Strayed
directed by Andre Techine

            Pretension is only satisfying when you aren’t the victim and as a critic I often see both sides. I could admit to being smarter than the average moviegoer but I don’t believe that entirely. I am certainly less educated. In all honesty I think most viewers are lazy rather than stupid. The fact that many great movies aren’t watched is because of ignorance and boredom within the person not making the effort. Anyone can read subtitles, they just choose not to. Anyone can follow the structure of a Charlie Kaufman film but would rather just be followers. When it comes to appreciation for things, taste is a percentage, but one doesn’t develop taste without a willing effort.
            When I don’t like the new Andre Techine film Strayed, it is partly because of taste, probably partly because I’m not smart enough, but certainly not because I’m lazy. Sure I got bored, may have dozed off for a second and then lost all enthusiasm once Emmanuelle Beart and Gaspard Ulliel embrace in the most absurd sex scene since Ewan McGregor threw custard at Emily Mortimer before possibly raping her in Young Adam, but I went and gave it a shot.
            The main problem with the film is that if there is some deeper meaning with political subtext or symbolism going on, the literal story is meager and hackneyed to pull the audience in. If something demands to be dissected it has to attract on the main level first. Opening with the exodus of Paris during World War II, Techine starts with the intensity of Nazi planes showering people with machine gun fire before falling into a serviceably banal stranger-as-guide plot device. The first forehead slap comes when the stranger Yvan (Ulliel) is discovered to be illiterate, storming off in immature embarrassment worthy of a very special sitcom episode. The second comes during the love scene, which is expected but still has some spontaneity in its senselessness. The moment gives clues to Yvan’s background that by this time are too obvious and less than momentous.
               Beart gives off a performance more stunned than stunning. Critics who say she’s underplayed don’t want to say that her performance is simply lifeless or blindly miss this fact. Just because she’s not a ham doesn’t make her good. Underplaying and overplaying are both a failure to correctly play. In contrast, the children are so overcooked they’ve burnt. At times I thought they were supposed to be mentally challenged.
                 The other day I watched Citizen Kane and then wrote in my blog (May ’04) about my initial boredom and subsequent love for the “greatest film ever made”. The fact that Welles’ classic can entertain enough for me to gain interest in background and underground is laudable. You can’t judge a book by its cover but you can judge it by quick readover. With a quick assessment of Strayed, I found it a laughable mess. I could really care less if there’s gold underneath the clutter.