Wild Grass [DVD]

Alain Resnais' Wild Grass is one of those cases where I liked the film-making but didn't care as much for the film. Resnais' playful love of the possibilities of cinema shines through, but the film never really makes enough of its subversion of a standard romantic comedy setup as Andre Dussolier discovers Sabine Azema's stolen wallet and becomes increasingly obsessed with her until he goes too far and is warned off by the police - only for her to find herself missing the attention and start to become obsessed with him. The characters behave with pleasing irrationality just as they tend to do in the rather messy real world, and both have their share of flaws. Dussolier in particular may or may not have a dark criminal past (or it may simply be an example of his compulsive need to turn his life into a tragedy to overcome), but the details are left deliberately vague. Yet for all the stylistic polish and panache it still feels not fully formed. Although an adaptation of Christian Gailly's L'Incident, it's the kind of idea you'd expect his On Connait la Chanson writers Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri to come up with, and you can't help suspecting they'd have found much more in the material than Resnais does. Both leads have been better in their previous pairings, with Dussolier faring best here by virtue of having the most layered character, but Anne Consigny shines in the thankless role of his wife and Mathieu Amalric has a nice supporting role as a policeman, briefly forming half of a comic double-act with Michel Vuillermoz in one scene. While it's never really as good as it could have been, it's certainly no chore to sit through, and it does throw in one of the most memorable non-sequiter endings in years as a brief postscript to its already off the beaten track Biggles Flies Undone climax.

I saw Wild Grass in the cinema and there were laughs from the audience but mainly it is a story with a very dry sense of humour about love and obsession. And as we all know, being in love is not only ridiculous and unbelievable but sometimes totally surreal and that is what Wild Grass is about. The DVD cover visualises the emotions of the characters; crazy stuff growing out of our heads that we don't always acknowledge in our everyday lives.

Marguerite is a bored dentist who secretly enjoys being stalked by Georges after he finds her purse. Georges' wife is obviously used to Georges' obsessions. But when Georges loses interest in Marguerite the tables turn and we begin to wonder who is stalking whom. Or even who is telling the story. David Lynch fans take note.

Alain Resnais has the masterful light touch of a filmmaker with years of experience. Wild Grass is visually glossy and enchanting yet if you only look at the surface of this film you will miss the wild grass growing crazily below your feet.

My favourite film of 2010

I really did not understand this movie. Where is the meaning, if there's one. I did not like it. I gave it away for free.