Paradis perdu (2012)
Paradis perdu (2012)
DVD9 Custom | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 | 01:29:03 | 6,35 Gb
Audio: French AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/192 Kbps | Subs: French SDH, English (added)
Genre: Drama
DVD9 Custom | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 | 01:29:03 | 6,35 Gb
Audio: French AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/192 Kbps | Subs: French SDH, English (added)
Genre: Drama
Director: Ève Deboise
Lucie, 17, lives with her father Hugo, the owner of a nursery in the south of France. Her work and her close contact with nature preoccupies her and takes her mind off her absent mother, who left a year ago without any notice. Lucie and Hugo have grown closer to one another over the past year, although their relationship is becoming as dangerous as it is comforting. Then, one day, Lucie’s mother returns unexpectedly, arousing not only Hugo’s jealousy but also his anger…
IMDB
Having worked as a screenwriter since the early 1990s, collaborating with the Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh on Rice People (1994), Ève Deboise makes her directing debut by tackling one of the thorniest subjects of them all, the ambiguous relationship between a father and his adolescent daughter. Part realist drama, part modern fairytale, Paradis perdu takes us into territory that has, understandably, been neglected by filmmakers, and does so with commendable subtlety, focusing more on the psychological aspects of an incestuous relationship than its ugly physical reality. Whilst the film is far from perfect and displays most of the flaws you would expect to find in a first film, it is not without charm, although it is to be regretted that Deboise was unable to match the daring of her subject matter with a more audacious and consistent approach to her mise-en-scène.
Paradis perdu (2012)
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The film revolves around a 17-year-old girl Lucie and her father Hugo, both admirably played by Pauline Etienne and Olivier Rabourdin, who have developed a worrying bond of intimacy since Lucie’s mother walked away from the family homestead. Despite its paradisiacal setting in the middle of the French countryside, the film has a relentlessly oppressive feel, which is amplified by the lack of dialogue and some odd choices of classical music. Lucie and Hugo both have difficulty communicating with each other and others, and appear hopelessly trapped into their isolation. When the mother makes an unexpected return, the reaction of both Lucie and her father is as shocking as it is revealing. Driven by dark Oedipal impulses, Hugo acts in a way that makes it clear he wants Lucie to take her mother’s place. Meanwhile, Lucie is gradually finding her own identity and increasingly resembles the heroine in Beauty and the Beast, except that her Beast (her father) is unlikely to transform himself into a prince. The role of the prince is to be taken by an improbable interloper…
Paradis perdu (2012)
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Whilst Paradis perdu deserves credit for its delicate handling of some difficult themes, some obvious failings on the acting and directing fronts prevent it from having the impact it deserves. Ève Deboise shows great promise but appears to lack confidence and inspiration, particularly in her direction of the actors who sometimes appear lost and confused. Paradis perdu is a provocative and at times disturbing work, but it doesn’t quite succeed in marrying its realist and fairytale elements. For all its sins, the film is strangely alluring and provides an intense and hauntingly poetic evocation of the traumas of adolescence.
Paradis perdu (2012)
Eve Deboise's rites of passage movie Lost Paradise, set in the lush greenery of southern France, is stronger on atmosphere than on plot but has enough going for it as a debut feature to make an impression on the festival and arthouse circuit. It is slow-moving and demanding, however, and lacking stars its commercial prospects are dubious.
Paradis perdu (2012)
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Somewhere in the midi (the precise location is never made clear), Lucie (Pauline Etienne) is studying for her exams while helping her father Hugo (Olivier Rabourdin), a self-employed market gardener, around the farm. She's an adolescent, serious-minded, and like her father is sparing with words. There's no sign of her mother, and this aspect of her life is for the moment a mystery.
Paradis perdu (2012)
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The scene is idyllic - the sun shines down, the water in the stream where they bathe naked sparkles and gurgles. Lucie's relations with her father are close. At times, you may feel, just a little too close. Then Sonia (Florence Thomassin), her mother, turns up unexpectedly and the film abruptly changes register, becoming the story of a sequestration - angered by her having walked out on him to live with another man, Hugo locks Sonia up in a tool-shed.
Paradis perdu (2012)
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Lucie meanwhile is exploring her sensuality. A young farm-worker, Akim (Ouassini Embarek), enters the plot, discovering Sonia's situation but refraining from releasing her or telling anyone else about her, and later becoming a focus for Lucie's attentions.
Deboise has an excellent track record as a screenwriter, having worked for Maria de Madeirosand the Franco-Cambodian director Rithy Panhamong others. Here however she is more interested in capturing the texture of rural life - the sights and sounds of the countryside - and the script suffers accordingly. The story elements appear cobbled together, the ending feels tacked on arbitrarily and the resolution is facile and unoriginal.
Paradis perdu (2012)
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Against this, the movie is effective in conveying the claustrophobia that can come with living in a remote agricultural community. Lucie's development as a young woman and the burgeoning of her senses are related to the vitality of the nature around her, and the portrayal of powerful, sometimes dangerous, underlying passions, notably the temptation to father-daughter incest, in an Edenic setting is artfully done. With its frequent ellipses the film is occasionally hard going but as an addition to the well-stocked repertoire of debut features recounting the pleasures and pains of rural youth it passes muster.
Paradis perdu (2012)
Special Features (in French only):
- Recontre avec Le Public (08:41)
- Sur Les Traces du Paradis (08:34)
- Trailer (01:35)
Huge Thanks to Elan
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