Chris_Pandolfi

(2013-05-13 14:35:53)

Torn Between Two Men

Because it makes no grand gestures, "Goodbye First Love" is adeceptively simple movie. Essentially, it tells the story of a youngwoman torn between two men, both of whom she loves deeply but incompletely different ways. Its simplicity is cleverly masked by arather unconventional style, which is about as far removed from aHollywood romance as it can be. The film flows rather organically, withmost of the traditional cinematic enhancements stripped away. It's lessabout plot and drama and more about character. It may not beimmediately apparent, but we are witnessing a person on the roadtowards maturity. This isn't to suggest she began at innocence, northat she will end up understanding everything; all we know is thatshe's in the process of becoming.Her name is Camille (Lola Créton). When we first meet her, it's 1999,and she's a fifteen-year-old living with her parents in Paris. She'shaving an intensely physical affair with a teenage boy named Sullivan(Sebastian Urzendowsky), who has given up on school. Despite theirrepeated assertions that they each are the love of their lives, theyargue very easily. This is easy to explain: They're both still youngand naïve, and they don't yet know what they want out of life. Sullivanyearns to experience the world and plans a trip to South America with afriend of his. Camille is threatened by his wanderlust and continuouslythreatens to harm herself. If he leaves, he may forget about herentirely and meet another girl. She claims that she's not looking foranything more than him.Sullivan assures her that he will only be gone for ten months and thathe'll keep in touch. And so, off he goes. Camille copes as best she canas it transitions into 2000, receiving the occasional letter fromSullivan. In all his letters, he continues his practice of boldlyasserting his love for her. They are, in fact, so bold that they comewithin an inch of being cruel and emotionally manipulative. In oneletter, he tells with, rather poetically, that his love for her isholding him back. If he wasn't so in love with her, if she didn'tplague his thoughts on a daily basis, he might actually enjoy histravels. Quite suddenly, the letters stop coming. A devastated Camillesoon ends up in a depression clinic, at which point her father (SergeRenko) tells her that it's finally time to take the next step.Never once do follow Sullivan, whose stay in South America lasts muchlonger than ten months. We do, however, follow Camille over the nextseven years. During this time, she finishes high school, attends adesign college, studies architecture, and lands a job at a company runby a Norwegian architect named Lorenz (Magne Håvard Brekke), who'sseparated from his wife in Berlin and seemingly estranged from his son.We see their relationship develop from employer and employee to casualacquaintances to emotional confidants to lovers. He may not express hislove for Camille quite as vocally as Sullivan would have, but it'sobvious that he cares for her deeply. She too cares about him. It isn'tthe same as it was with Sullivan, though. There's more than justphysical affection; there's a clear understanding of who they are.It isn't until 2007 that Camille and Sullivan finally reunite. An exactdate is not given, but it seems he had returned from South Americaquite a while ago. He now gets by as a photographer in Marseille, whichhe likes much better than Paris. Initially, it seems like theirrelationship has cooled and that they will continue merely as friends.But after a while, it's obvious that the old feelings have resurfaced.I expected this from Camille, but I have to admit, I didn't expect itfrom Sullivan. Memories of her continue to haunt him, and at one point,he tearfully wishes that they were back together. When Lorenz is calledaway on business, Camille and Sullivan regularly convene and make love,all the while sensing that what they're experiencing isn't likely tolast.Having gone this far in my review, I fear that I've made this moviesound like a sentimental tearjerker. It's almost impossible to conceiveof given the subject matter, but "Goodbye First Love" is about asdevoid of sentiment as it could possibly be. Rather than indulge infairytale contrivances, love and relationships are examined in terms ofvery plausible, very concrete physical and emotional needs. All leadsto an indirect and rather languid ending, which is actually treatedless like an ending and more like just another scene. As realistic asthis may be, my innate American sensibilities had me longing forsomething a little more distinct. I'm not saying everything had to bewrapped up in neat little package, although some sense of closure wouldhave been nice.-- Chris Pandolfi (www.atatheaternearyou.net)

David Edelstein

(2013-05-13 08:39:42)

There's nothing like a film about wayward passions to remind you how differently people feel things.

David Stratton

(2013-05-09 06:55:00)

Delicate portrayal of young love, obsession, longing and bitter disappointment.

