FRIDAY NIGHT - DVD review

Only in Paris—the City of Lights and a city of romance—could a one-night stand make for a romantic film. In part, the feeling comes from director Claire Denis's co-written script and direction. But much of it is the result of a moral climate where the playing field is level, and a woman who enters into an affair of the glands isn't regarded as a victim or a whore. What's more, the romance isn't wrapped in a familiar package of warm fuzzies or heart-pounding soul-mates finding each other, nor is it full of the kind of frantic passion (with tremor-ridden fingers fumbling with zippers and buttons) that's most often beamed on the big screen. The tone, in fact, is a lot like the film's heroine.

Laure (Valerie Lemercier) is a bit shell-shocked. It's Friday night, and as she's finishing packing the last of the boxes so she can leave her apartment and move in with her boyfriend, she plays back a phone message from him. And like a confirmed bachelor who teeters to the edge of a night-before party and begins to realize what it all means, she hears him speak one simple phrase that numbs her: "our apartment." That phrase rings in her ears as she drives to meet friends for dinner, listening to the radio describe one Hades of a deus ex machina (a traffic jam caused by a transit strike) that will not only keep her from reaching her friends that evening, but give her an out as well—or is it, like that clichéd last rite of bachelorhood, simply a last fling? Denis leaves it for viewers to decide. As Laure opens her door to a stranger (Vincent Lindon) whom she will drop off, follow, and finally bed that night, Denis tries to suggest the inner lives of the characters, rather than depicting the torridly sexual. In other words, this is no "Last Tango in Paris" or "9 1/2 Weeks."

Yes, there's nudity, but there's also more subtlety. Denis is an artsy director, and "Friday Night" contains its fair share of double exposures, interesting dissolves, synecdoche (showing close-ups of parts to suggest the whole—especially body parts), and metonomy (filming close-ups of objects to suggest broader concepts). We know we're in for an artsy ride from the minute the slow-motion establishing shots of sleepy and placid Paris rooftops and monuments pans downward to reveal a sped-up ground-level full of activity. Then comes the snarl: a full-fledged halt which traps motorists in their cars. Yet, Laure, whose life is suddenly moving too quickly for her, finds peace in the stoppage and sanctuary in her car. Until, that is, she unlocks her door (don't question the logic) to invite a handsome stranger to share a ride. In a traffic jam, where pedestrians are covering more ground than vehicles, could such an invitation be anything other than a pick-up line? So he enters her car, they talk, he walks, she stalks, and, when it comes to the lovemaking, nobody balks. And in the morning, when the traffic clears, so also, we're led to believe, has Laure's head. That's not giving too much away, because Denis's film is more about the journey than it is about the destination. It's more about the chronicling than it is about the chronicle. Story seems secondary to style. And "Friday Night" is a stylish film.

Video:
Filmed in color, "Friday Night" is presented in 16:9 letterbox with a 1.85 presentation. It's hard to tell whether the gauzy appearance is intended to enhance the dreamlike quality of this sometimes surreal (at least, for the heroine) film, or if the film stock isn't of high quality. In any event, there's a slight graininess that actually is compatible with the noir-like atmosphere and suggestive of Laure's mental state—a quality that adds to, rather than detracts from the film.

Audio:
"Friday Night" is presented in French with English subtitles in Dolby Digital 5.1 (DD 5.1), though, apart from the traffic-jam scenes, there's not enough multi-speaker action to use the DVD as a demo to show off your new sound system. This isn't a "sound" movie. Visuals dominate, and the DD 5.1 is probably more than Denis needed.

Extras:
There are director-cast filmographies, weblinks, and trailers, which, of course, are nice to have. But the real bonus feature is the English-language commentary with director Claire Denis, who, alas, didn't work alone. She's "interviewed" (i.e., prompted) by film critic Kent Jones, who at times seems intellectually paralyzed and as much at a loss for words as Geraldo was when he opened Al Capone's vault and found diddly-squat. Sometimes Jones takes the flow in another direction, while at other times he fails to ask that follow-up question which would provoke a more provocative response. Denis is interesting enough to have deserved a solo commentary, or at least to have had the interviewer's prompts been little more than cue cards, cut and kept off-camera. From Denis we learn (if we didn't know already) that the film is based on a book, and in her film version "the city is not as important as it is in the book." Had Jones prodded her a bit, we might have learned why she chose to downplay Paris as a character and rely on the two main characters. That's just one example of numerous missed opportunities for follow-up questions that were never asked, and which Denis never thought to volunteer. The result is a commentary that's certainly worth listening to, but one which leaves you with enough unanswered questions to fill a Metro car.

Bottom Line:
Could Denis have set herself a more difficult challenge than filming a single-strand plot involving a single encounter over a single evening, with no backstories or personal baggage revealed, no emotional arc to create tension, and no moan-and-groan titillating bedroom theatrics? Probably not, and in truth "Friday Night," while beautifully filmed, doesn't pack the excitement you might expect. Blame (or credit) Lemercier, whose deep-eyed and cool performance calls to mind a young and brooding/bemused Paul Newman in his memorable early roles. The tension that exists (and there's plenty of the even-keeled variety) does so because of Denis's film techniques. Viewers who can derive satisfaction from a filmmaker's method will indeed find this movie satisfying. Those who find that style gets in the way of substance may be disappointed.