Writer’s Choice: Montparnasse Bienvenüe

We meet a woman who is at rock bottom. She’s ranting, raving – so overcome by her emotions that she cannot focus on single train of thought. She shoots off in rapid fire tangents with only one commonality: him. He who left her after ten years. She was his muse. Until she wasn’t.

“I was everything to him and now I am nothing at all.”

“It’s a question of fragility,” says the doctor. The woman, Paula, responds by playing the part of a person who was not arrested for hysterically attacking her ex’s front door – first with her fists, then with her forehead. Exiting the hospital, Paula stops to steal a russet-coloured coat that becomes her heroic cape on the journey to find herself and her life’s purpose.

Montparnasse Bienvenüe – or Jeune Femme (young woman) in the original French – is director Léonor Sérraille’s first film and won her the Caméra d’Or award at the 70th Cannes Film Festival. The film follows Paula wandering the streets of Paris, a city she is not fond of. We see her completely broken and alone, except for a fluffy cat. The cat – a wholly loveable creature – is a torment and a burden. It is her ex’s pet and, perhaps, because it links her to him, she decidedly takes it with her, the two tied together on her reckless, aimless path. 

Despite being 30-ish, Paula is a child. She has never had to have responsibilities. A prior conflict with her mother is suggested, approached, but not explored. It leaves the audience wanting in this respect. However, a scene between the two – a desperate but futile physical scrabble on the staircase – provides amusement. Laetitia Dosch is mesmerising as the wayward and volatile Paula. The young woman is a frustratingly naive and self-destructive character. One that simultaneously annoys with her impulsive lying and selfish tendencies, yet heartens with her persistence through disappointment after disappointment. Dosch plays her with convincing ease. There is never a dull (or quiet) moment with her. 

Montparnasse Bienvenüe is showing as part of the Alliance Française French Film Festival and there is still time to experience some fantastic French cinema.

Alliance Française French Film Festival 2018
Wednesday, 28 February to  Tuesday, 27 March 2018
affrenchfilmfestival.org