Le Parc (2017)
Directed by Damien Manivel

Film Review

One of the most beautiful French films to be aired in 2016 (it was rapturously received when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival), Le Parc will surely establish its director Damien Manivel as one of France's most promising new auteur filmmakers.  His debut feature, Un jeune poète (2015), was just as remarkable, but somehow this enticing first oeuvre managed to pass without attracting anything like the attention it deserved.  The stark simplicity of Le Parc belies its sophistication as a piece of film art.  An extraordinarily honest and unadorned depiction of a first amorous encounter, it is a film that both enchants and unsettles with its unique poetry.

Made on microbudget, Le Parc is a curious fable that feels like a gently ironic re-interpretation of the Garden of Eden story.  It begins in the manner of a leisurely Eric Rohmer romance, with a pair of attractive youngsters meeting up in a park and struggling to get to know one another.  From their obvious nervousness and the way that they look at each other it is clear that they both harbour lustful yearnings for the other.  But there is such an innocence in the way the young lovers interact and play with each other that they look more like children enjoying each other's company than grown-ups embarking on the first phase of their mating ritual.  It's an odd thing that whilst cinema has shown just about everything there is to see in a romantic liaison, the one thing that has been overlooked is that crucial first meeting when Cupid gets out his bow and starts firing off his arrows.  It is this lacuna that Le Parc seeks to fill, and it does so with breathtaking finesse.

All that Manivel has to play with are two photogenic young actors and a stunning park, yet this is more than enough for him and his camera operator to compose a sublime piece of cinema.  As the day melts virtually unnoticed into night, the mood of the film gradually changes until we find ourselves in a very different place - the sad solitariness of night, savouring the bitter melancholy of the day that has passed.  It is this transition from light to dark, from the exterior world of infinite possibilities to the inner world of fragile illusions, that Manivel handles most expertly.  It is impossible not to be affected by this delicate ode to love - a work of powerful contrasts that takes us from euphoria to disillusionment and leaves us profoundly moved.

Film Synopsis

One bright summer's day, a young man in his late teens is waiting for someone in a park.  He is joined by a girl of about his age and it is apparent that they are on a first date.  They are both nervous about the encounter and find it hard to engage in conversation.  But they are clearly attracted to one another and as the hours drift lazily by they become more comfortable in each other's company.  Wandering through the park, they reveal their interests - he talks about Freud, she talks about gymnastics.  In an area of woodland, they share their first kiss.  But already the day is nearing its end.  As the light fades, the youngsters part company.  Left alone, the girl sits down and sends her new lover a text message.  The reply she gets is not what she had hoped for...