Andre Téchiné extracts superb performances and finds drama in the everyday moments of human interaction.
Alice et Martin (1998)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:26
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.3/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: When ALICE ET MARTIN begins, Martin (Alexis Loret) is a young boy living a pleasant life with his hairdresser mother, when he learns that he is to go to live with his father, whom he hardly knows.... When ALICE ET MARTIN begins, Martin (Alexis Loret) is a young boy living a pleasant life with his hairdresser mother, when he learns that he is to go to live with his father, whom he hardly knows. Once in the care of his father--a cruel and cold man--Martin is extremely unhappy and attempts to fake illness in order to escape. When the film continues, it is ten years later and Martin is hurtling out the front door of his father's estate. Running recklessly into the French countryside, he spends the next several weeks living like an animal, feverish and hungry. Finally, he arrives at his brother Benjamin's doorstep, only to find Alice (Juliette Binoche), Benjamin's best friend and roommate practicing violin and annoyed at Martin's unannounced appearance. As Martin acclimates to Paris, he begins to fall in love with Alice, and once declared, their passion runs fast and wild, leaving Martin's brother and everyone else behind. While on a trip to Grenada, Alice reveals to Martin that she is pregnant and Martin falls sick with guilt and fear over elements of his past that he cannot reveal. As the two attempt to fight for their love, Martin faces his past and Alice realizes that her love for Martin is the most important thing in her life. [More]
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Alexis Loret, Mathieu Amalric, Carmen Maura
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Alexis Loret, Mathieu Amalric, Carmen Maura, Marthe Villalonga, Roschdy Zem, Pierre Maguelon
Director: André Téchiné
Director: André Téchiné
Screenwriter: André Téchiné, Gilles Taurand, Olivier Assayas
Producer: Alain Sarde
Composer: Philippe Sarde
Reviews for Alice et Martin
For all the increasing sophistication of Téchiné's technique, the emotions he deals with are basic, and all the more powerful for it.
With his thirteenth feature, André Téchiné conducts a masterly dissection of male hysteria.
Low key and curiously devoid of thematic density, this is confident, but rather soulless film-making.
This staid, somber film is heartening proof that what doesn't kill us might indeed make us stronger.
The sheer neurotic intensity of Techine's characters -- characteristically stretching both backward and forward in time, as in a Faulkner novel--holds one throughout, as does Techine's masterful direction and many of the other performances.
Alice and Martin is not to be missed, particularly in this endless lull of summer.
Binoche’s character is sketchily drawn. Although she gives an admirable, unshowy performance, her role is underwritten, with the script frequently using her as the engine that propels the plot.
The movie is long, but doesn't feel that way, and despite a dearth of interesting visuals after the first 20 minutes, it makes for a welcome change of pace from Hollywood
Director André Téchiné here eschews that French lightness and opts instead for what is apparently supposed to pass for psychological profundity.
This long-winded, uninteresting, uninvolving and tedious French pic is another example of a filmmaker (Andre Techine) who's too involved with one of his cast members
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