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Cravate club
2002 Comedy / Drama
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Credits
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Director: Frédéric Jardin
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Script: Jérôme Dassier, Frédéric Jardin, based on a play by Fabrice Roger-Lacan
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Photo: Laurent Machuel
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Music: Christophe, Nicolas Errèra, Jean-Michel Jarre, Ludwig van Beethoven
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Cast: Charles Berling (Bernard),
Edouard Baer (Adrien),
Albane Urbin (La voisine),
Patrick Mille (Le petit ami de la voisine),
Pierre Balesi (L'homme qui prend le tableau),
Philippe Cotten (Employé escalier),
Francesco Walter de Araujo (Roland Chicamour)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 85 min
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Summary
Bernard and Adrien are partners in their own architecture firm, and are also the best
of friends. When Adrien announces that he cannot attend Bernard’s fortieth birthday
party, his friend is understandably upset and insists on knowing why. That night,
Adrien has to attend a dinner date at his private club – if he misses it, he will be automatically
expelled. Visibly hurt by his friend’s betrayal, Bernard sets off alone to his party.
The following morning, Adrien is surprised to see him semi-conscious and soaking wet in
the shower of their office apartment. Bernard hasn’t forgiven his friend’s disloyalty
and insists on knowing more about this secret club. Adrien’s reluctance to open
up merely fuels his friend’s suspicions and it’s only a matter of time before Bernard
becomes completely unhinged…
Review
Two-handed plays can often be very successful on the stage, but can they ever work
as an effective piece of cinema? This unusual, low budget French film shows that
they can, provided they are well-written, directed with imagination, and performed by
two talented actors. Cravate club was originally a successful stage play,
running to packed houses for several months in 2001. In this attractive film adaptation,
Charles Berling and Edouard Baer reprise the two roles which won them rave reviews in
the stage version - roles which fit both actors perfectly - and give us an extraordinarily
intense portrayal of mid-life crisis and the darker side of friendship. It was directed
by Frédéric Jardin, who had worked with Baer on two previous films.
Berlin and Baer carry the film so well that you scarcely notice or care that their's
are the only two characters in this film (other characters are glimpsed from a distance
or in brief cutaways, but the focus is well and truly on the two male leads). The
film's minimalist approach (most of the drama takes place in a cluttered office) intensifies
the increasingly stifling nature of the relationship between the two men. What begins
as a light-hearted comedy gradually evolves into a very dark psychological drama, an unsettling
experience for the spectator, particularly as Baer maintains his comic air of insouciance
almost throughout.
© James Travers 2007
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