Maurice Ronet's Alain LeRoy is depressed and suicidal. A hard-drinking poseur who married a rich American woman, he is technically cured of his alcoholism, but can't bear the thought of going back to her or getting a job. He is determined to say goodbye to his friends and then kill himself, but looks for some connection to life to change his mind.
Ronet's sensitive face and physical acting convey perfectly a man besieged by humiliation and who has retreated into himself. He enunciates his metaphysical inability to care, yet every time his poverty and lack of accomplishment comes up, or he is sized up but an acquaintance or stronger, we register the emotional currents that are welling up within him and threatening to overwhelm his faint hopes.
The film leaves Alain's decision seeming horribly reasonable and yet leaves open that he does in fact simply lack patience and faith to find the good in life. Alain is fascinating by playing children, beautiful women, the bustle of life, freedom, the happiness of doing what he wanted in his younger days. But when he looks on the idea of a particular destiny as a grown man, we are made to feel his ennui. His friends have all gone off to mutually exclusive destinies and all seem to be living possibly absurd lives. One has become a nerdy academic family man who harangues him with motivational platitudes, another hangs around with druggie art poseurs, a third is a malicious rich runt who throws supper parties for people who mostly hate each other. In general, everyone's trying to be a success in some way that Alain feels is a complete front.
The difficult aspect of the movie is that we are left unsure if Alain is right or he only sees the surface. It's left open whether or not the portentous Egyptologist, for example, really is going to inspire the world with his research. We don't really know whether these successes serve anything or not. We do know that everyone seems a lot nicer and more concerned about Alain than he is about them, and that his wandering around talking about his emptiness and the emptiness of the world around him doesn't seem to serve much to help anyone. We sympathize with the main character whose problems others don't understand while at the same time feeling the frustrating aspect of his character.
The less strong side of the Fin is that the main character's self-obsession gets boring at moments. This is especially when the scenes linger too long on him talking about his unhappiness to others or himself. Similarly, it can at times get melodramatic and heavy-handed, when the main character is repeatedly demanding sympathy.
Ronet's sensitive face and physical acting convey perfectly a man besieged by humiliation and who has retreated into himself. He enunciates his metaphysical inability to care, yet every time his poverty and lack of accomplishment comes up, or he is sized up but an acquaintance or stronger, we register the emotional currents that are welling up within him and threatening to overwhelm his faint hopes.
The film leaves Alain's decision seeming horribly reasonable and yet leaves open that he does in fact simply lack patience and faith to find the good in life. Alain is fascinating by playing children, beautiful women, the bustle of life, freedom, the happiness of doing what he wanted in his younger days. But when he looks on the idea of a particular destiny as a grown man, we are made to feel his ennui. His friends have all gone off to mutually exclusive destinies and all seem to be living possibly absurd lives. One has become a nerdy academic family man who harangues him with motivational platitudes, another hangs around with druggie art poseurs, a third is a malicious rich runt who throws supper parties for people who mostly hate each other. In general, everyone's trying to be a success in some way that Alain feels is a complete front.
The difficult aspect of the movie is that we are left unsure if Alain is right or he only sees the surface. It's left open whether or not the portentous Egyptologist, for example, really is going to inspire the world with his research. We don't really know whether these successes serve anything or not. We do know that everyone seems a lot nicer and more concerned about Alain than he is about them, and that his wandering around talking about his emptiness and the emptiness of the world around him doesn't seem to serve much to help anyone. We sympathize with the main character whose problems others don't understand while at the same time feeling the frustrating aspect of his character.
The less strong side of the Fin is that the main character's self-obsession gets boring at moments. This is especially when the scenes linger too long on him talking about his unhappiness to others or himself. Similarly, it can at times get melodramatic and heavy-handed, when the main character is repeatedly demanding sympathy.