THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Date Released: varies Running Length: 1:36 Rated: R (Sexual situations, language, mature themes)
Starring: Lisa Harrow, Bruno Ganz, Kerry Fox, Miranda Otto,
Bill Hunter
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Producer: Jan Chapman
Screenplay: Helen Garner
Music: Paul Grabowsky
Released by Fine Line Features
Living together in one house are Beth (Lisa Harrow), her French husband Jean-Pierre (Bruno Ganz), her younger sister Vicki (Kerry Fox), her daughter Annie (Miranda Otto), and a boarder named Tim (Kiri Paramore). It's a strange family whose relationships with each other are, to say the least, unusual. All passion between Beth and Jean-Pierre is dead, Vicki is depressed over an abortion she feels she was pressured into, Annie and Tim are engaged is some seemingly-innocent flirting, and Beth is obsessed about making peace with her father (Bill Hunter) before he dies.
Even character dramas/slice-of-life pictures should have a point. Unfortunately, THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS is sorely lacking in this department. What the viewer gets out of this film may not be worth the investment of one hour and thirty-six minutes. Certainly, there are moments of power and emotion contained within, but the overall production is not only lacking in focus, but doesn't seem to know where it's going or when it's gotten there.
There is a long, dreary sequence in the middle of the film where Beth and her father go on a cross-country trek to mend their fractured relationship. While what happens on and because of this trip is central to THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS, the film drags during its course. The relationship between father and daughter is not sufficiently developed for this journey of discovery to have more than incidental meaning. It is, frankly, uninteresting.
Part of the problem is that the Beth, the central character of the story, is too bland. I managed to find some degree of empathy for almost everyone in the film except her. Lisa Harrow's acting isn't to blame - Beth is exceptionally poorly-written. The most powerful moments of the movie are designed to revolve around her but, because the character is so weakly presented, these scenes have little or no impact.
The bright spot of CHEZ NOUS is Kerry Fox. The young Australian actress is full of life and energy, and it comes through on screen, often obscuring problems with her character's motivation. Fox seems equally capable of doing lighthearted moments and deeper drama, since the role of Vicki requires both. In scenes with both of the sisters, Vicki's zest makes Beth look all-the-more lifeless.
The ending, while a letdown, occurs at a good place to break the story. Like the rest of THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS, there is something fundamentally unsatisfying about it. The film skims the surface of the disintegration of a family, but rarely gets deep enough into the characters and situations to create a forceful motion picture. We occasionally get glimpses of what CHEZ NOUS could have been had the script been better realized, but there are not enough of those moments to make this any better than a run-of-the-mill story of a dysfunctional family.
Rating: 7.0 (B-, **1/2)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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