Petites coupures (2003)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Pascal Bonitzer

Writers:

Pascal Bonitzer (writer)
Emmanuel Salinger (writer)

Release Date:

12 February 2003 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Daniel Auteuil	...	Bruno
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Béatrice
Pascale Bussières	...	Mathilde
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Nathalie
Jean Yanne	...	Gérard, l'oncle de Bruno
Catherine Mouchet	...	Anne
Hanns Zischler	...	Verekher
Emmanuelle Devos	...	Gaëlle
Aladin Reibel	...	Fromager
Jérémie Lippmann	...	Simon (as Jeremie Lippman)
Bettina Kee	...	Laure
Alain Libolt	...	Paul
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing	...	André (as Louis Dominique de Lencquesaing)
Amina Medjoubi	...	Noria
Dinara Drukarova	...	Marie (as Dinara Droukarova)

Also Known As:

Small Cuts (International: English title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | France:U | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Corps, Isère, France

Company:

Axiom Films

Kristin Scott Thomas shows up her adopted compatriots

Daniel Auteuil's Bruno in Petites Couperes is a middle-aged model of his Pierre in Christian Vincent's La Separation of 10 years ago. In both films, youthful confidence in left-wing ideology and love (mutual metaphors) crumbles into paranoia - manifesting itself as trapped aggression in Pierre and desperately comic womanizing in the more recent Bruno.

Unfortunately for Auteuil fans, the actor has become reliant on a uniform world-weariness (not unlike compatriot Johnny Hallyday in Leconte's recent l'Homme du Train). Acting it ain't, and becomes rather frustrating as the film progresses. Pascal Bonitzer doesn't help as the writer/director of the project. His sequencing of episodes overlaid with connecting symbolism fail to mask the film's lack of rhythm. I was particularly furious that the imposingly dramatic/romantic backdrops of Grenoble were made virtually redundant by a cameraman who was obviously shivering in the cold.

Krisitn Scott Thomas almost rescues the show with her female counterpart to Bruno, Beatrice. She dramatizes the dizzying contradictions intended as Bruno in a character of increasing complexity to the point of becoming surreal. Bonitzer cannot sustain this though, and the flagging plot demands Beatrice to even out into another bourgeois mannequin. In doing so Bonitzer shows then denies Scott Thomas the Oscar cabinet.

All the characters' submersion into the bourgeoisie may be a viable and indeed tragic outcome, but in this case it's a cop-out of a cadence (unlike the brutal, painful denouement of La Separation). A serious disappointment, 4/10.