Hell [DVD]

Despite an impressive pedigree, Danis Tanovic's adaptation of an unfilmed Kieslowski script L'Enfer feels like a shaggy dog story at times despite some good scenes and at least one powerful moment with some overheard lovemaking. The story doesn't stand up to too much scrutiny, following the lives of three sisters who have lost touch but are still linked by the emotional fallout of their father's suicide while they were still children. The youngest, Marie Gillain, is having an affair with her own father figure (Jacques Perrin), the father of her best friend; the middle sister, Emmanuelle Beart, is in the dying days of a failed marriage to a philandering photographer (Jacques Gamblin); while the oldest, Karen Viard, is an emotional shut-in looking after their wheelchair bound mother (Carole Bouquet, particularly unconvincing in old age makeup and a terrible silver wig) and possibly being romanced by an equally socially awkward Guillaume Canet.

As they all suffer in their private hells, made worse by slight glimmers of hope, the truth about their father's prison sentence for seducing a young male student finally comes to light, leading to... well, not very much, really. Once the not very surprising cat is out of the bag, the film doesn't really know what to make of its rather underwhelming revelation. The punchline is a song title, though when it's delivered you might find yourself thinking Is That All There Is? may have been a better choice.

The presence of Emmanuelle Beart, increasingly a monument to France's collagen and silicon industries as she unwittingly turns into a Tex Avery cartoon, almost sounds a warning note: this is her second film called L'Enfer after Chabrol's misfired 1994 of an unfilmed Henri-Georges Clouzot script. It's hard not to feel that the reason both projects never saw the light of projector with their original creators was because ultimately there wasn't quite enough there to justify the effort. Certainly there's the feeling that Kieslowski's reputation has assembled a more formidable array of talent than the same material from an unknown source would have done. In some ways, the impressive cast occasionally threaten to swamp the film. While it's always a pleasure you see Jean Rochefort, his casting in a bit part adds nothing to the movie but more weight of expectation that remains unfulfilled: he really has nothing much to do. Indeed, it's significant that it's Georges Siatidis' smitten train conductor who leaves the most lasting impression in a minuscule role rather than any of the heavyweights. It's by no means a terrible film, and it certainly holds the attention en route to its anticlimax.

Still, the UK DVD presentation is excellent, with a good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, one-hour documentary Reflections of Hell and the original trailer.

This movie spends its first half refusing to link the disparate threads.

The film starts with a 30 second sequence of a young girl bursting into an adult's office unannounced to see him with a naked boy. This is followed by an amazing rich red kaleidoscopic title sequence narrating the reproductive strategy of a cuckoo. The titles are bookended by the same man being released from prison.

Then, totally unlinked to the former, and each other, are the narratives of the three central women. One suspecting her husband of adultery, the second socially withdrawn, and the youngest, a student, rejected by a professor after a fling on a field trip to the Acropolis.

So how do these scenarios tie together into a coherent whole, and inform the title of the movie? Its a tall order, that is expertly met by Tanovic. We are led through the difficulties of the women's respective lives before any connections are made. At the same time we are fed intellectual ideas about fate and chance; and parallels with tragic Greek heroes. So much energy is fed into weaving an elaborate tale, there is a tendency to lose contact with the emotional turmoil afflicting the individuals.

The film is of a high technical standard in all departments. Most of the shots and sequences are lovingly committed to celluloid. The circular tower stairway sequence is expert and memorable. A couple of hours well spent on an intelligent, visually splendid, and engaging French film.

If you like French movies then you will, probably, love this one. With questions about detiny vs. coincedence, and tragedy vs. drama, this is French filmmaking at its best. The acting is flawless (perfect if you enjoy watching Emmanuelle Beart and Marie Gillain), the cinematography is nothing short of beautiful and the story is slight.

Three sisters suffer the same tragedy but each end up living lives of mere drama. They each have problems with men, which echoes their 'tragic' past, and each story is kept within its own dramatic box. One of the best scenes has Emmanuelle Beart listening at hotel bedroom doors until she finds one with loud lovemaking issuing from within the room.

An enjoyable, flawless film.