There is a scene in ‘L’innocent‘, the 2022 film directed by Louis Garrel, that I found extremely strong. Garrel plays the title role and his hero is named Abel, as in all four films written and directed by him so far. Abel along with his best friend Clémence must attract the attention of a refrigeration truck driver in a restaurant at a roadside stop, and keep him busy while their accomplices execute a burglary. Things don’t go exactly according to plan, and although they rehearsed the scene like good amateur actors, the two have to improvise a dialogue. What spontaneously occurs to both of them is to confess their feelings to each other. Reality mixes with theater in this film and this scene is symbolic. Unfortunately this beautiful idea is forgotten or abandoned towards the end in favor of a more commercial and conventional cinematic approach. If the whole movie was up to this scene, this would have been a great movie. As things stand, we are only dealing with a pleasant but uneven entertainment, which left me with a feeling of slight failure.
Sylvie Lefranc is an actress who has been organizing theater workshops in prisons for over two decades. In one of these occasions she meets Michel, who is nearing the end of a five-year sentence for burglaries. The two fall in love and marry in prison shortly before Michel’s release. For her it is the third marriage in the last ten years, for him an opportunity – apparently at least – to start a new and different chapter in life. Sylvie’s son Abel is very stressed by his mother’s new marriage, suspects Michel of continuing his illegal activities and does everything he can, together with his friend Clémence, to stop and later break up his mother’s relationship. Abel also has a complicated history. He is a widower, his wife died in a traffic accident in which he was also involved, and Clémence was the best friend of the missing wife. In addition, Michel has surprises in store for everyone. On the one hand, he seems to be genuinely in love with Sylvie and does everything to make her life beautiful and fulfill her wishes and dreams. On the other hand, Abel’s suspicions may not be unfounded.
All four main characters of the film do what they do out of love, but most of the time they do the wrong thing, which complicates them and those around them. This is the main comedic effect of the film and the story works quite well for about two-thirds of the film. However, the screenwriters could not avoid a classic trap: they succeed in complicating their heroes lives and getting them into impossible situations, but they don’t know how to credibly resolve these situations. In this case, Louis Garrel and his colleagues changed the tonality, and from a social and family comedy the film becomes a heist thriller with an ending – demonstratively symmetrical with the beginning of the film – which looks forced and unbelievable. Despite this problem, I would recommend the film for its relaxed approach, for the interesting ideas in its first part and for the performances of the actors: Garrel himself with his Abel full of good intentions that he cannot turn into deeds, Noemi Merlant with another role (Clémence) that confirms her in the first ranks of today’s young and talented French actresses, and Roschdy Zem once again flaunting his dangerous charisma. ‘L’innocent‘ could be more, but even so there are enough and good reasons to watch it.