THE INNOCENT
***
Director: Louis Garrel
Screenplay: Louis Garrel & Tanguy Viel, with the collaboration of Naïla Guiguet.
Principal cast:
Louis Garrel
Roschdy Zem
Noémie Merlant
Anouk Grinberg
Jean-Claude Pautot
Yanisse Kebbab
Country: France
Classification: M
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 13 April 2023.
Do not confuse the 2022 film The Innocent with the late Luchino Visconti’s 1976 work of the same name, the last movie the great director made. Visconti’s was a sumptuous period drama based on a book by Gabriele d'Annunzio and starring Giancarlo Giannini and Laura Antonelli, whereas Louis Garrel’s title is a very modern comedy crime-caper featuring Garrel himself and Noémie Merlant from Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Tár. It doffs its cap to the classic crime movies of the French Nouvelle Vague, films directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, Claude Chabrol, et al, although those films were far more hard-boiled in outlook, while Garrel has taken a much lighter approach to lawbreaking in The Innocent than anything those earlier directors made. In fact, his picture is being marketed as “hilarious” and “irresistibly funny” rather than having the noirish edge of some of the Nouvelle Vague titles of the late Fifties and Sixties.
Abel (Garrel) is a widow who has never got over the death of his wife and he’s none too happy when his mum Sylvie (Anouk Grinberg) announces that she’s getting married… again. It’s her third in 10 years and she’s marrying an inmate at the prison where she teaches theatre. Her soon-to-be husband, Michel (Roschdy Zem), is in gaol for burglary but he promises to go straight when released. True to his word, when he gets out on parole, he and Sylvie open a florist shop but Abel is suspicious and he convinces his wife’s best friend, Clémence (a terrific performance from Merlant), a colleague from work, to help him find out if his new step-dad is up to no good. Michel, however, is much more streetwise than the innocent Abel and he soon latches on to the surveillance, which leads to a surprising alliance between the two men and Clémence.
Garrel says there is a strong autobiographical element to his movie – his mother was the starting point for the comedy-drama because she directed theatre workshops in prisons for 20 years and did, indeed, marry an inmate in gaol - and his stepfather opened the 18-year-old Louis’ eyes to a world he knew little about, although he qualifies this by saying, “From the age of 11, I have spent time with people who came out of prison, and sometimes went back… you see them, then no more news. At home, I always knew funny guys. Women too, because my mother also conducted workshops in women’s prisons.” All of which provided excellent background material for The Innocent. At the César Awards (the French Oscars) in February this year, the film picked up two prizes, one of which was for Best Original Screenplay.
The other César was for Noémie Merlant for Best Supporting Actress, also a well-deserved accolade. She’s the best thing in the movie. It’s refreshing to see her in a comedic role for a change and she seems to have relished the opportunity. Roschdy Zem is great, too. He often plays hard men but this script gives him a chance to go against type and portray a character with a softer side to his nature. Garrel’s role is less likable and, therefore, quite a difficult one to pull off successfully because Abel is grieving, depressed and stitched-up, only gradually evolving to realise that he’s closed himself off to life.
The Innocent is a solid entertainment but this reviewer feels it has been billed inaccurately – this isn’t a laugh-out-loud comedy and if you go to see it expecting wall-to-wall hilarity, you’ll probably be let down. If you go expecting an interesting caper movie with matters of the heart at its core, you’ll have an enjoyable experience.
Screenplay: Louis Garrel & Tanguy Viel, with the collaboration of Naïla Guiguet.
Principal cast:
Louis Garrel
Roschdy Zem
Noémie Merlant
Anouk Grinberg
Jean-Claude Pautot
Yanisse Kebbab
Country: France
Classification: M
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 13 April 2023.
Do not confuse the 2022 film The Innocent with the late Luchino Visconti’s 1976 work of the same name, the last movie the great director made. Visconti’s was a sumptuous period drama based on a book by Gabriele d'Annunzio and starring Giancarlo Giannini and Laura Antonelli, whereas Louis Garrel’s title is a very modern comedy crime-caper featuring Garrel himself and Noémie Merlant from Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Tár. It doffs its cap to the classic crime movies of the French Nouvelle Vague, films directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, Claude Chabrol, et al, although those films were far more hard-boiled in outlook, while Garrel has taken a much lighter approach to lawbreaking in The Innocent than anything those earlier directors made. In fact, his picture is being marketed as “hilarious” and “irresistibly funny” rather than having the noirish edge of some of the Nouvelle Vague titles of the late Fifties and Sixties.
Abel (Garrel) is a widow who has never got over the death of his wife and he’s none too happy when his mum Sylvie (Anouk Grinberg) announces that she’s getting married… again. It’s her third in 10 years and she’s marrying an inmate at the prison where she teaches theatre. Her soon-to-be husband, Michel (Roschdy Zem), is in gaol for burglary but he promises to go straight when released. True to his word, when he gets out on parole, he and Sylvie open a florist shop but Abel is suspicious and he convinces his wife’s best friend, Clémence (a terrific performance from Merlant), a colleague from work, to help him find out if his new step-dad is up to no good. Michel, however, is much more streetwise than the innocent Abel and he soon latches on to the surveillance, which leads to a surprising alliance between the two men and Clémence.
Garrel says there is a strong autobiographical element to his movie – his mother was the starting point for the comedy-drama because she directed theatre workshops in prisons for 20 years and did, indeed, marry an inmate in gaol - and his stepfather opened the 18-year-old Louis’ eyes to a world he knew little about, although he qualifies this by saying, “From the age of 11, I have spent time with people who came out of prison, and sometimes went back… you see them, then no more news. At home, I always knew funny guys. Women too, because my mother also conducted workshops in women’s prisons.” All of which provided excellent background material for The Innocent. At the César Awards (the French Oscars) in February this year, the film picked up two prizes, one of which was for Best Original Screenplay.
The other César was for Noémie Merlant for Best Supporting Actress, also a well-deserved accolade. She’s the best thing in the movie. It’s refreshing to see her in a comedic role for a change and she seems to have relished the opportunity. Roschdy Zem is great, too. He often plays hard men but this script gives him a chance to go against type and portray a character with a softer side to his nature. Garrel’s role is less likable and, therefore, quite a difficult one to pull off successfully because Abel is grieving, depressed and stitched-up, only gradually evolving to realise that he’s closed himself off to life.
The Innocent is a solid entertainment but this reviewer feels it has been billed inaccurately – this isn’t a laugh-out-loud comedy and if you go to see it expecting wall-to-wall hilarity, you’ll probably be let down. If you go expecting an interesting caper movie with matters of the heart at its core, you’ll have an enjoyable experience.