Comme un homme (2012)
Directed by Safy Nebbou

Film Review

French films that trace the traumatic itinerary of a young person from adolescence to adulthood are not too hard to come by, but in his latest film director Safy Nebbou does so through the noir-tinted lens of the psychological thriller, and the result is as quietly disturbing as it is poignant.  Comme un homme (a.k.a. Bad Seeds) is adapted from a 1970s novel L'Âge bête by the legendary writing team Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, whose crime novels have inspired many notable films, not least of which are H.G. Clouzot's Les Diaboliques (1955) and Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958).  The film is a complete contrast with Nebbou's most recent film, the grandiose historical biopic L'Autre Dumas (2010), and has much more in common with his earlier film, L'Empreinte de l'ange (2008), a slick little thriller that helped to raise his international profile.

The film's most inspired touch is the casting of Emile Berling alongside his father Charles.  Barely into his twenties, Berling Jr has already established himself as one of France's most promising young actors - who can forget his heartrending performance in Christian Faure's Les Hauts murs (2008)? - and his authentic portrayal of a deeply troubled adolescent in Nebbou's film merely reinforces this impression.  Like his father, Emile Berling is naturally an introspective performer, his particular talent being his ability to a project his character's inner conflict and feelings in a way that is totally belied by his placid exterior.  If you met him, you could easily mistake him for a boy chorister, yet beneath the cool, angelic exterior you can just sense an inferno of raging emotions.  His presence is what gives the film its brooding mood of melancholia and anxiety, amplified to harrowing proportions by Pierre Cottereau's wonderfully atmospheric photography.

Emile Berling's character, Louis, is not one that we can instantly engage with.  He feels remote, too easily influenced by the bad company he falls in with, and he soon begins to resemble just another adolescent thug who takes pleasure in victimising others.  This impression is reversed in the second half of the film when the reasons for Louis's disaffection and moral deficit become apparent.  It is revealed that for the past four years (following the death of his mother) Louis has lived in a kind of emotional desert, distanced from his father (who deals with his bereavement by burying himself in his solitary pursuits) and starved of affection.  Both Louis and his father are immured by a grief that dare not speak its name, but it is the teenage boy who suffers most by having his emotional development arrested.  If the film has a message it is that society has an obligation to look more kindly on juvenile delinquents, many of whom deserve to be given a second chance after being emotionally disfigured by their environment.  Louis is not a monster but a child who has gone astray through misfortune and neglect.  The process by which he slowly wakes up to the horror of his crime and acquires a moral awareness as part of his adult awakening is intelligently scripted and played by Emile Berling with remarkable maturity and sensitivity.

Where the film is perhaps slightly less successful is in melding its disparate themes and styles into a coherent whole.  In terms of both its plot and its visual composition, Comme un homme is a very choppy film, unsure whether it is a traditional thriller, a coming-of-age drama or a family melodrama.  To a degree, the film's fragmented nature can be justified, as this helps to establish the fractured identity of its main character, but the erratic switching between genres is a little jarring at times and takes the emotional edge off some key scenes.  It is also a pity the screenwriters didn't iron out some of the more noticeable plot contrivances and give a little more attention to the secondary characters.  Despite commendable performances by Sarah Stern and Kévin Azaïs, Camille and Greg come across as two-dimensional ciphers, their sole purpose being to drive the plot along instead of being characters we can engage with.

The most effective scenes in the film are those in which Emile and Charles Berling play opposite one another.  The unfathomable complexity of the father-son relationship is captured with an almost documentary-style realism as Louis and his father try and repeatedly fail to make contact with one another.  Their body language, their gestures, the looks in their eyes - these say far more about what the two characters are thinking and feeling than any amount of dialogue.  Emile Berling has stated that he found these scenes the most difficult to perform, but they are the heart and soul of the film and give it a depth and humanity it desperately needs to hold it together. Whatever shortcomings the film may have are more than made up for by the outstanding performances from the two Berlings.  Comme un homme may not be quite as meticulously constructed as L'Empreinte de l'ange, but this latest offering from Safy Nebbou is every bit as compelling and elegantly crafted - unsettling but also deeply moving.

Film Synopsis

Louis, 16, is the son of the headmaster at the school which he attends and has no history of trouble.  His friend Greg, by contrast, is always get himself into deep water on account of his aggressive and rebellious character.  After attacking his English teacher Camille with a pair of scissors, Greg is expelled from the school.  He takes his revenge by kidnapping Camille and keeping her locked up in a log cabin that belongs to Louis's family.  Naturally, Louis provides the keys to the cabin.  Greg reneges on his promise to free his teacher the next day.  Bound and gagged she waits for someone to come and release her.  It's lucky for her that Louis isn't quite so depraved as his friend...