchini), a teacher of literature, decides to encourage Claude (Umhauer), a gifted student, he becomes intrigued by the teenager’s weekly assignments documenting the blissful family life of his best-friend Rapha. Simultaneously encouraging Claude’s talent, whilst making hollow protestations at his chosen subject matter, Germaine and his wife (Scott Thomas) cannot help but become embroiled in the very lives described in the boy’s stories.
Umhauer’s ambiguously detached performance lends his character the perfect balance of innocence and mischief (if not downright sadism), with Luchini’s elder mentor adding both humour and pathos as we question his motives. Ozon’s clever direction implicates us as voyeurs too, leaving us longing to see the student’s tales play out for our enjoyment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf5fgcN0sss
Words: Muireach Shankey
