On general release from Fri 24 May
Oliver Assayas / France / 2012 / 122 min
The proletariat versus the state is a battle that was raging long before Trotsky and Marx scribed down their communist ideals, continuing today in the shape of organisations like Anonymous. Oliver Assayas’s coming of age film depicts the seductive appeal of alternative political idealism. After an accident occurs on a mission of political vandalism, aspiring artist Gilles (Clément Métayer) and his schoolmates decide to leave their 70s French idyll for safety. Their adventures around Europe, and subsequent return to France, allows their profusion of still developing beliefs to become moulded into a life plan.
Assayas’ film is about self-discovery, his characters wandering about in the existential, purgatorial transition from the programmed routine of school life into adulthood. Although initially the backdrop of political revolution, a catalyst for independence and autonomy, is integral to Gilles’ beliefs, but as time meanders on his disenfranchisement with the cloudy and confused territory of political allegiances reflects a change in his priorities. His preference to concentrating on his art shows that sometimes we must sacrifice our ideologies in order to pursue our dreams. Importantly however, Gilles’ ability as an artist only improves after his involvement is student politics. What Assayas is portraying, is that while the end result is what we yearn for, the journey of how we get there is what really shapes us.
Showing as part of the Glasgow Film Festival 2013
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