Review of Mademoiselle Chambon (2009) by Margara M — 07 Oct 2010

Pleeze, this is an art house put-on. The long, agonizing pauses which are meant to pass as true-to-life awkward moments are sooo studied and sooo forced that I felt like I was watching a satire of French Cinema 101.

I didn't find this film at all realistic. I just can't think of any situations where people who are attracted to one another stand unnaturally close to them and say nothing and then part. Eventually these two lovers, who represented unrequited love to the extreme, do go to bed in a dark room where we see so little of them that once again we are left (pardon the pun) in the dark.

French cinema is often masterful with nuance but this film wasn't among those. Ultimately it was boring. The only animated scene was the 80th birthday party for the patriarch, but even this scene lacked spontaneity.

I hate to say it but I ended up regarding the director, another woman no less, as something of a fraud.