En attendant le déluge (2004)
Directed by
Damien Odoul
Also Known As:
After We're Gone (International: English title)
Déluge, Le (France) (working title)
Runtime: France:81 min
Country: France
Language: French
Color: Color
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388012/
Synopsis:
When a wealthy old man discovers that he is suffering from an incurable disease, he pledges to allow himself one final luxury, a private performance of his favourite play.
User Comments:
"A film about everything and about nothing" - Damien Odoul (director)
I saw the UK premiere of this film at the Institut francais in London. The showing was followed by Q&A with the director Damien Odoul who also plays one of the main characters in the film, Yves. The film is set on the estate of an old French château in the countryside and centres around an old dying man (played by Pierre Richard) who invites a few actors to amuse him. The film deliberately lacks any real plot (it has been described as Beckett-esquire by one critic) but does end conclusively. The film will make you laugh - largely due to the weird and wonderful characters who do out-of-the-ordinary things, and you will certainly get a sense of satisfaction from watching it.
In the Q&A with the director, he said that his aim was to try and dig deep and try to touch the innocence which lays at the heart of life. His favourite character in the film is Pipo - played by a friend who in reality lives in a psychiatric hospital and is not an actor at all. He is someone with a "simple mind" who sees, listens and understands. The innocence and simplicity that Odoul alludes to is one "avant la naissance" (before birth), at the very root of existence.
An excellent film.
A wealthy old man (Pierre Richard) discovers that he is suffering from an incurable disease. He decides he wants to see one final performance of his favourite play, 'The Myth Of Dionysus', before he dies, and so invites a theatrical troupe to his chateau to stage it for him. What he gets is a bunch of prima donnas and misfits, who are incapable of organising a performance, and therefore the old man stages something for them: his own death.
Odoul has been likened to Bunuel as a director, but the comparisons are not particularly apt. Bunuel succeeds as a product of his time, when few of his contemporaries were producing anything similar to his work. But once the connection is made between the style of En attendant le deluge (aka: Après nous le deluge - After We're Gone) - the obvious similarities being the segmented plot, humour, and bourgeoisie undertones - it becomes difficult to watch the movie in isolation. And as a satirist Odoul falls short of Bunuel's bite. What we get instead are interlinked vignettes that never manage to gel.
Despite these reservations, some of the individual performances are excellent. Anna Mouglalis is often superb as a tortured actress, desperately in love with the producer who has already spurned her. Damien Odoul takes a central role as the play's producer, but his frequent childish outbursts quickly wear thin. Pierre Richard is often beguiling as the old man, but often his role seems understated. Indeed, a highlight of the movie is where he and Odoul 'improvise' some music with voice and piano - they manage to break through their characters' insecurities and false bravado to produce something quite unique.
En attendant le deluge is a movie open to interpretation. For example, it could be said, due to the frequent bed-hopping and sexual references, that the movie is an analogy on sex. The old man needing a last shot at stimulation before he dies; yet despite all those around him performing their 'act', he eventually has to do it himself: a form of theatrical masturbation. But then again, maybe this is too deep a reading for a movie that doesn't allow you to get close to it.
The film simply tries too hard to be inventive and different, and in doing so loses its ability to engage. The cumulative effect of its vignettes of comedic desperation, combined with the knowledge that we are not intended to get to know these characters beyond their caricatures, means that we become indifferent to the screen. The final, lingering shot of an open gate had me hoping - almost praying - that this was the end of a thankfully short film. At least in that respect Odoul didn't outstay his welcome.
reviewed by Andrew Hook
01697.en_attendant_le_deluge.050701.rus.dvd.avi 