25 years have passed since the release of ‘Fin août, début septembre‘. Watching it a generation later was a very interesting experience for me. In 1998, Olivier Assayas had just enjoyed success with ‘Irma Vep’, until today considered one of his best films. He was then and is still today one of the best directors in France, in Europe and in the whole world. Mathieu Amalric is one of my favorite actors and he has never let me down. Two very good reasons, then, to see the film, and I didn’t regret it at all. In a way it could be a time capsule that takes us back 25 years. However, the years have not left a very visible mark, if we ignore the absence of the mobile phones. From a cinematographic point of view, ‘Fin août, début septembre‘ could still pass as an experimental film today, and I’m sure that film directors from one place or another are doing or planning similar experiments right now. Wheels are constantly being reinvented.
The main characters are mature people who, however, lived up to that moment in a kind of extension of their adolescences. Gabriel is a writer and editor in his 30s. He has just broken up with his ex-girlfriend and has started a relationship with Anne, a slightly younger and somewhat sassy girl. His friend, Adrien, is a writer of great talent, but whom the publishers are kind of boycotting. He is sick but tries to brave the illness and gets involved in a relationship with a very young girl. Much of the film is made up of dialogues between these friends and their girlfriends, and their respective boyfriends and girlfriends. Lots of dialogue, as in any film about French intellectual circles. The dramatic events will show up eventually, but what matters and what reveals the essence of the characters are precisely the dialogues.
Shot nervously with a very mobile 16mm camera, with spontaneous, perhaps improvised dialogues, the film leaves a strong sense of authenticity. Acting is outstanding. Mathieu Amalric is in top form and dominates the screen in a complex role, one of his best. His ailing friend, Adrien, is played with restraint and dignity by François Cluzet. The role of Anne is very well played by Virginie Ledoyen, an extremely talented actress. I don’t know exactly why, her career has not lived up to the promises, but it’s certainly not because of this role. Olivier Assayas makes a risky bet by putting the story (which still has plenty of interesting elements) on the back burner and devoting most of the screen time to life itself. He won, I think, the bet. I confess that I didn’t initially connect with what was happening on the screen either, and was intimidated by the avalanche of chatter. But my patience was rewarded, the characters became familiar and I started to care about them. Towards the end, the drama and emotion also appeared. ‘Fin août, début septembre‘ is a snapshot in the lives of the characters and a moment of quality in late 20th century French cinema.