Mais vous êtes fous (2019)
Directed by Audrey Diwan

Film Review

Mais vous êtes fous (a.k.a. Losing It) marks a promising directorial debut for Audrey Diwan, although her mise-en-scène and writing show such a  degree of hesitancy and understatement that the film struggles to make any real impact, even though it deals sensitively and intelligently with some important social themes.  Before turning to filmmaking, Diwan pursued a successful career as a journalist and novelist, and since 2010 she has co-scripted several films directed by her real-life partner  Cédric Jimenez.

Apparently based on a true story, Mais vous êtes fous shows the toxic capacities of a concealed drug addiction for wrecking a perfectly happy family.  The damaging effect of narcotics dependency has been explored in many other films recently, more often than not the addict being a lone adolescent from an under-privileged background.  By setting her film within the bosom of a seemingly normal middleclass family, Diwan provides a cogent reminder that drug addiction can occur in other milieux, with consequences that are no less devastating for those involved.

The film benefits from strong performances from its lead actors Pio Marmai and Céline Sallette, who play the drug-addicted father and his conflicted wife with harrowing realism.  Marmai has already had one go at playing a junky, in Pierre Salvadori's Dans la cour (2014), and here he is no less convincing, with a performance that resounds with inner torment resulting from his character's fatal addiction and crushing sense of guilt.  As impressive as the performances are, you feel throughout the film that they are cruelly hampered by a screenplay that fails to allow the central protagonists to express their feelings as fully and forcefully as they might.

And this is essentially why Mais vous êtes fous, whilst brimming with good intentions, fails to made the grade as a serious piece of film drama.  Diwan and her co-screenwriter Marcia Romano fall down on two counts - not only do they struggle to write authentic-sounding dialogue, they also assemble the narrative in too mechanical a way. Right from the start, like an arrow shot from a bow, the film follows a straight trajectory that is all too clearly marked out, and there are few, if any, surprises in store.  The script looks as if it was written by a computer (one of very limited processing capability) not a human being.

Marmai and Sallette do what they can to engage our sympathies, but when every scene plays out precisely as you anticipate, when every line of dialogue leaves you with a strong sense of déja-entendu, your interest tends to wane prertty swiftly.  The film deserves some credit for tackling its subject in a sober and adult fashion, but it fails to achieve anything like the emotional impact that its subject warrants.

Film Synopsis

Roman Clémenti is a faithful husband and a devoted father.  A dentist by profession, his would seem to be a contented, well-ordered life with nothing to worry about.  In truth, Roman harbours a terrible secret which he has so far been able to keep from his friends and family.  One day, the truth is forced out into the open - Roman is addicted to cocaine, and has been for several years.  Now that his terrible secret is known he risks losing his wife Camille, to whom he is devoted, and his darling daughters, whom he madly adores.  What must he do to redeem himself and prevent his family from falling apart?