Jean (Vincent Lindon) is a construction worker with a beautiful and loving wife (Aure Atika) and a great little boy (Arthur Le Houerou). The family is truly happy, if not exuberant, and Jean has no complaints. Something happens, not so much when he meets his son's teacher, Veronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain), but when she plays the violin for him. Jean becomes transported by the music, and it seems each time he listens to either her playing or recordings of superior musicians playing, he falls deeper and deeper in love with her. She's not beautiful, she's very somber and possibly depressed, but the world of music she intoduces Jean to compensates for her shortcomings in a much more powerful way.
By the first kiss they share, Jean is torn, knowing he has a perfect life, if not a spectacular one. Yet the attraction to the world of music Miss Chambon has opened to him and its associated physical love is overwhelming. He becomes agitated, angry, confused, conflicted -- all the symptoms of a man torn by passion over duty and common sense.
You might find the film overly long and painfully slow; we see the inner lives of the would-be lovers in real time. They think, they gaze into nothingness, they look lovingly or ponder a love that cannot be. They do it well, and perhaps Europeans are on the same time scale, but don't take stimulants before viewing this film or you'll crawl out of your skin. It would seem Jean loves the world of music Veronique exposes him to. But you can be a brick layer or a carpenter and still be allowed to buy classical CDs at stores or online. Even concert tickets are not out of the range of this family. I'm sure there's a radio station in that nameless little French village where Jean lives that plays classical music. Class structure isn't what it used to be, thankfully. Jean could afford violin lessons for his son if he wanted. So, the cause of this illicit relationship -- exposure to the elegance and beauty of music -- is tenuous at best. It's a novel idea, but perhaps more applicable for an earlier time. It's hard to rouse sympathy for Jean and his paramour. One can only whisper to the screen, 'Get over it.'
Mademoiselle Chambon
Director: Stephane Brize
Writer: Stephane Brize and Florence Vignon from the novel by Eric Holder
Cast: Vincent Lindon, Sandrine Kiberlain, Aura Atika, Jean-Marc Thibault, Arthur Le Houerou
Time: 101 min.
Opens September 10 at the Clay Theatre in San Francisco
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