Audience Member
Early Laurent Cantet (who is a BOSS filmmaker!). A seemingly straightforward story about a group of families and friends who take a vacation together to an isolated island lighthouse over the New Years break during the year 2000, to escape the hullaballo, where there is to be no TV, Radio, phones, etc. Just relaxation. Turns out there is no escape to an idyllic paradise. Conflict ensues with the young caretaker who has a radio and goes off by boat during the night, presumably to the mainland to party. Family conflict emerges, and whole layers of people and society unfold in this miniature version of the larger world. This film is clearly Cantet: slow french-style drama, that happens to be endlessly fascinating, the layers of what's happening just keep emerging, and the metaphors you can draw from it are really intriguing. It has that sort of depth that is also vague enough because it doesn't make the classic story-mistake of explaining what's happening. Things just unfold, and keep unfolding, as they do in the endless mess of real life.
This film is hard to find, and the DVD totally blows, but if you are a fan of Laurent Cantet (and you SHOULD BE!) you should definitely check this out.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
An early film of Laurent Cantet, the later winner of the Palme d'or for "Entre les murs" ("The Class") - not very convincing, and quite predictable, too. For me his best film is still "Vers le sud" ("Heading South")
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Like François, I've failed at Utopia. More than once even.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
probably Cantet's worst film.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
[url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sanguinaires/dvd.php?select=2"][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/38/173938.jpg[/img][/url]
Finally a Laurent Cantet film I can do without. Boring film about boring people on a boring island on the eve of 2000. Not much to say besides "don't waste your time".
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
Read all reviews