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Strayed
(3/10) Copyright © 2004 by Tony Medley Odile
(Emmanuelle Beart) is an unhappy young mother of two children, 13
year-old Phillipe (Grégoire
Leprince-Ringuet), and his eight-year-old sister, Cathy (Clémence
Meyer). While fleeing the Nazi invasion of Paris in 1940, German
fighters strafe their procession and they are stranded in the
countryside. A strange drifter, 17-year-old Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel) helps
them and they follow him.
What
follows is a slow, boring tale that seems to have little premise and no
point. I was mightily disappointed. Unless you like watching grass grow,
I can’t imagine anyone being entertained by this. Odile is unhappy and
lifeless, except for one lovemaking scene with Yvan that seems to come
out of nowhere.
This
does present a picture of the despair faced by ordinary people in the
face of Nazi aggression in World War II. Poor Odile and her children are
left with just the clothes on their backs. The German fighters strafe
and bomb defenseless civilians. No wonder Odile is so unhappy. I’m
sorry they couldn’t have come up with a story that was at least mildly
interesting. But this is just Odile and her family and Yvan surviving
for a few days, and that’s it.
Oh,
there’s a mystery about Yvan as he can’t read and he’s odd and we
don't know who he is or what he's about. But it’s not enough to carry
the movie, and it doesn’t.
Don’t waste your time.
You won’t regret not seeing this. In French with subtitles.
June
5, 2004
The
End
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