Maelström (2000)

Maelström: Directed by Denis Villeneuve. With Marie-Josée Croze, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Stephanie Morgenstern, Pierre Lebeau. After plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.

“The film opens with a large, visibly injured, and obviously fake fish talking directly to the audience. Nearby a man is cutting up fish. The talking fish says that his life in nearly over, and he would like to tell a u0026quot;prettyu0026quot; story with his last breaths. Then we cut to a beautiful woman, in a doctoru0026#39;s office. We soon figure out that she is having an abortion. As we see the fetal matter being incinerated and her leaving the building, the grossly perky song u0026quot;Good Morning Starshineu0026quot; begins to play. Okay… This is obviously not going to be your normal film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe woman is named Bibiane (Marie-Josée Croze), and she turns out to be the main character. Perhaps related to the abortion, it soon becomes clear that her life is not going too well right now. Not long into the film she is removed from her position in the family business, a chain of upscale clothing stores, by her brother (although at first I thought he was her estranged or ex-husband).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMost reviews or plot summaries go into more detail about events that occur in the middle and end of the film, but Iu0026#39;ll keep it to that. There are some rather unlikely coincidences along the way, in case that sort of thing bothers you. And there is a distinct water theme, which is not surprising given the title. I would classify the film as primarily a drama, since the laughs are mostly at surprising events rather than strictly funny ones, and because the film kept me feeling slightly uncomfortable throughout.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMarie-Josée Croze is very good here. The cinematography is excellent, with at least one shot that took my breath away. The story and the direction, both by Denis Villeneuve, on the other hand, are somewhat suspect. Besides the aforementioned coincidences, several scenes are juxtaposed in a seemly random manner, and you canu0026#39;t figure them out until later if then. Now this could just be a mechanism to get you to think, and in the wake of Memento (which came out at about the same time as this film) one is becoming used to the idea of the film structure mirroring the main characteru0026#39;s thought processes. Iu0026#39;m not sure I completely buy this argument, but Iu0026#39;ll give it a little leeway.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film won the best picture, direction, cinematography, screenplay, and actress awards in Canada at their equivalent of the Academy Awards, but it is only just now getting to the United States, where it is expected to play for a very short time. In the San Jose, CA area it is expected on May 17th.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSeen on 5/5/2002 at the Camera Cinema Club in San Jose, CA.”