"Chaos" has been described by some reviewers as a French "Thelma and Louise." Not so. "Chaos" is that rare film seamlessly and believably meshing extreme violence and brutality with wry comedy. Its two female protagonists are winners in the great Game of Life (Thelma and Louise lost out on that score, big time).
Helene (Catherine Frot) has a successful career and is married to a business-obsessed, vacuous, philandering fool, Paul (Vincent Landon). Their twenty year or so marriage has produced ample material comforts and a son, Fabrice (Aurelian Wiile), who's living proof that a kid can turn out to have less sensitivity and intelligence than your average Parisian poodle. If my son turned out like Fabrice...well, I can't even contemplate the possibility.
On an evening out, Paul and Helene encounter a young woman desperately fleeing from three rabid pursuers. Paul locks the car doors leaving the hapless victim to endure a horrific beating, shown in all its gory. Paul's prime concern is to get his vehicle into a car wash (a pretty spiffy one at that) so the spattered blood on his windshield won't be noticed by police). A great citizen is he.
Deeply disturbed by Paul's detached callousness, Helene seeks out the woman who is near death in an intensive care unit. Noemie (Rachida Brakni) is a prostitute who tried to run away from the gang of thugs who pimped her first on the street and then to high-income but low-class businessmen. Brakni's portrayal as a determined woman fighting death and the threat of lifelong disability is intense, involving and believable. She isn't The Happy Hooker - she's the surviving woman, her strength coming from a deep interior that even drug addiction can not erase.
Helene plays an increasingly important role in helping Noemie to recover from her grievous wounds. It's neither a spoiler nor a surprise that they form a bond of trust and friendship and embark on a mission of ...what? Justice? Vengeance? Reparations? Director Coline Serreau unfolds the story in a well-filmed series of scenes that never lose the viewer's attention (at least I couldn't take my eyes off the screen).
Paul and Fabrice could be seen as stereotypes of fatuous, self-indulgent, essentially helpless-without-women men except that they are soooo real. Helene is no victim - she understands her menfolk's foibles and her decisions are her own, not the product of male manipulation and dominance. Ms. Frot plays her role beautifully with slight facial expressions telling much.
Yes, this is a film where most of the women (including Paul's neglected mom) are the Good Gals and the male characters start at jerks and work their way down the food chain to abusers and rapists. But the interplay between the domestic and romantic comedy and the abyss of forced prostitution and exploitation comes across as simply different sides of women's life experience. In that regard "Chaos" is quietly compelling.
Noemi is from an Algerian family and the film swats at Islamic customs that demean women and control their destinies. I don't expect this movie to be a hit in Islamic countries. "Chaos" pulls few punches in depicting the reality of the bleak futures in store for girls raised in the ultra-materialistic and wholly bigoted families exemplified by Noemi's family.
8/10.
Helene (Catherine Frot) has a successful career and is married to a business-obsessed, vacuous, philandering fool, Paul (Vincent Landon). Their twenty year or so marriage has produced ample material comforts and a son, Fabrice (Aurelian Wiile), who's living proof that a kid can turn out to have less sensitivity and intelligence than your average Parisian poodle. If my son turned out like Fabrice...well, I can't even contemplate the possibility.
On an evening out, Paul and Helene encounter a young woman desperately fleeing from three rabid pursuers. Paul locks the car doors leaving the hapless victim to endure a horrific beating, shown in all its gory. Paul's prime concern is to get his vehicle into a car wash (a pretty spiffy one at that) so the spattered blood on his windshield won't be noticed by police). A great citizen is he.
Deeply disturbed by Paul's detached callousness, Helene seeks out the woman who is near death in an intensive care unit. Noemie (Rachida Brakni) is a prostitute who tried to run away from the gang of thugs who pimped her first on the street and then to high-income but low-class businessmen. Brakni's portrayal as a determined woman fighting death and the threat of lifelong disability is intense, involving and believable. She isn't The Happy Hooker - she's the surviving woman, her strength coming from a deep interior that even drug addiction can not erase.
Helene plays an increasingly important role in helping Noemie to recover from her grievous wounds. It's neither a spoiler nor a surprise that they form a bond of trust and friendship and embark on a mission of ...what? Justice? Vengeance? Reparations? Director Coline Serreau unfolds the story in a well-filmed series of scenes that never lose the viewer's attention (at least I couldn't take my eyes off the screen).
Paul and Fabrice could be seen as stereotypes of fatuous, self-indulgent, essentially helpless-without-women men except that they are soooo real. Helene is no victim - she understands her menfolk's foibles and her decisions are her own, not the product of male manipulation and dominance. Ms. Frot plays her role beautifully with slight facial expressions telling much.
Yes, this is a film where most of the women (including Paul's neglected mom) are the Good Gals and the male characters start at jerks and work their way down the food chain to abusers and rapists. But the interplay between the domestic and romantic comedy and the abyss of forced prostitution and exploitation comes across as simply different sides of women's life experience. In that regard "Chaos" is quietly compelling.
Noemi is from an Algerian family and the film swats at Islamic customs that demean women and control their destinies. I don't expect this movie to be a hit in Islamic countries. "Chaos" pulls few punches in depicting the reality of the bleak futures in store for girls raised in the ultra-materialistic and wholly bigoted families exemplified by Noemi's family.
8/10.