Des morceaux de moi (2013)
Directed by Nolwenn Lemesle

Film Review

If some brave soul were to take all of the French films d'auteur that have been made over the last thirty years and distil this intoxicating morass of self-conscious nombrilistic artistry into one film the result might well resemble Nolwenn Lemesle's debut feature, Des Morceaux de moi.  Lemesle leaves practically no film auteur cliché unturned in her attempt to fly the flag for the independent filmmaker, blissfully unaware that her style of cinéma vérité now looks as dated and tatty as a moth-eaten tanktop from the 1970s.  What Lemesle serves up for us is yet another slice of miserable family life in the provinces seen through the eyes of a disenfranchised teenager, who, when she isn't playing the great documentarist with her trusty camcorder and wearily droning on about the crushing vacuity of her existence, is happily playing the tomboy with her weird bunch of mates, one of whom is an English guy in a kilt.  It's not the most auspicious start to a film career for someone who has already made two shorts - Poids plume (2005) and Sid (2007) - and served a stint as a screenwriter on other films including Frédéric Andrei's Par suite d'un arrêt de travail (2008).

Scrappy, uneven, shallow and grimly derivative as it is for the most part, Des Morceaux de moi is not entirely without charm.  Zabou Breitman and Tchéky Karyo bring solidity to the wishywashy narrative with their authentic portrayals of the central character's reviled parents, both gaining our sympathy as the reasons for their odious behaviour become apparent.  What most saves the film and prevents it from being just another lazy cut-and-paste exercise by a wannabe auteur is the arresting presence of Adèle Exarchopoulos, who is probably just about the best thing to hit French cinema in over a decade.  Before this, Exarchopoulos had made her presence felt in Rose Bosch's wartime drama La Rafle (2010), but it wasn't until she played the central role in Abdellatif Kechiche's acclaimed La Vie d'Adèle (2013) that her talents were fully recognised.

Adèle E. isn't just a hyper-charismatic and hyper-seductive phenomenon, a natural born star with her irresistible enfant sauvage allure and low, husky voice, she is above all a mesmeric actress who doesn't so much draw you into her character's universe as forcibly yank you in and make you a willing captive for every second she is on screen.  Des Morceaux de moi is a film that desperately need something to hold it together and prevent it from being just a messy scrapbook of random (mostly recycled) images.  Exarchopoulos fulfils this role admirably and more then compensates for the multiple failings in Lemesle's mise-en-scène and writing.  Sluggish and drearily imitative, Des Morceaux de moi is still something of an ordeal to sit through, but its siren-like lead actress at least makes it bearable and leaves you hungry for more.

Film Synopsis

Erell is a bored seventeen year old girl who lives in a provincial backwater where the only thing she can do to relieve the boredom of her monotonous existence is to film everything and everyone she encounters with her camcorder.  Life at home is far from being a bed of roses.  Since her older sister Sarah left to start a new life with her boyfriend in Paris four years ago she has had to cope with the temper tantrums of her chronically sick mother alone.  Her father is of no help - he is more interested in his collection of insects than his family.  With her buddies Gabin, Javier and Le Majeur, who regard her as a boy and treat her as such, Erell struggles to fill the empty days with small acts of rebellion.  Her relationship with her parents comes under further strain when Sarah suddenly returns with the news that she is pregnant...