... make beautiful films. Alas, if this were true then Audrey Hepburn would have directed at least a dozen masterpieces but the good news is that SOMETIMES it is true - Valeria Bruni Tedeschi for example albeit with only two films to her credit so far - and never more so than in the case of Zabou Breitman, a truly beautiful lady both externally and internally, a gifted actress and a sensitive and outstanding director; it may well be that like Orson Welles before her she may never eclipse her first film as director, the magnificent Se Souvenirs des belles choses but in No et Moi she comes within touching distance. This one will never get within a mile of a Multiplex and indeed may be lucky to get a decent Art house release but that is the exhibitor's loss and I urge anyone to run not walk to any cinema with sufficient taste to screen this gem. Like Danielle Thompson, another outstanding French filmmaker, who collaborates with her son on her screenplays then features him in prominent roles, Zabou has found a role for her own son, Antonin Chalon in at least four of her films and he pops up yet again to form part of a non-sexual menage a trois with Nina Rodriguez and Julie-Marie Parmentier in this non-exploitative take on homelessness in the 21st century. More than just a fine actress Zabou has compassion spilling out of her veins and coaxes exceptional performances out of young actors - think of an incandescent Isabelle Carre in Se Souveninirs des belles choses - and if you don't believe me just see what she has wrought from Nina Rodriguez and 30 year old Julie-Marie Parmentier who is utterly convincing as a nineteen year old vagrant. Rodriguez in particular has a wonderfully melancholic expression for most of the first half of the movie and then - in the manner of Ariane Ascarides - lights up the air for miles around when she has something to smile about. Just as with Se Souvenirs des belles choses I am unable to locate a Thesaurus that can do justice to another lovely gift from Zabou to film-goers.
Review of No et moi
