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Le Ventre de Juliette
2003 Drama
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Credits
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Director: Martin Provost
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Script: Marc Abdelnour, Philippe Lasry, Martin Provost
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Photo: Jean-Claude Larrieu
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Cast: Julie-Marie Parmentier (Juliette),
Stéphane Rideau (Mathias),
Carmen Maura (Julia),
Nathalie Richard (Fafa),
Patrick Chesnais (Abel),
Tom Novembre (Léonard),
Ariane Ascaride (Marie-Brigitte Poradjawski),
Anthéa Cintract (Fejra),
Julie Vettesse (Vanessa),
Marie Vettesse (Clémentine)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 92 min
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Aka: Song from Within
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Summary
In Marseilles, Juliette and Mathias, both from rough, working class backgrounds, are madly
in love. But when Juliette reveals that she is pregnant, Mathias is shocked and
ends their relationship. No one seems to want the unborn baby – even Juliette’s
mother, a former actress who is now reduced to running a small boutique, advises her to
have an abortion. Juliette is on the brink of despair. And then, one day,
a stranger her life…
Review
Martin Provost’s second full-length film (after his 1997 comedy-drama Tortilla
Y Cinema) is this beautifully realised and exquisitely poignant social realist
drama, set in a working class area of Marseilles (but a world apart from the sun-drenched
Marseilles of contemporary director Robert Guédiguian).
Rigorously free of sentimentality, the film is cruel, honest, and occasionally funny;
it tells a simple story, but is rich in character detail, and says so much about the kind
of world we now live in. Julie-Marie Parmentier is not just convincing as
a young woman trying to face up to an unwanted pregnancy – she is captivating and,
in a few sequences, heart breaking. Provost’s portrayal if Juliette’s
world is at first depressing, but, like the sun breaking through the clouds, the
mood changes and the film concludes on a note of optimism, whilst still retaining the
keen realist edge.
Even though Provost eschews poetry and style in favour of stark
realism, his film is poetic in its raw simplicity and in its moving, point-of-view depiction
of a young woman’s sense of isolation at a time when help and comfort are most needed.
The only thing that doesn’t quite ring true is the way in which the character Léonard
is introduced into the narrative (although Tom Novembre’s sympathetic portrayal
makes it easy to overlook this one plot contrivance).
In summary, Le
Ventre de Juliette is an engaging, socially relevant drama which is composed with
artistic talent and genuine human tenderness. An excellent cast (which includes
noteworthy contributions from Stéphane Rideau, Carmen Maura and Ariane Ascaride),
coupled with some effective, very moody photography, allows Martin Provost to make his
mark as an auteur with this highly recommended film.
© James Travers 2005
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