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ACTOR
Osman ElkharrazSara ForestierSabrina OuazaniNanou Benhamou
DIRECTOR
Abdellatif Kechiche
SYNOPSICS
L'esquive (2003) is a French movie. Abdellatif Kechiche has directed this movie. Osman Elkharraz,Sara Forestier,Sabrina Ouazani,Nanou Benhamou are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2003. L'esquive (2003) is considered one of the best Comedy,Drama,Romance movie in India and around the world.
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L'esquive (2003) Reviews
Trapped
This movie is getting fresh exposure in France thanks to its win at Les Césars, or the "French Oscars" as other countries like to call them. Its success will probably mean that it now gets exposure outside the country, too, and I wonder how successfully. Though an accurate and contemporary examination of France, the film's world is a foreign one, even to many people living here--the specificity of the setting (the projects, in a "suburb" of Paris), the language (rapid-fire, slangy, "vulgar", and peppered with "verlan", a street language of inverted syllables--the word itself could translate as "wardsback", and how anyone will translate this dialogue I have no idea), and the behavior (mostly arguing--strident, pushy, beautifully repetitive) may not play clearly outside of France. I'm not sure how clearly it plays here, or how willing people are to watch it, especially as it turns the idea of the scary bad French projects somewhat on its ear. This isn't a criticism of the movie; on the contrary. Kechiche has shot a riveting cross-section of teenagers growing up in social housing, in broken homes and poverty, who lack the tools of expression, and who have adopted the posturing of the wounded (and, in the story, almost entirely absent) adults who raise them, attacking (the movie unfolds at a near-constant level of verbal aggression) and dodging ("esquiver" means "to dodge" or "to evade") one another's attacks with all they can muster. The film's intensely political side feels almost accidental; in its unfolding, it has great heart, and its actors, who are apparently mostly amateurs from around the shooting location, are outstanding. On the whole, it reminded me a great deal of David Gordon Green's George Washington: a simple love story set against a landscape of poverty, played out frankly and honestly, allowed to unfold at a distinctly un-Hollywoodian rhythm. If Green's film is more beautiful cinematic ally, L'Esquive is more concentrated, more unflinching in its examination of the deep repercussions and violence of economic, social, and familial hardship. Its statement that France is no longer a country of the French-of-French-ancestry, and that its refusal to accept its own transformation does not mean its lost generation accepts its loss, could not be more clearly nor more poignantly made. Without spoiling or going into detail, there are things about the plot that are implausible, things that probably hurt the film overall, but watching this movie for plot is like watching Ocean's Eleven for social insight. This is a positive study of character in a bad situation, of a stratum of society rarely filmed and still more rarely treated as fairly as it is offered up here, beautifully and eloquently.
Excellent acting from kids
I saw L'Esquive at the San Francisco Film Festival on April 24. I was prepared for a sappy coming-of-age romantic movie but with the first dialogue which whisks you up before even the titles are shown and doesn't put you down until the end of the movie, I got something much more fulfilling. This is one realistic and well-performed movie. The director got some fantastic acting out of an almost 100% amateur cast. Very realistic and fast-paced. It is not a perfect movie, but it is very energetic and definitely a must-see. Well worth seeing and probably the highlight for me at the festival. Hopefully it will screen in the US.
An Unexpected Delight
The first comparison that comes to mind is the movie "Kids", but that is a superficial comparison. Both movies employed non-actors and got great performances, but the similarities end there. L'Esquive is set in a Parisian housing project with a majority Muslim population. The slang translation (subtitled) is matched to the slang used in a New York City housing project. Part of the humor comes from this posturing and there is a lot to be laughing about. The performances are strong all around and although the story is simple (a girl drops her boyfriend and he becomes interested in another girl) the kids fill it with energy and drama. There is none of the extreme violence that a similar story, set in the States, would have. There is no bloody shootout at the end - this fact alone recommends it. Sara Forestier (Lydia) you might have seen (if you watch French film) and will see more of - possibly in American film. Osman Elkharraz (Krimo) also has a charisma that makes him a candidate for future roles. The film is a very energetic and fresh examination of kids growing up in a fishbowl, up to and including their harassment and abuse by the French police. If you have any interest in French film, here is a refreshing and funny movie. Enjoy.
An excellent example of ethnographic film making in the realm of fiction
This is a dream film, of which I am so entirely thrilled that it received so many awards over the mediocre but over hyped Rois et reine. The self effacement of the director in this film is impeccable, one has the eerie sense of watching a Fred Wiseman documentary. It is true that dialogue can run long and circuitously, but for those with my taste for extreme realism this can only be a downside if the acting is poor, and in l'esquive it is not. The acting is on the contrary frighteningly good, whatever self consciousness the members of this young cast might have before the camera is immediately absorbed in the documentary-like mise en scene, that is to say, it only furthers the sensibilities and aesthetic as a whole. L'esquive is a singular film that we can only hope will influence a generation of young French filmmakers who are tired of the well lit, over produced cinema this country is getting far too comfortable with.
Teen-ager lives in Suburbia
Although imperfect from a cinematographic point of view, this film is remarkable as it penetrates deep into the lives of suburbia kids in Paris. All kids are from North Africa. They are boeur, which means arab in their bizarre dialect of french. I really doubt an old french man or woman understand what they are saying without subtitles. To love someone, to leave someone make deep marks in our souls when we are young. This sincere and honest film about teenage love should not be missed, if there is any screening available.