Paul s'en va (2004) Reviews

• Worthy

  james-25982008-01-12

  The opening sequence serves as a brief individual curtain raiser for the characters. Introduced individually by title they all dispose of something: breakfast left-overs, tissues, a fag end or in one case a condom, each with a similar exclamation and a convention-defying smile direct to camera. The film borrows formal elements from theatrical and literary tradition. It has chapters subdivided into sequences marked by day, character and famous writer. Each character has an individual role to play in these sequences. The plot is that of drama students (which they were in real life) reacting to the disappearance of Paul, their professor, receiving individual missions to fulfil despite his absence. The tasks are discovered in his flat, uncovered through the curiosity of his students and the imperative of one of them for a place to squat. Paul's fate is constantly speculated on, provoking our curiosity and masking the fluidity of a project which crosses ambiguously but fluidly between a movie project and student presentations. Shot mostly in naturalistic light and close up, with occasional location shots the film is sustained by speculation about Paul's disappearance and the energy of its young cast. It's not commercial but it's engaging.