Howard Schumann

(2013-05-08 11:16:48)

Paints a striking picture of the impact of first love

Most of us at one time or another have experienced the sacramentalbeauty of loving another being. Love, however, defies analysis andoften does not fit our pictures. From an outsider's point of view,there are more unlikely couples than likely ones, but those who are notin the lover's shoes may be unable to fully understand their feelings.Camille (Lola Créton), in Mia Hansen-Love's third feature Goodbye FirstLove, is repeatedly told by parents and friends to forget the young manwho claims to love her for eternity, but then leaves abruptly on a tripto "discover himself." That she is unable to let go is not a sign ofimmaturity or madness, but only of the depth of her love and thebetrayal she feels.The 17-year-old Créton (Something in the Air) is stunning both in herappearance and her ability as an actress. There is never a moment whenit feels that she is just playing a role rather than being herself.Hansen-Love, herself only thirty one, paints a striking picture of theimpact of first love. When Camille meets and falls for the bland19-year-old Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky) at the age of fifteen, herfirst involvement is both joyous and heartbreaking. To Camille,Sullivan is her world and she is obsessed with him. Overly dramatic,she threatens that if he leaves her, she will "jump into Seine." Heresponds by saying that "If you cut your hair, I'll kill you,"presumably sparing her the trouble of jumping into the Seine.Sullivan's relationship with Camille, though tender, lacks commitment.For him, it feels as if love is a good idea but not something he feelsin his bones and the chemistry between the two is missing in subtletyand depth. On vacation in the idyllic Ardèche region of SouthernFrance, Sullivan dumps on her, relating his plans to drop out of schooland backpack through South America for ten months with friends.Obviously, the "friends" part of it does not include Camille. When heis on his trip, she follows his journey via his letters and pushes pinsinto a map to mark his whereabouts. Though he promises to begin againwhere they left off, he soon writes to her that he wants to be free.Camille takes it hard, very hard and as time melts away, she is nocloser to acceptance than the day she received the news.Hansen-Love does not give us much information as to the passage oftime, but we know that years have passed during which Camille has goneto school to study architecture and has begun to build a new life withLorenz (Magne Håvard Brekke), a considerably older professor ofArchitecture. Growing in maturity, she has become a young professional,having apparently moved on from Sullivan, that is, until he comes backinto her life, seemingly unchanged both physically and emotionally.Goodbye First Love can be meandering without much happening in the wayof narrative and the jumpiness of the editing can be frustrating.Hansen-Love rarely stays with one scene (especially the love-makingscenes) long enough for us to feel any deepening involvement, yet thefilm succeeds in capturing the extreme mood swings of adolescence withsensitivity and we can relate to the emotional pain a breakup can causewhen people's feelings are treated in a cavalier fashion. What alsoworks is the eclectic soundtrack that features Patrick Street, VioletaParra, Matt McGinn, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling, music that addsanother dimension to the film. While it is not a "message film," whatcomes through for me in Goodbye First Love is the Buddhist idea thatthe origin of suffering is attachment to things that are impermanentsuch as desire and passion. Nirvana, however, is not alwayscomprehensible for those who are fifteen years old.

Kenneth Turan

(2013-04-27 01:07:43)

When we watch Hansen-Løve's films, we're not only experiencing a life unfolding before us, we're also realizing what a great privilege it is to be able to do that.

oOgiandujaOo

(2013-04-26 10:16:25)

Delightful

Louis Garrel recently made his first feature film as director, Le PetitTailleur, in an interview afterwards he admitted that his film was of aParis that did not exist anymore, where the young went to the theatreto see Kleist. His film, as this one, contains a nostalgia for the NewWave. This is tacitly admitted in Goodbye First Love when Sullivanmentions that he went to a party in the suburbs where kids went to havesex and take drugs, a piece of shrapnel that doesn't fit in the jigsawof this movie. The young of the developed world live with their eyesburnt out.Goodbye First Love tells the story of Camille, in love with Sullivan,and how she copes with losing that love and moving on with her life.There's something pristine about the way that young animals love andlust together, narcotic and somewhat illusory, but on the threshold ofparadise; and actually the most astonishing part of the filmpractically occurs in an Eden. One its successes is the casting of twoactors who have an obvious sexual compatibility, which lendscredibility to the treatment.Mature love comes, but lies in the cradle of shared creativity andmutual respect, which should represent a superannuation of first love;but flesh is not just. For Camille, riding on the pannier rack ofSullivan's bicycle and grasping his body will always be the seed of hercrystal.Goodbye First Love, by the way, is an incredible aesthetic treat (myfavourite part may well have been when the two rake over the ashes oftheir love, lying together likes ravens in a shattered tower, all acreation of capturing colour carefully). I felt privileged to havewatched it, to have been let inside what's a meagerly-camouflagedauto-biography from Mia Hansen-Løve. I may well love and be loved backone day, but it won't be the Hamelin song that Mia has let me see, andI'm grateful to her for this facsimile.

