Blanche met Grégoire at a party. They fell in love, got married but did not live happily ever after...
Presented in competition at Cannes this year, L'amour et les forêts was released on May 24 at the cinema. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Eric Reindhart (2014), the story seems even more poignant, 3 years after the wave of the #MeToo movement.
The first thing to note about this film is the acting. While the subject of the film is so delicate, Melvil Poupaud (Grégoire Lamoureux) is frightening, going from perfect man to manipulative, violent and dangerous man. This work could not have been so remarkable without the one who plays his wife: Virginie Efira. In addition to playing a victim of her husband’s wife, she also plays her husband’s twin sister: Rose.
The film, when not punctuated by poignant and cruel scenes, plays on a tension and a heavy atmosphere. In one of the last scenes of the film, Grégoire, in an excess of rage, strangles Blanche on their bed. In turn, the husband and wife are seen in the reflection of the mirror of the dressing table next to the bed. While Blanche is terrified, Grégoire seems almost complacent in front of the image that this hairdresser gives him. It is in this intense scene that Melvil Poupaud’s play is revealed at its highest point.
Although the original story requires twin sisters, it is still very disturbing to see two Virginie Efira on screen. Especially since the staging did not at all make realistic the dialogue between the two characters. Often, it was limited to simple field/counter-field close-ups on the actress’s face. This made the dialogue scenes between the two binoculars strange.
However, another striking aspect of the film quickly makes the two Virginie Effira forget: the sublime work of the cinematographer, Laurent Tangy. Indeed, the colors and lights of the film are very worked and give a plastic beauty worthy of the film of the 1970s. L'Amour et les Forêts obviously pays tribute to Eric Rohmer’s films in terms of its colorimetry, but it also recalls Jacques Demy’s films. Especially during the scene sung in the moving truck of Blanche and Grégoire. Finally, it is as if Valérie Donzelli had borrowed the aesthetic codes of the two directors but to make a dark film. In every sense of the word.
The colors have a symbolic value of their own. Blue represents evil, manipulation and lies. Of course, blue is mainly present when Gregory is present (or evoked). Red, symbolizes moments of pleasure or joy, especially during sex scenes. White, on the other hand, is only present at certain important moments of the film and seems to represent freedom, the way of healing for Blanche. Maybe she finally finds the way back to herself?
Finally, L'amour et les forêts adopts a simple and effective narrative. The subject, though so difficult to evoke, has been treated with attention to detail, and this is reflected in the work of the actors and actresses but also in that of the cinematographer. We come out of the room deeply marked, and that’s where the power of this film lies.
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