Review of Leos Carax Collection, The: Boy Meets Girl / Night Is Young / Pola X

Introduction

Frenchman Leos Carax, a post-Nouvelle Vague film-maker, was touted as the country`s next big thing back in the 1980s after the release of his debut feature `Boy Meets Girl`. Carax continued to make well-received films, albeit sporadically, throughout the eighties and nineties until his 1999 film, `Pola X`, which became notorious for featuring unsimulated sex between two actors, bombed with both critics and fans. His return to film-making after a 9-year absence, `Tôkyô`, is set for release in 2008. This DVD collection features both his debut, the controversial `Pola X`, and 1986`s `Mauvais Sang` (`Night is Young`)

In `Boy Meets Girl`, Denis Lavant plays a young man named Alex who`s just found out his girlfriend was cheating on him, and has made a half-hearted attempt to beat up his love rival. A lost soul, he wanders the streets of Paris where he meets the downtrodden Mireille, a woman as jaded by love as he.

`Mauvais Sang` is the second part in Carax`s loose trilogy, referred to as either the `Alex Trilogy` or the `Love Trilogy`. Once again, Denis Lavant plays a man called Alex, this time the son of a small-time crook who`s recently died. He`s approached by two aging criminal friends of his late father who want him to take on the now vacant role in a heist. Wanting the money to start a new life, Alex accepts, and discovers the task is stealing the culture of a vicious virus from a French pharmaceutical company, an item which could bring about a profitable cure in the right hands. But he makes the mistake of falling for Anna (Juliette Binoche), a mistress of one of the old criminals.

`Pola X` is an adaptation of a nineteenth century Herman Melville novel named `Pierre: or, The Ambiguities`. Guillaume Depardieu, looking very much like his famous father, plays Pierre, a successful debut novelist, husband-to-be and heir to a large inheritance and estate. He`s plagued by dreams of mysterious woman, and one day finds said woman spying on him. She claims to be his illegitimate half-sister, the daughter of his late father and an Eastern European immigrant. Choosing to leave behind his current existence, Pierre sets off on an incestuous and spiralling journey with his new sister, one which can only end badly.

Video

`Boy Meets Girl`, shot in black and white, is presented, like the others in the set, in something approaching anamorphic 1.70:1 with black vertical strips flanking the edges of the frame. There`s plenty of noise, some shimmer and a touch of moiré - the old adage of monochrome hiding a multitude of sins doesn`t appear to be effect here - and it looks a little more dated than its 1984 filming would suggest.

1986`s `Mauvais Sang` suffers from similar issues to `Boy Meets Girl` although filmed in colour. It`s a little rough-looking, with some evident noise, some overly-strong chroma and a lack of definition that doesn`t lead to softness, instead a sometimes harsh looking grit effect.

`Pola X` is the most recent of the features in the box set. Noise is kept to a minimum, but here the colouring is a little strong too - which makes the dark scenes a little too dark, and has the same grittiness in the visuals as seen in `Mauvais Sang`.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 in native French with English subtitles across all three features. `Boy Meets Girl` sounds a little hissy at times, but this doesn`t cause any lack of clarity, and is the only feature worth pointing out on what are very standard audio tracks.

Features

Each film has something, which is better than nothing, but far from anything to get excited about:

`Boy Meets Girl` has an introduction from actor Denis Lavant, and a 20-minute `on set` featurette which is proper behind the scenes of filming footage.

`Mauvais Sang` features 20-minutes worth of outtakes and rough behind the scenes footage, a deleted scene and a trailer.

Cast and crew filmographies only on `Pola X`.

Conclusion

Boasting some great cinematography and a minimalist style, `Boy Meets Girl` is the most simplistic of Carax`s tales in the box set. It`s a little abstract, very New Wave-ish - with particular influences from the likes of Jean-Luc Godard - but is accessible and manages to use some very old-fashioned inserts and fades, giving the whole thing a visual lustre of 1940s film-making. It`s an elementary tale of torturous love, but isn`t as engaging as perhaps it should be. Denis Lavant looks like a 13-year old boy, and despite being a fine actor, doesn`t have enough `leading man` presence. On the other hand, Mireille Perrier`s understated performance is exactly what the film needs, as she acts as the emotional epicentre. It`s also a little rough, technically, around the edges. The editing could be tighter and the ADR synching is at times way off. But the undeniable charm of it is enough to keep interest up throughout, especially considering it`s a debut.

`Mauvais Sang` is again a visually striking film, another which is really about unconventional love, this time tied up in a stylish French gangster flick. The acting is solid, with the goofy Lavant acting opposite both Juliette Binoche and a young Julie Delpy. Carax makes some not-so-subtle comments on 1980s promiscuity and excess with the virus of the film a thinly veiled cousin of AIDS, and the `high energy with a dash of modest humour` approach means it`s the most exciting of the films in the set, even with the prolonged sequences of near-poetic babble. The pacing and absurdly stylised nature may be enough to put off some, but while hardly an exquisite achievement in the love story genre, its panache and visual flair makes sure it only stumbles, never falls.

`Pola X` is the film which had audiences crying in disgust, but, while falling short of being the great tragic melodrama is wants to be, is an interestingly punchy drama. The characters are strangely motivated and make some simply bizarre decisions, but the performances, particularly Catherine Deneuve`s turn as the matriarchal femme, carry the film to places beyond which its ill-pacing and twisted yet sprawling story deserve to. Some will find the incestuous tale a little uncomfortable, and if that doesn`t get you, the real sex - `9 Songs` style - between `siblings` probably will. That said, it`s lit and framed in such a way as not to be overly gratuitous. Despite being unrelated to Carax`s loose `Love Trilogy`, `Pola X` continues with some of the same themes and motifs seen in the other films, albeit in a rather indelicate and slightly gross way. It should be mentioned that this DVD features a rather nasty layer change, unfortunately.

Carax`s work, as presented in this set, is certainly interesting; he wears his influences on his sleeve and has a real grasp of cinematography. European cinema fans could do worse than check out this set.