MINA TANNENBAUM
A film review by Peer Wandel Hansen
Copyright 1995 Peer Wandel Hansen
Rating (0-10) 9.0
Directed by Martine Dugowson
Written by Martine Dugowson
Cast Romane Bohringer, Elsa Zylberstein, Stephane Slima,
Florence Thomassin, Nils Tavernier, Eric Defosse,
Jean-Philippe Ecoffey, Hugues Quester, Harry Cleven
Cinematography Dominique Chapuis
Music by Peter Chase
Produced by IMA Films, Georges Benayoun
Running Time 108 minutes
The story is situated in Paris in the period from 1958 to present day, where we follow the friendship between the two main characters Mina (Romane Bohringer) and Ethel (Elsa Zylberstein). Mina and Ethel are born the same day in the same hospital, but meet for the first time as six years old in the ballet institute where they are taking lessons.
The movie now take us into the teenage years and their first experiences with love, and their friendship grows stronger but their personality grow more and more apart. The two girls become each others ideal, even though they approach life different. Mina is artistic and has the courage to do what she believe in, where Ethel in contrast takes life less serious and live from day to day. As the movie approaches and the girls get older the differences become larger.
Mina enter a sketch course, where she is attracted to a fellow student and the affection is mutual, but faith and her shyness will that they never end up together. Ethel on the other hand is has more courage with her pianist friend, but eventually in the intimate situation, she chickens out as well.
In their adult life they have a quarrel about a common guy, which Mina has been secretly in love with, but when Ethel announces she is about to marry him their friendship is jeopardized. Mina become more and more reserved and isolated and lack inspiration for her artistic expression.
This is one of the most brilliant French movies I have seen in a while. I will especially emphasize the manuscript as fabulous, and it received the "Palme d'Or" price in Cannes in 1994. This is only the second movie from Martine Dugowson (according to The Movie database at Cardiff) and is show some experimenting with light and cutting We see inspiration from David Lynch (Wild at Heart) with close-up of a cigarette being lit. The main characters, Romane Bohringer and Elsa Zylberstein play they parts astounding.
Martine Dugowson describe the move as a mix between a comedy and a Western. Westerns because they often are centered around a strong, unbreakable friendship between two widely different individuals. I highly recommend this movie, and I'm looking forward to see what the writer/director will bring us next time.
- Peer Wandel Hansen Copenhagen, Denmark
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