Partir (Leaving)Directed by Catherine CorsiniRialto CinemasRelease Date April 1The French manage to make films about personal and family problems without getting too maudlin or cheesy. They deal with fairly ordinary problems but they manage to enhance the
Partir (Leaving)
Directed by Catherine Corsini
Rialto Cinemas
Release Date April 1
The French manage to make films about personal and family problems without getting too maudlin or cheesy. They deal with fairly ordinary problems but they manage to enhance them so that they take on the density of myths. This is the case with Partir (Leaving).
The film tells the story of Suzanne, comfortably married to her doctor husband with two teenagers who is about to restart her career as a physiotherapist. She commissions a builder to convert the back shed into her office and the slightly surly Spaniard, Ivan is set to work on the job.
She falls passionately in lust with Ivan and eventually gives up everything to take off with him in an affair which wrenches the family apart.
It is not the idyllic life they were hoping for however as they face a life of rejection, desperation and living hand to mouth.
This is a story about alienation and that aspect is further reinforced not only by the two main characters being foreigners but also by the characters being played by foreigner actors.
Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is an Englishwoman married to a Frenchman and Ivan is played by Spanish actor Sergi Lopez.
The sense of freedom, ecstasy and elation which comes with the couples initial encounters are superbly captured in the face of Kristen Scott Thomas as are the later moods of despair and anguish.
Ivan is no Don Juan, an ex prison inmate and possibly a crook, his ruggedness and simplicity are in sharp contrast to the bourgeoisie Suzanne but Lopez invests him with a complex character.
The interweaving of the diffrenet social classes and aspirations and how they play out with the three main adults and the children is well told, making for a cautionary tale of marital infidelity with its huge social and personal implications. It is also a beautifully realised tale of passion and obsession.
The film is set in the south of France as well as the north of Spain with some spectacular scenery. Part of the film is set in Nimes but this is no tourist view of the city, just the boring high rise suburbs of a typical French city.