Craig Mathieson

(2013-04-09 18:02:26)

The film is quiet and accumulative, staying with its subject through emotional outpourings and everyday transactions; the audience is embedded.

Elizabeth Weitzman

(2013-04-09 02:49:14)

Is it "annoying," "talky' and "complacent," or "beautiful and deep"?

Jordan Mintzer

(2013-04-07 07:41:29)

Arthouse audiences could drink this down like a glass of Chardonnay.

Louise Keller

(2013-04-07 00:16:57)

Love, expectations and realities form the river along which this delicate and moody film flows. There are no fireworks, stars and elation for the young protagonist, who discovers love. Instead, it is a painful experience, filled with longing...

V.A. Musetto

(2013-03-23 20:29:32)

"Goodbye First Love" showcases two young women with bright futures.

johno-21

(2013-03-23 08:00:43)

Never Ending Love

I recently saw this at the 2012 Palm Springs International FilmFestival. The story begins in 1999 as 15 year old Camille (Lola Créton)begins a sexual relationship with her first love Sullivan (SebastianUrzendowsky) who is a couple of years older than her. Sebastian hasmade plans to visit South America for a 10 week adventure with friends.Camille waits for his return and hopelessly misses him and tracks hismoves on a map with pins from every letter she receives. The weeks turninto months and the letters dry up and as it seems evident thatSebastian has moves on, Camille's infatuation/love has morphed intomanic depression over her inability to hold onto the fairytale bliss offirst love. Five years go by and she is an architectural student andhas begun the first relationship since Sebastian and this time it iswith her professor, Lorenz (Magne-Håvard Brekke) a much older man whois from Denmark. After more time has passed, Camille is now living withLorenz in Paris and runs into Sebastian who is visiting the city fromMarseille where he has been living all these years since returning fromSouth America. The sight of Sebastian fuels old feelings that neverwent away and Camille realizes she is still in love with him. this isthe third feature film from actress turned writer/director MiaHansen-Løve. The film looks good thanks to cinematographer StéphaneFontain and production designer Mathieu Menut and comes with awonderful soundtrack put together by music supervisor Pascal Mayer butthis film never hits it's mark. The pace is slow, there are nodimensional performances, the acting is stiff, the script is weak andthe story is kind of implausible. It almost sets itself up for a sequelbut it's better to leave this, and unlike, Camille move on.

A.O. Scott

(2013-03-17 04:21:19)

It examines, with compassion and clarity, a young woman's discovery of passion and also of the pain, disappointment and partial wisdom that follow.

Andrew O'Hehir

(2013-03-16 15:00:11)

This is a rigorously crafted film steeped in the French tradition, but it's meant to be a sensual and emotional experience, not a verbal or analytical one.

David Noh

(2013-03-07 04:38:57)

This French study of young amour (with a terrible, obvious English title) is so sensitive it hurts, as well as overlong, self-indulgent and none too compelling.

Hannah McGill

(2013-03-07 01:27:24)

This might just work as aversion therapy for people who think that they miss being young. (But even they would have to suffer through the intolerable retro-folk soundtrack).

Chris Barsanti

(2013-03-03 09:44:42)

...shows -- in bright colors and dark, gusting squalls -- what it is like to be swept away by overwhelming, and often unrealistic, feelings.

David Nusair

(2013-03-02 21:20:49)

...as aggressively dull and abstract a work as one can easily recall...

Karina Longworth

(2013-02-18 07:23:51)

Goodbye First Love loosely fictionalizes lived experience in order to capture the ineffable-in this case, emotional maturation or, as Sullivan phrases it, "becom[ing] a real person."

Nick Schager

(2013-02-18 00:59:38)

Mistakes pretty-kid pouting, long silences, and heavy-handed environment-reflects-character symbolism for actual insight.