low-key made me feel like i wasn't doing nearly enough to make the most out of being young. was so locked in for the first half but kinda lost interest after they went to corsica. brilliant soundtrack!!

low-key made me feel like i wasn't doing nearly enough to make the most out of being young. was so locked in for the first half but kinda lost interest after they went to corsica. brilliant soundtrack!!

This is my fourth film categorised into the French new-wave sub genre and it was the most surprising one so far. While watching, I was expecting to dislike a protagonist, or be ready to have my expectations crushed by some form of realism intruding its way into a fantasy.

Instead I was simply invited to observe the final months of childhood of three teenagers as they go explore and form relationships that we all dream of. It’s charming and warm, and watching Liliane and Juliette wave off Michel in the climax as he sails away for the army feels simply unfortunate, as we knew it was inevitable but it still felt far off; yet it’s still bittersweet, as it’s a sweet bookend to a highlighted chapter of these characters lives.

Jacques Rozier’s submission into the new-wave genre is a unique and more optimistic one, but the characteristics are still there. It has a documentary feel during the public scenes as the passer-by’s were clearly not informed much about being in a movie beforehand, and it feels like a slice of time being captured too rather than solely a slice of life story that the loose narrative helps aid to.

This is my fourth film categorised into the French new-wave sub genre and it was the most surprising one so far. While watching, I was expecting to dislike a protagonist, or be ready to have my expectations crushed by some form of realism intruding its way into a fantasy.

Instead I was simply invited to observe the final months of childhood of three teenagers as they go explore and form relationships that we all dream of. It’s charming and warm, and watching Liliane and Juliette wave off Michel in the climax as he sails away for the army feels simply unfortunate, as we knew it was inevitable but it still felt far off; yet it’s still bittersweet, as it’s a sweet bookend to a highlighted chapter of these characters lives.

Jacques Rozier’s submission into the new-wave genre is a unique and more optimistic one, but the characteristics are still there. It has a documentary feel during the public scenes as the passer-by’s were clearly not informed much about being in a movie beforehand, and it feels like a slice of time being captured too rather than solely a slice of life story that the loose narrative helps aid to.

en fait les hommes jsp

en fait les hommes jsp

Some really modern editing here. The tone and the delivery was great.

Some really modern editing here. The tone and the delivery was great.

Michel is a young TV tech/cameraman at a small station with a pompadour and a pencil moustache, and he befriends a couple of young women, Juliette and Liliane, who happen to be waiting outside the station for an audition. The ladies develop a rivalry for Michel's affections, but while he fancies them both, it's also clear that he's already emotionally preparing to serve in the Algerian War. Still, he tries to have fun with them as best he can, in the city, then (after he's fired) at a Club Med in Corsica, and then camping in Capri, on a rocky, insect-infested beach.

It's a political film masquerading as a love triangle, in equal parts frantic and languid, and with first-time actors that absolutely spout joy and charisma at every turn. The romantic stakes seem high, but really aren't; everyone is just on the edge of adulthood, of everything changing. When (if) Michel comes back from the war, he'll be a different person, and so will Liliane and Juliette; they all seem to know that this moment in time is fleeting, and they're playing little games with Michel and each other as frantically as they can before the time to do so runs out.

There are scenes and shots in this that are just mind-blowingly good: the mad choreography of the TV studio as the cameras shift position, the tracking shot of the two women walking along the street, looking for a pay phone, the tiny Isetta car burping along the street, the hilariously amateurish refrigerator commercial sequence, Yveline Céry at a beachside party dancing directly at the camera, daring you to look away, and of course the amazing final shot of the two women running across the breakwater. There are many others. It's gorgeous.

I would have loved to see more work from all three of these actors (especially Céry, who at times is electric), but only Stefania Sabatini has done even another film or two outside of this. Here, they (and Rozier, and this whole film) are just a revelation.

Michel is a young TV tech/cameraman at a small station with a pompadour and a pencil moustache, and he befriends a couple of young women, Juliette and Liliane, who happen to be waiting outside the station for an audition. The ladies develop a rivalry for Michel's affections, but while he fancies them both, it's also clear that he's already emotionally preparing to serve in the Algerian War. Still, he tries to have fun with them as best he can, in the city, then (after he's fired) at a Club Med in Corsica, and then camping in Capri, on a rocky, insect-infested beach.

It's a political film masquerading as a love triangle, in equal parts frantic and languid, and with first-time actors that absolutely spout joy and charisma at every turn. The romantic stakes seem high, but really aren't; everyone is just on the edge of adulthood, of everything changing. When (if) Michel comes back from the war, he'll be a different person, and so will Liliane and Juliette; they all seem to know that this moment in time is fleeting, and they're playing little games with Michel and each other as frantically as they can before the time to do so runs out.

There are scenes and shots in this that are just mind-blowingly good: the mad choreography of the TV studio as the cameras shift position, the tracking shot of the two women walking along the street, looking for a pay phone, the tiny Isetta car burping along the street, the hilariously amateurish refrigerator commercial sequence, Yveline Céry at a beachside party dancing directly at the camera, daring you to look away, and of course the amazing final shot of the two women running across the breakwater. There are many others. It's gorgeous.

I would have loved to see more work from all three of these actors (especially Céry, who at times is electric), but only Stefania Sabatini has done even another film or two outside of this. Here, they (and Rozier, and this whole film) are just a revelation.