Rendez-vous

Cryptic romance is a film genre that the French excel at--they don't necessarily do it well, they just do it a lot. Case in point is this perverse homage to Romeo and Juliet. Juliette Binoche who was outstanding in The Unbearable Lightness of Being stars as the rather impure "Juliet," the young Nina who migrates to the big city, lands a small role in a play, and begins sleeping her way up the dramatic ladder. When her boyfriend gives her the boot, she enlists the aid of the naive Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak), a milksop real estate agent who finds her an apartment, and regrettably introduces her to his self-destructive roommate Quentin (Lambert Wilson). Quentin is in perpetual grieving over the loss of his "Juliet," a young actress whom he was to share top billing with in a production of the Bard's famous love story--but she was killed in an accident. Quentin and Nina have an erotic and darkly threatening affair which--were it not for the superb acting of the principals--would drown under its waterlogged melodrama. (Quentin does things like hold a razor to his throat, and give Nina the choice to sleep with him or watch him die. A little of this martyr to love crap goes a long way--and the filmmakers, of course, take it way over the top.) Soon a third member enters the prospective suitor picture--veteran actor Jean-Louis Trintignant who's staging Romeo and Juliet, and having lost Quentin (who finally tosses himself under the wheels of a car), picks up Nina. By the time it's all over, one feels as if one's been living through a line from another Shakespeare play: "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Director Andre Techine, winner of a Cannes Film Festival award for this film, is not an idiot, but the rest of the quote describes this pointless rendezvous with (love, art, modern alienation; fill in the blank) perfectly. Not recommended. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review--March 22, 2005--Home Vision, 83 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, $19.95--Making its debut on DVD, 1985's Rendez-vous is presented with a good widescreen transfer and solid monaural sound, but no extras other than a trailer. Bottom line: this is still an irritating, opaque film, but director Techine's star has risen considerably over the past 20 years, so consider this an optional purchase for larger foreign collections.]