Luc Besson is something of a one-man film industry in France as an uber-producer and writer; however he has directed relatively few movies himself and this one comes after a six-year gap (his last being a vanity piece for his then-wife.) And it is very different indeed from the action films for which he is best-known ("Nikita", "Leon", and "The Fifth Element".) In fact, it's a difficult movie to categorize, being some weird sort of supernatural love story.
On the one hand we have Jamel Debbouze, a scruffy five-foot nothing would-be crim who owes money to just about every bad egg in Paris. When he contemplates suicide as the only solution to his woes, he meets up with Rie Rasmussen, a six-foot plus stunner in high heels as well, with legs that go on forever. It is not a spoiler to tell you that she is an angel, assigned to sort out the miserable Debbouze and to make him embrace the feminine and more feeling parts of his being. However she must first address his financial problems which she appears to do by picking up a stream of men on the dance floor, relieving them of a suitable amount of cash, and taking each out to the toilets for a quickie 'how's-your-father' (or so we and Debbouze are led to believe). If ever a film deserved the epithet "quirky", this is it.
Anyhow Debbouze realises that he is falling in love with this aggressive giantess (she is adept at knocking out with a single blow any enemies encountered) and feels that his future must be with her, even if she, being an angel, already knows what destiny awaits him without her. One probably could criticise Besson for settling for a conventional happy (?) ending to what had been a singularly unconventional story; although there is a precedent in the German film "Wings of Desire", it somehow just didn't feel right here. What I can't take away from Besson is the beautiful look of the film with its crisp black and white cinematography making Paris a third character in this fairytale, looking as glamourous as she ever has.
1 comment:
Just discovered Luc Besson this year thanks to your journal of course - Le Grand Bleu and Nikita, which is how I found Jean Reno too (I know it's a case of better late than never). Brilliant film-making, quite vivid lighting, very French, so this one has to go on the list too. I like quirky, there's far too little of it.
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