MovieChat Forums > Vendredi soir (2002) Discussion > An understated work from a modern master

An understated work from a modern master


FRIDAY NIGHT is an understated masterwork. Claire Denis is one of the great directors of our time. See this film.

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I wholeheartedly agree. Vendredi Soir is a beautiful story of chance and circumstance, of impulse and romanticism through spontanaity. I saw this film at the Dublin Film Fest last year and left the theatre deeply touched by its subtlety and artistry. I constantly recommend this film to true film-lovers.

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this movie was boring as hell.

It is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue... natural justice.

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Ok, I'm really tried to understand and appreciate the movie, but to me it was flat. Please, no snooty grad/art-school answers like "You just don't understand aaaaaaaaht, my dear".

The camera work was interesting - it's close-ups and focus on the movement of skin (in the bedroom) and eyes (outside the bedroom) made for some good tension.

But outside of that, this film was just tedious. If any of you can figure out a way to convince me otherwise, I'm all ears. I'll take one stab at it though:

Was it 'moving' and 'beautiful' because a mopey, sad, depressive woman ran into a desicive man (that's all it takes to seduce a woman, in essense... and moments of tenderness and good timing with words and actions) who subtlely and eventually passionately seduced her? In essense does this movie have the same effect as a romance novel where some sweaty hunk embraces the heroine and whisks her away from her problems?

I can see how female viewers might become titilated by that - isn't it every woman's fantasy to get swept off her feet by a mysterious stranger? Was that the movie's only real merit, that it catered to an age-old female fantasy? Human beings are evo-biologically semi-polygamous. We all get stuck in a rut in our long-term relationships and get the roving eye. Not just men - women too.

So when a woman sleeps around on her significant other it must be romanticized in their minds so they feel less 'slutty', of course. I get that. Add Paris as a backdrop, and suddenly it becomes a cinematic achievement. What if it was set in Detroit? Or Baku, Azerbaijan? You see where I'm going with this. And of course when a man get involved in something similar he can INSTANTLY get typecast as a scumbag. Yes.


As Laure smiled subtley as she ran down the street in the final scene, I got the impression that the film maker was suggesting that she was FREE. That the relationship she was about to go into wasn't right for her and that her one night stand helped her discover the right path. Sure, that's cool for her. I'm happy for her. But is it really THAT deep? Jesus Christ.


By that logic, I could call a movie where the male protagonist meets and gets seduced by a bombshell blonde a "masterpiece" and also a 'discovery of personal freedom". Please.


This movie was just self-indulgent nonsense.

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I still want to see this film, despite all of the comments on how confusing this film is. I have to see it for myself.

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jake, i think i understand where you are coming from on this one. i doubt you'll ever see this post because you'll likely not check back on a film you didn't care for.
i will say a few things.
1- i am NOT a claire denis fan. in fact, i avoid her films.i find them long, boring, flat. Esp. her mostly highly rated ones.
2- i saw this film years ago and while i didn't remember anything about it, i chose to see it again last night because this past year has found me 'discovering' vincent lindon as a revelation, and I wanted to see him in lovemaking scenes.
3- for me the SOLE reason to see this film( and I gave it an 8 for this reason) is to watch vincent lindon. I am 59 , have seen thousands of films,and I feel like I have never seen a man make love that beautifully on film. I was so taken by his performance in Mme.Chambon this yr.,and his lovemaking in that film was just mesmerizing and deeply moving.as it was in Friday Night.
that's it! very simple. the end.one person's experience.






The way to have what we want
Is to share what we have.

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I watched this film this afternoon and really love its cinematographic beauty -- I enjoyed each shot of it from the very first second until the last minute. Not a male filmmaker, I believe, is capable of doing anything like this.

The point is not about a mysterious man seduces a sad, depressive woman. In fact, this woman shouldn't be consider sad and depressive at all; she is just a bit unsettling and uneasy to accept a big change in her life - moving in with her boyfriend tomorrow.

*****Spoiler Alert

I think she is simply anxious about the soon-to-be brand new life of living with someone else, even though it may signify that their relationship has developed into another level of intimacy and maturity. You can tell from the storyline - for instance, she calls her boyfriend informing him that she finished packing and the traffic jam as well - that she decides moving in with him out of free will, and presumably out of love and affection. Yet, faced with uncertainty, the standstill of the traffic is just a reflection of her emotional state. In addition to it, moving in with a man also means putting an end to her freedom - symbolically, a restriction that might cause a sense of fear. So, it's understandable why she would spend a night - last night of her being alone - with a tender and self-assured stranger. What happened at that night can be seen as a transition for her to move from the prior life stage to the next one. After it, in the final scene, she's ready to delightfully embrace and eargerly welcome the change of her new life. To be honest, I am a female against one night stand in any kind. However, it's a movie that portrays something far deeper than either a one-night-stand or a seduction - it's about emotions in a deep sense.

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isn't it every woman's fantasy to get swept off her feet by a mysterious stranger?


No.

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