Bar des rails (1991)
Directed by Cédric Kahn

Film Review

In 1998, Cédric Kahn received international acclaim for L'Ennui, a remarkably astute and explicit study in obsessive love revolving around a middle-aged man's destructive amour fou for a much younger woman.  Seven years before this, his debut film Bar des rails dealt with similar themes from a teen perspective but came and went almost without being noticed, although in retrospect it is just as worthy of attention and reveals Kahn's promise as an auteur filmmaker of considerable ability.  Prior to this, Kahn had directed the short Les Dernières Heures du millénaire (1990), co-scripted Brigitte Roüan's debut feature Outremer (1990) and worked as an assistant editor on Maurice Pialat's critically acclaimed Sous le soleil de Satan (1987).

Bar des rails is a sensitively crafted coming of age drama that goes way beyond the genre's usual cutely romanticised trappings and places much greater emphasis on the intense traumatic impact of a teenager's experience of sexual awakening.  The film's author eschews the familiar sugar-coating that is all too often applied to teen romances in modern cinema and instead shows us the brutal reality of an adolescent coping with the onslaught of mental and physical stimuli resulting from a first romantic adventure.

In his only credited film role, Marc Vidal effectively conveys the fragility and confusion of a sexually inexperienced 16-year-old caught up in a torrent of feeling that brings mental torment as well as physical gratification, although it is his co-star Fabienne Babe who has the greater impact as the no less mixed up older woman who cannot resist seducing the handsome teenager.  Kahn was fortunate in securing Babe's services on his first feature.  She had started her screen career in Jacques Rivette's Hurlevent (1985) and Ken Loach's Fatherlald (1985) and would devote her subsequent career to working almost exclusively for auteur filmmakers, including the Dardenne brothers' Je pense à vous (1992), André Téchiné's Les Voleurs (1994) and Paul Vecchiali's De sueur et de sang (1993).

Bar des rails is by no means a polished and flawless piece of cinema, and Kahn's inexperience shows both in his writing and direction.  Yet it feels churlish to dwell on these imperfections as they are so handsomely redeemed by the film's unwavering authenticity and daring.  The elliptical narrative and delicately intimate photography show a surprising sophistication in a rookie filmmaker still in his early twenties.  Kahn is not only motivated and intellectually equipped to break new ground.  He seems to be an artist who is genuinely impelled to explore the more mysterious and dangerous facets of the human condition, with depth, sensitivity and refreshing honesty.  What some consider a  perverse streak in human nature is, through Cédric Kahn's distinctive brand of auteur cinema, shown to be the truest, most essential part of who we are.  This becomes apparent in his subsequent films - most notably Roberto Succo (2001), Les Regrets (2009) and La Prière (2018) - but is also more than evident in his somewhat less confidently realised but nonetheless impressive debut feature, Bar des rails.

Film Synopsis

Richard leads a humdrum existence in a typically dull French provincial town.  He is 16 and lives with his mother, who makes enough money to support them on her income as a dressmaker.  One day, Richard notices that one of his mother's young clients has started to take an interest in him.  She is Marion, a single mother who appears to be in her late twenties.  Despite the obvious difference in their ages, Marion finds herself strongly attracted to the good-looking youngster and cannot help trying to seduce him.  Not having had any previous experience of this kind, Richard is uncomfortable about the older woman's lubricious interest in him and gives her no encouragement.  But as she persists, her moves becoming increasingly transparent, he begins to find her attractive and finally gives in to her demands.  Yielding to exciting new sensations, Richard takes pleasure from the relationship but he soon finds he has deeper feelings for his older lover.  Is it possible that he has discovered true love for the first time, or is he merely being overwhelmed by biological and emotional impulses which he is ill-equipped to deal with?