French actress and film director Maïwenn already has a rather interesting biography that could be the subject of a film in the future. Until this happens (or not) each of her appearances in front of or behind the camera arouses interest and causes heated discussions. Maïwenn is not and I don’t think she’s even trying to be a consensus-seeking personality, and the movie ‘Mon Roi‘ is no exception. It is her first feature film in which Maïwenn is limited to being ‘only’ the film director, entrusting the lead roles to a couple of outstanding actors, Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Bercot. Bercot actually won an acting award at Cannes for this role. There are many things that I liked in this film, there are some that impressed me less, but ‘Mon Roi’ did not leave me indifferent at any time during the over two hours of screening.
Lawyer Tony and the owner of restaurant Giorgio live a tumultuous love story that lasts ten years, a story that we follow from the first meeting to the possible end through flashbacks that take place in memory of the heroine after a ski accident that immobilizes her for a few months, possibly suicide attempt or maybe testing of limits. It is a romantic story that seems doomed to failure for everyone except those who live it directly, a relationship and a marriage in which there is love but not happiness, an asymmetrical relationship in which the woman repeatedly falls under the fascination of the man who seems to accumulate all male vices possible – infidelity, drugs, material instability. The waters seem to calm down in a rather ambiguous ending, but we can’t be sure that the story is really over.
The main quality of the film in my opinion is the exceptional interpretation of the two lead roles. The method used by the director Maïwenn defines the main lines of the roles and the place where the story ends in each scene, but does not establish precisely the gestures or the lines, leaving to the actors a great freedom of expression. Emmanuelle Bercot and Vincent Cassel fully involve themselves in using this freedom, immersing themselves in the roles of two people who love each other to the point of mutual destruction. The acting performances are even more remarkable considering that the actors were forced to improvise at times because the script did not offer many additional references. For example, Tony’s intellectual dimension is not highlighted at all in contrast to the sparkling but empty world of the celebrities in which Giorgio seems to be happy. The route of Tony’s physical and mental recovery in the sanatorium follows a schematic and idealized path, and the final scene seems to cancel out a large part of the effects built during the rest of the story. ‘Mon Roi‘ is an interesting film, which gets attention especially because of the quality and intensity of the performances of the two actors. More attention to detail and less schematism in defining the sub-plots and supporting characters would have made the difference between an interesting film like ‘Mon Roi‘ and a very good one.