Very little separates the exquisite Ludivine Sagnier from a Raphaelite oil rendering of a classic angelic innocent in the bloom of adolescence. Also a fine actress, she lights up the screen as no other beauty in recent film history. This dark tale of a sleepwalker unaware of her nightly roaming is a good example of Sagnier's immense glow and not a bad story, either. Age 26 at this time and the mother of a daughter by co-star/then-boyfriend Nicolas Duvauchelle, she still looks fourteen and likely will even when when old age sets in. Anything Sagnier appears in is instantly enhanced by her radiance, beginning with LES MARIS, LES FEMMES, LES AMANTS in 1989 when she was just ten. Perfectly at home in front of the cameras clothed or unclothed, she displays a fairly wide range of roles, but always emanates a natural presence that is quite breathtaking. The best examples of her extraordinarily seductive work can be seen in WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS (2000),LA PETITE LILI (2003) and SWIMMING POOL (2003),while a fine command of more stately character ability is demonstrated in such productions as MOLIERE (2007),A SECRET (2007) and A GIRL CUT IN TWO (2007). Do yourself a favor and take 20-minutes off to view the otherwise rather pointless short LES FRERES HELIAS with Duvauchelle, which has been posted online at Vimeo for at least two years. Single with two children and nearly fifty films since 1979, Sagnier has restricted herself mostly to the more credible European movie industry and has rightfully risen to top billing level. With the call of the West becoming louder and louder, one can only hope that Hollywood won't affect her continuing career adversely. Currently administering to a pair of Muslim lookalikes in THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE (2011),my humble advice is...don't miss any film she appears in.
Keywords: sleepwalkingsomnambulistsomnambulism
Plot summary
Cecile and Julien begin their new life together. Julien works long hours in a video library, a world full of pictures. Coming home late one night, he encounters a young, beautiful, disturbing woman in front of his building. She seems lost, as if in a dream. She mumbles something to him, like a call for help, and vanishes. Since this strange encounter, and maybe for the first time in his life, Julien is confused, becoming obsessed by the mystery surrounding this intriguing woman, Gabrielle. He discovers that she lives across the street with an intimidating, violent-looking man, Louis. Following her at night, Julien sees Gabrielle sleepwalking, perhaps a refugee from the distressful, dangerous world she must inhabit. Risking everything, including Cecile's love for him, Julien plunges into Gabrielle's strange but fascinating life, determined to save her from Louis, even herself, somehow hoping to avert the catastrophe that awaits her.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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Movie Reviews
Dazzling Sagnier
Half-Hearted
The biggest draw to this movie for me, was L. Sagnier. A beautiful and very talented woman. And she doesn't disappoint acting wise. It's the movie itself that is kind of a drag (not in a very good sense and actually pretty literally). While It's not so much the (slow) pacing of it, but the fact, that many things just remain in the dark (no pun intended).
And while a movie cannot explore every relationship very deeply, you should expect that the relationships of the major character are revealed more in depth. Unfortunately this never happens. And as much as I would love to like it (especially the ending is confusing in almost a good way),there are quite a few things, that don't work here. Nice relationship movie then, with a dark twist (though many things could've been explored better)
Ironically titled
"Une Aventure" opens with a dead body, a gun, and blood on a bed. You don't know who died or who killed them. These questions had better sustain you for a long time, because the rest of the film belies its title: it's slow, dull and generally uneventful - it's almost the equivalent of watching grass grow. Ludivine Sagnier has a chameleonic quality that probably attracts directors to her; she can play the sexbomb, the girl-next-door and the pathetic loser. Here she keeps you wondering if her character is a femme fatale or a fallen angel. But this film is destined to remain a forgotten entry in her filmography. ** out of 4.