Mademoiselle Chambon

Director: Stephane Brize
Cast: Vincent Lindon, Aure Atika and Sandrine Kiberlain
Releasing in cinemas: 10 June 2010
Rated: M

Mademoiselle Chambon is a wonderfully accurate slice of life about ordinary people, which - if you’re patient - will deeply move you. Played out at an introspective tempo which won’t see it on multiplex screens, those brought up on a diet of rapidly edited films may think it’s pedestrian. I must confess I glanced at my watch halfway through, but it does gradually draw you into its spell; for here we seem to be watching real people in real situations, rather than the usual Hollywood jazzed up view of life. The simple love triangle plot and gentle pace may come as a cultural shock to the less tolerant viewer.

Jean (Vincent Lindon) is an average sort of guy, a builder who enjoys his job and his loving family of wife Anne-Marie (Aure Atika) and son Jeremy (Arthur Le Houerou). He’s also caring for his aging dad (Jean-Marc Thibault). They’re moderately well off and live in a provincial town in France. One fine day, while picking up his lad from school, he comes across the Jeremy’s teacher Mademoiselle Veronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain).

Jean is mesmerised by her quiet charm and elegance. Fate plays a role when another father is unable to talk about his job for Mlle. Chambon’s class, which allows Jean to step in as a substitute. Then the teacher is having problems with drafty windows. Guess who volunteers to fix them?

So commences their slow dance towards an uneasy romance; with neither being especially suited to a extramarital relationship. Chambon has her music - she’s an accomplished violinist - and while she’s single, she’s not desperate for a lover. Jean meanwhile has family and father to consider. He’s hardly the sexually adventurous type. His well-ordered life is about to change as he develops a passion for the demure and fragile Veronique. Both seem to be trying to avoid a relationship as much as slip into one. Where will this lead for his family, his father and their future happiness?

Certainly the film plays on attraction of opposites - Jean, a hands-on worker with a rugged nature, falling for the aesthetic violinist who charms him with her music. His wife, by comparison, is a more lusty lady. But we know Jean has a gentler nature from the scenes with his father; carefully washing his dad’s feet, and the touching selection of a coffin in an advance purchase. The old man’s birthday party is also neatly observed. Jean convinces Veronique to play Elgar for his father as a special present. We’re not sure how much the old man enjoys the music, but he’s moved by the gesture. However wife Anne-Marie senses the attraction her husband has for the teacher.

Accomplished director Stephane Brize holds shots on the screen for extraordinary long periods often in medium two-shot. This allows the performances to be uninterrupted by cuts, with the actors taking things at their own pace, not later contrived by a film editor. A fine example is the sensitively performed sequence of Jean and Veronique listening to a CD, gradually coming together in their first embrace.

The resolution of the film at a railway station is electric with tension. The final scenes are superbly timed, edited and drawn out for the greatest suspense with an impact not easily forgotten. An ineffable sadness permeates the sequence, and only masterful direction can achieve such results.

Popular French actor Vincent Lindon (Welcome) gives a modulated performance as Jean, working perfectly with Sandrine Kiberlain (Apres vous...) who conveys the fragile charm of the teacher. In fact the entire cast are so natural it’s hard to suspend belief they’re not the people next door. The use of background sounds throughout heightens the realistic quality. Perhaps Mademoiselle Chambon is not everyone’s idea of film entertainment, but for many its concern for family ties, old age and loneliness, paired with the innocent attraction of a elegant woman, make it notable viewing. There’s a disturbing ring of truth.

John Bale