VENDREDI SOIR
France, 2002, 90 minutes, Colour.
Valerie Le Mercier, Vincent Lindon.
Directed by Claire Dennis
Friday Night is a drama by director Claire Denis. She began with Chocolat, set in Africa, returned to France and made some interesting films including Nenette and Boni and Beau Travail. However, her films then became more and more abstract, including Friday night.
The film is fairly straightforward in its plot, treats its characters in a very cerebral rather than emotional way. A man and a woman meet and spend the night together. Something is known about the woman, about to move in with her boyfriend. However, the man is quite anonymous. Some commentators say that this is merely a sexual fantasy by the woman. Sex, no strings attached. While the performances and film-making have some merit, the film is particularly French in its schematic presentation of human behaviour and interactions. It is more than a touch abstract.
1. A portrait of relationships, casual relationships, sexuality and love? One night stands - and the influence for the future?
2. The Paris settings, the vistas in the opening credits, Paris by night, the apartments, the blocked streets? A particular area of suburban Paris for these characters? The musical score and its atmosphere, the songs, especially in the car?
3. The focus on the time, Friday night, moving into Saturday morning?
4. The cinematic style, photography, impressionism, glimpses of the characters, of the streets, the different camera styles, clarity, blur, the devices used in editing for illustrating the relationship?
5. The portrait of the young woman: packing, moving in with her boyfriend, throwing things out (and the landlady and her son putting out the garbage and taking the lamp stand etc.)? Her tiredness, going out for the meal? Caught in the traffic, listening to the music, her growing exasperation? Hearing about giving lifts to people and her offer, its being rejected? The man getting into the car for the lift? The waiting, her going to telephone, finding out that the dinner appointment was cancelled? Going back, not finding the car, Jean and his finding her? His reversing, getting out of the traffic, her beginning to panic and wanting to get out? Their getting out together, the attraction, kissing, going to a hotel, the room? The detail and atmosphere of the lovemaking? The meal and the other people in the restaurant? Going back to their room, the lovemaking, the young woman having to think over what she was doing? Her trying to wake Jean? Her hurrying back home to be there when the carriers came? The motives for her evening, the effect on her, her future with her boyfriend?
6. Jean, his getting in the car, his friendliness towards the woman? Finding her after she panicked? Driving backwards, getting them out of the traffic, the attraction to the woman, the lovemaking, going to the hotel the payment? In the room, at the meal? His warmth towards her, the night together, his not waking up and her leaving him?
7. The incidental characters: the people trapped in the traffic, the screaming group and the discussions about insurance? The young man who refused the life? The hotel clerk and his giving cheap rates because of the strike but not being taken up on it? The guests in the restaurant? The waiters? The woman's friend and the phone call and her talking with her with the baby? Part of the ordinary background of a Friday night?
8. The importance of the night, typical of lonely people in Paris, people passing, embracing, lovemaking, the effect on themselves and their future? The director's feminine and feminist point of view on the characters and the events?
