Customer Reviews

Trivial

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those who share a delight in the very French film noir genre, TRIVIAL (La Disparue de Deauville) is sure to please. To attempt to outline the plot of this beautifully photographed and acted film would be to deny the viewer the pleasure of unraveling the mysteries that make up this at times obtuse story. But that is the pleasure of these films - just when you think you know what is happening, along comes an artsy twist that throws you for a loop.

Suffice it to say that the characters who grace the stage include a badly emotionally fractured policeman Jacques (Christophe Lambert) who in attempting to recuperate from the loss of his wife encounters a mysterious woman who seems to be the reincarnation of an actress who died in an automobile accident 36 years ago: his seemingly sole touchstones are a duchess (Judith Magre) and his fellow policeman Pierre (Simon Abkarian). Jacques must wrestle with reality to answer his duty to investigate a death of the owner of the glamorous Hotel Riviera (Robert Hossein)- an investigation that introduces him to the wheelchair-ridden wife (Marie-Christine Barrault, her son (Nicolas Briançon), and clues as to the clandestine affair the owner had been having. The woman of mystery appears in strange moments: is she real or an illusion? In the end the secrets of the strange hotel owner family background and the cases of missing persons all come to rest in a seductive caper: we should have seen it coming but that is the delight of film noir.

The very beautiful and talented Sophie Marceau had the idea for the story (she plays the dual roles of the deceased actress phantom and the love interest), wrote the screenplay (with Gianguido Spinelli, Jacques Deschamps, and Rania Meziani), and directs the film with the flow of an Alain Renais work. The supporting cast is likewise excellent and the entire production has that rare mystery of French glow. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp, July 10

For those who share a delight in the very French film noir genre, TRIVIAL (La Disparue de Deauville) is sure to please. To attempt to outline the plot of this beautifully photographed and acted film would be to deny the viewer the pleasure of unraveling the mysteries that make up this at times obtuse story. But that is the pleasure of these films - just when you think you know what is happening, along comes an artsy twist that throws you for a loop.

Suffice it to say that the characters who grace the stage include a badly emotionally fractured policeman Jacques (Christophe Lambert) who in attempting to recuperate from the loss of his wife encounters a mysterious woman who seems to be the reincarnation of an actress who died in an automobile accident 36 years ago. Jacques must wrestle with reality to answer his duty to investigate a death of the owner of the glamorous Hotel Riviera - an investigation that introduces him to the wheelchair-ridden wife, her son, and clues as to the clandestine affair the owner had been having. The woman of mystery appears in strange moments: is she real or an illusion? In the end the secrets of the strange hotel owner family background and the cases of missing persons all come to rest in a seductive caper: we should have seen it coming but that is the delight of film noir.

The very beautiful and talented Sophie Marceau had the idea for the story (she plays the dual roles of the deceased actress phantom and the love interest) , wrote the screenplay (with Gianguido Spinelli, Jacques Deschamps, and Rania Meziani), and directs the film with the flow of an Alain Renais work. The supporting cast is likewise excellent and the entire production has that rare mystery of French glow. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp, December 08

In "La Disparue de Deauville" (aka "Trivial") Christopher Lambert is a Paris City police detective Jacques Renard with suicidal tendencies. A mysterious woman named Lucie (Sophie Marceau) shows up before, asking him to "cross the bridge" and go to a certain place for her. The detective actually goes to a luxurious hotel, The Hotel Riviera, whose director has been missing for 48 hours. But the real shock awaits him in "Room 401" where he discovers lots of photos of an actress Victoria who was killed in a car accident 36 years ago. And she looks a spitting image of Lucie he just met.

Directed and co-written by the star Sophie Marceau, "La Disparue de Deauville" has enigmatic femme fatale, a disfigured body, eccentric upper-class family and obsessive detective determined to crack the case - just about everything that would make a great film noir, or crime suspense. The film also contains one car chase sequence. Having said that, I must say they need a better director to put these things together. "La Disparue de Deauville" feels like a mystery film without the mystery.

I like Sophie Marceau. I know a lot of you may hate me if I give only two stars and say I was disappointed with her second work as director. Still, the film didn't strike me as thrilling enough because of its bland storytelling. Everything is explained by the time the film wraps up the story, but we are not impressed with the denouement as there is no interesting mystery, no suspense or no character for us to relate to in the first place. Things happen before the film is given enough time to build up the tension and atmosphere. Huge disappointment, though the car action scenes are pretty good.

Highlander and Fanfan fall in love and then run around Deauville (literally) sometimes chucking things out of the way to end up in each others arms. I really LOVE Sophie Marceau and her directing talent is genuine and impressive as evidenced here. I didn't realize immediately that she was also the director but I noticed right off that whoever was at the helm (SOPHIE!) hooked the audience right off the bat by making the movie visually interesting, interesting not being the same thing as beautiful. It's very clever and self-confident filmmaking PLUS I think this movie is very unabashedly French and it succeeds. The story is inherently hard to take and part of the storytelling is that it isn't easy to follow or to accept. There are so many instances when the audience may want to walk away but the locations, the various visuals steer the attention back to the screen. This is very important and show a genuine understanding of how to tell a story and what to say and that's very French because they make their cleverness look natural.

I didnt completely understand this movie. I had a vague idea of what was happening but can't say that I completely understood everything 100% by the end. That said, one of the best ever mystery films happens to be another French film titled Roman de Gare. Absolutely terrific from start to finish. Many plot twist but written well enough for you to keep up.