If you were to see the new French film “Wild Grass” without knowing who the di rector is, you might conclude that it is the work of a young, cutting-edge filmmaker.
In fact, it is directed by 88-year-old Alain Resnais, who has been making films since his teenage years, most famously “Hiroshima Mon Amour” in 1959. (Yes, a half-century ago.)
“Wild Grass” is a tale of l’amour fou. Middle-aged dentist Marguerite (Sabine Azema) travels to Paris from her suburban home, where she lives alone, to buy shoes. She finds appropriate footwear, but has her yellow handbag swiped by a Roller-
blader. (The crime unfolds in slo-mo.)
A short time later, middle-aged Georges (Andre Dussollier), who lives with his wife in the suburbs and has two grown children, comes upon Marguerite’s purse where the had thief discarded it.
There is no money in the wallet, but it does contain the woman’s pilot’s license and two photos of her.
Georges immediately becomes obsessed with Marguerite, even though he has never met her. He, too, is interested in aviation, but more importantly, he’s a fantasizer.
He barrages her with phone calls and letters, but she wants nothing to do with him.
When Georges vandalizes her car, she goes to the police. Two officers go to his house, which he is in the process of painting, and instruct Georges to leave the woman alone.
But no sooner does Georges call it quits than Marguerite — a striking presence in frizzy,
orange-red hair — decides she wants him.
She tracks him down at a theater showing “The Bridges at Toko-Ri.”
“You love me, then,” Georges blurts out upon seeing her for the first time. Only in France, kids, only in France.
“Wild Grass” is a French movie for people afraid of French movies. (Perhaps they once stumbled into some impenetrable work by Godard.)
Resnais shows that he’s a director who knows exactly what he wants, and gets it.
He draws pitch-perfect performances from the cast, which he combines with beautiful cinematography, by Eric Gautier, and a dark sense of humor.
What will Resnais, at the age when most men are retired, come up with next? Something wonderful, I presume.