Summary
Matthieu and Eric are two brothers who work at the same factory as their father in Normandy.
When his father is dismissed for smoking on the factory floor, Matthieu is incensed and
tries to have him reinstated - in vain. His brother has just got married and, with
a child and mortgage on the way, is reluctant to stir up trouble. Likewise, Matthieu’s
fellow workers refuse to get involved. Then tragedy strikes - Matthieu’s father
is killed in a road accident. Convinced that his father was driven to suicide, Matthieu
resolves to have his revenge. His plan is to lure his boss’s wife, Claire, into
an affair and so make his boss a laughing stock. Seducing Claire proves easier than
he could have imagined, but then the scheme goes awry. Matthieu and Claire fall
in love...
Review
With this, his third film, Xavier Beauvois amply demonstrates that he is one of most promising
directors of his generation, a worthy successor to the likes of Renoir, Bresson and Truffaut.
A near-flawless piece of cinema, Selon Matthieu combines social realism and sentimental
drama, the result being a sublime film d’auteur which is both socially relevant
and brimming with humanity.
In some ways this is a deeply pessimistic work, suggesting that the divide between the
working classes and the managerial elite is somehow engrained deep in the psyche of the
individual - if you are born working class, you will remain so, and so will all your descendents.
In that respect, the film has some similarity with Laurent Cantet’s excellent Ressources
humaines (1999). Selon Matthieu goes one step further and implies
that the working classes are singularly incapable of taking control of their destiny -
perhaps a variant on the poetic realism favoured by French filmmakers of the 1930s.
Whereas those who belong to the management caste have the privilege of intelligence, money,
status and power to improve their fortunes, those at the lower end of the social spectrum
are held in check by the lack of these things. Whilst he may rebel against his social
position and his intelligence may be higher than average, the hot-headed Matthieu remains
fundamentally a working class man. His loyalty to his father reveals a humanity
which causes him to seek revenge, but the same humanity prevents him from carrying though
that same revenge. He may not realise it, but he is just as much fettered to his
social position as his apathetic brother Eric - he merely happens to have a slightly longer
chain.
Selon Matthieu is a film with great social relevance, including judicious (and
highly topical) references to the harmful effect on society of the latest business ethic
- such as the transfer of business from France to the Far East to reduce labour costs.
Yet, more significantly, the film is a powerful study of the human condition - indeed
it is arguably one of the most humanist films to have been made in France for some years.
The moody photography brilliantly underscores the film’s sombre note, providing a visible
reflection of the central character’s troubled state of mind whilst reflecting the wider
social context.
The main character Matthieu is played by Benoît Magimel, who has in recent years
established himself as one of France’s leading actors. Here, as the repressed, angry,
emotionally flawed Matthieu, Magimel is a revelation. His intense, brooding performance
is the thing which contributes most to the sombre mood of the film, giving it its haunting,
spiritual quality. His pairing with Nathalie Baye is not only effective, it is a
piece of genius. Baye, equally one of France’s most highly rated actresses, doesn’t
disappoint - her portrayal of Claire is senstitive and intelligent, and subtly illustrates
both the similarities and the differences of the two worlds inhabited by the classes who
work and the classes who manage. Claire is a character who is every bit as complex
and tragic as Matthieu - perhaps more so, since her position in society requires her to
subjugate her basic emotional needs to the obligations of her position. A less complex
individual is Matthieu’s brother, Eric, who epitomises the working class mindset against
which Matthieu tries to rebel. Eric is played by Antoine Chappey, an actor with
evident talent who, having played this kind of supporting role with distinction in a number
of films, looks destined for bigger and better things.
It is not difficult to read some symbolism into the story (Matthieu’s failure to avenge
his father’s death echoing futile attempts since time immemorial for workers to stand
up to their employers), yet it is essentially a film about one man’s fight - not against
some faceless corporation, but against his own personal situation. The fallacy
of what Matthieu is trying to do is only brought home in the final scene, which is played
out with a devastating intensity - and quite harrowing naked humanity. With its
dark poetic vision and uncompromising social realism, Selon Matthieu is a profound
and poignant piece of cinema, which (thanks to Beauvois’ shameless choice of music) evokes
the works of Pasolini and Robert Bresson.
© James Travers 2003
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