Despite
Jerry Lewis, French Comedy Lives
Chaos
Wrt./Dir. Coline Serreau
Str. Catherine Frot, Vincent Lindon, Rachida Brakni, Aurelien
Wiik
Now Playing
 Catherine
Frot plays Helene Vidal, a mother and wife locked in a fast
paced, meaningless life. But when she and her husband (Lindon)
almost run over a whore (Brakni) all of that is about to change.
Chaos is a surprisingly light comedy based on a very dark
foundation. One of it's charms is that it concerns such deep
subject matter as prostitution, rape, murder but never lets
them overtake the true subject of the film, which is one of
human relations, and the nature of love, and resentment, and
resignation. Nor does it allow these subjects overtake the
fact that the movie is a comedy.
Frot is absolutely perfect in her role. She delivers a
spot-on-comedic performance, so dry and subtle that it takes
a good 45 minutes to realize that she is the entire driving
force of the film. Rachida Brakni is stunning and deliciously
cold as the advantageous Malika. And Aurelien Wiik along
with all of his friends provides the most delicious batch
of eye candy since White Squall.
Almost all of the faults of this movie can take its title
as their excuse, which is why I think it was called 'Chaos'
in the first place - Serreau wrote with such hectic erratic
strokes, She need a way to justify it.
"It looks like your editor was on crack when he worked
on some of these sequences."
"That's not crack. That's Chaos."
"I'm a little confused as to what exactly motivated
Malika to do most of the things she did."
"That's not confusion. That's Chaos."
It's kind of like calling your movie 'Pile of Crap' so you
can claim artistic license when it sucks.
But even these are not truly faults, per se, as every time
the movie twists around, or throws a heap of confusion your
way, it's hilarious and a thrill to watch. Chaos is the
first French film in years that feels truly original and
well made.
I'm giving it Three Snobbish French Hipsters. Chaos gets
high marks for its energy. It tries very hard to keep you
interested in both the plot and the character - and succeeds
on both fronts, the story is as interesting as its characters
are dear. And while the movie makes a few too many sudden
left turns, it is, over all, excellent.
--B.C. Edwards
carter@freewilliamsburg.com
 
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