A Single Girl (Reviewed on Nov. 25/98)
Starring Virginie Ledoyen
"A Single Girl" is filmed in real-time, which means that every minute of the first hour and 15 minutes of this movie is accounted for. I ordinarily like real-time movies. "Nick of Time", the vastly underrated Johnny Depp thriller, was exciting and fun. "A Single Girl", however, is boring and uninteresting.
Ledoyen stars as a woman who has just found out she's pregnant, and is starting work at a hotel that same day. We see her with her boyfriend at a cafe, and at the hotel. Those are the only two locations seen during much of the movie.
The problem I had with it being filmed in real-time is that Ledoyen is the focus of the movie. This means we are treated to many shots of her walking. Walking down a corridor in the hotel. Walking to and from the cafe. Walking while she smokes. I would guess that if you were to fast-forward all the scenes where there is no talking, just walking, you'd be left with a very short movie.
Ledoyen, though, gives a great performance. As with most foreign movies I watch, I didn't know or recognize any of the stars in it. Since the entire movie rests on the shoulders of Ledoyen, the quality of her performance had better be good. And it is. She's very charismatic and yet also aloof at the same time. I liked her as a character, I just wish she had been in a better movie.
I've read a few other reviews comparing "A Single Girl" to some of the French New Wave films of the early 60's. I suppose I can see that, but "A Single Girl" doesn't have the energy found in many of those films. It mostly just trods along, aimlessly wandering to its final destination, which isn't even that interesting.
Skip "A Single Girl" and rent "Breathless" instead.
**1/2 out of ****
-- David Nusair dnusair@chat.carleton.ca Come visit my "Reel Film Reviews" site! "http://chat.carleton.ca/~dnusair"
"The most annoying questions are the hypothetical, like, `what would have happened if you had quit after Siamese Dream?' Well, what would have happened? Probably, we all would have been playing samba somewhere." -Billy Corgan
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