Trilogy - One / Two / Three [DVD] [2002]

Lucas Belvaux's TRILOGY presents the same set of characters, but puts them into three different genres of movie. ON THE RUN is a noir-ish thriller, AN AMAZING COUPLE, a comedy, and AFTER THE LIFE, is a drama.
TRILOGY 1: ON THE RUN
Leftist revolutionary Bruno (Lucas Belvaux), escapes from prison to the streets of Grenoble in an attempt to settle some old scores after serving fifteen years for an act of terrorism. While he is doggedly pursued by Pascal (Gilbert Melki), a troubled cop, Bruno finds that his old causes and methods of fighting for them are no longer valid. After finding that his former lover (Catherine Frot) is married and no longer a part of their old organiSation, he seeks refuge at the mountain retreat of Cecile (Ornella Muti), a close friend of Agnes (Dominique Blanc), Pascal's heroin-addicted wife. ON THE RUN eschews any outright action in favour of the dramatic emotional clashing of its tormented characters. Bare and raw, with long silent passages and only a minimal score, writer/director/star Belvaux gives us an antihero with few redeeming qualities and surrounds him with characters who are only slightly more virtuous. As with the other two films in the Trilogy, ON THE RUN succeeds on its own, but its virtues and depth are revealed in the other two works.
TRILOGY 2: AN AMAZING COUPLE
Alain (Francois Morel) is a middle-aged hypochondriac who is worried that a simple outpatient procedure recommended by his doctor will result in his death. Fearing that he is dying, he attempts to keep his condition a secret from his wife, Cecile (Ornella Muti), who is led to believe by Alain's strange behaviour that he is having an affair. In turn, Cecile hires detective Pascal (Gilbert Melki), the husband of her best friend and fellow teacher, Agnes (Dominique Blanc), to follow Alain in an attempt to catch him with his non-existent mistress. Pascal, however, finds himself falling for Cecile.
This second film in the director's trilogy is a subtle, unconventional romantic comedy in which humour arises from generally uncomfortable situations. The overall lighthearted mood is an about-face from the tension and despair prevalent in the first film of the Trilogy, ON THE RUN. Viewing the films in order, Balvaux's intentions clarify--minor characters in the first film come to the forefront here, creating a rich, multi-layered experience in which gaps from the previous film are skillfully filled in.
TRILOGY 3: AFTER THE LIFE
The final film in director Lucas Belvaux's Trilogy focuses on Grenoble cop Pascal (Gilbert Melki). Married to morphine-addicted schoolteacher Agnes (Dominique Blanc), he uses his professional connections to score pure narcotics for her. His source, however, wants Pascal to apprehend Bruno (Belvaux), a left-wing extremist who has just broken out of prison and cuts off the drug supply until Pascal can bring the fugitive in. Meanwhile, Agnes' friend Cecile (Ornella Muti) asks Pascal to trail her husband, whom she believes to be having an affair. Tired of being his wife's enabler, Pascal falls in love with Cecile. In the clutches of withdrawal, Agnes encounters Bruno at Cecile's vacation home, and he provides her with drugs.
The character of Pascal comes full-circle in AFTER THE LIFE. Where he was a threatening presence in ON THE RUN (the first film of the Trilogy) and a bumbling source of comic relief in AN AMAZING COUPLE (the second), here he is revealed as a complex, tortured, and very human protagonist. In this revelation, Belvaux's film cycle reveals its true purpose--showing us, RASHOMON-like, how an event, character (or person for that matter), cannot always be understood from a single vantage point. While these three films stand alone, the serious film-goer can only benefit by experiencing each of them.