French cinema has something special. Many of the films that come to us, Brazilian viewers, bring stories that are sometimes meaningless to our culture, or whose construction does not seem to follow the common logic of the cinematic narrative to which we are accustomed. It’s the style of this country, whose comedies, for example, tend to have a very typical style of humour, which often doesn’t cause laughter or strangeness around here. It is the beauty of narrative diversity, of having a cinema that shows all types of films, to all types of viewers, and the importance of having these values guiding the selection of feature films presented at the Rio Film Festival. of this year, in which the French drama ‘Fight Between Brothers’ debuted in our territory and is already announcing its debut on the MUBI platform soon.
Joseph (Max Baissette de Malglaive) and Marie-Louise Vuillard (Nicolette Picheral) are an elderly couple who, returning to the road, see a car parked on the side of the road with an injured young woman. While trying to help her, the two also end up in an accident, causing their children to congregate at the hospital to take care of them. The problem is that Alice (Marion Cotillard) is a famous actress who just created a play in town, but in real life she has an old argument with her older brother, Louis (Melvil Poupaud), a writer who, among other things, uses the name Alice in character. The two haven’t spoken to each other since they were still young and haven’t met in person since. However, the car accident of the parents will force them to live together, which is not necessarily a good idea.
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Lasting an hour and fifty, ‘Fight Between Brothers’ received a standing ovation for five long minutes after its screening at the Cannes Film Festival. However, the feeling that we have is that the feature film by Arnaud Desplechin cuts a period of the life of this family without saying exactly much about the front, even less pointing out the after. This structure, common in French cinema, leaves a sort of chubby flavor in the viewer’s mouth, as the script, also written by Arnaud, switches its focus between sister Alice and brother Louis, centering most of the scenes on her. The film develops from the perception that everyone has of the fight, and the resentment that results from it, but it does not tell exactly, or even develop, the reason for the fight. In the end, the reason for the distance between them is so trivial that it is frustrating.
It is true that Marion Cotillard is very good in the role, in particular because he portrays an actress who needs to hold back her emotions to maintain the performance of the play while her private life is collapsing. ‘Fight Between Brothers’ is a Marion steeped in acting. It’s just a shame that the film’s story doesn’t help elevate its character or get the viewer to savor the plot.