Friday Night (2002) User Reviews

poetic, insightful, even humorous

[kinaidos · 8/10 · 27 April 2003]

This movie is not for the sort of casual movie-goer who must have a plot driven, dialogue heavy entertainment vehicle in order to be satisfied. This film is typical Denis: intensely visual, with sparse dialogue and a very minimal plot.

The premise of the film is a simple one. A woman about to move in with her lover is caught in a traffic jam during a Paris transit strike. She picks up a stranger, and they have a one-nighter.

The film's focus is the little things that make up sexual attraction, the situations, the glimpses, the attitudes, the predilections, etc. It manages to present this in an almost completely visual way without ever becoming dull, pretentious, or difficult to watch. The film has a minute logic to it which manages to pull the viewer along from scene to scene using humor, suspense, and a good deal of empathy for the central character.

This film invites one to reflect on the way in which sex relates to the variety of life's anxieties: anxieties over self-image, anxieties over one's future, anxieties over one's significance, etc. It also provides an interesting vantage point from which to view the over-romanticized over-serious status that sex is given in main-stream American cinema.

Go to this film with the intent of viewing a wonderful piece of art. There is some work required on the viewer's part, but it's worth the effort.

Brief encounter during the Paris transit strike.

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 26 July 2003]

Claire Denis sure knows the French woman's mentality. She is very sly in presenting us this story, that on the surface tells us one thing, but deep down, it has nothing to do what we are actually watching.

The transit strike plot, with Laure sitting in traffic and going nowhere, is played too long. We all get the idea of the boredom and frustration of the driver caught in similar circumstances. That part of the film can drive the viewer nuts, since nothing happens.

Laure doesn't feel any remorse into picking up Jean, who is obviously stranded, or is he?. Their conversation doesn't reveal anything, yet, one can feel where this is leading to: somewhere where Laure and Jean can copulate to their hearts content.

The clue of what's to come takes place after they have an espresso at the cafe. Jean asks for change to go downstairs to the vending machine for a 4 condom pack. Oh la la... Jean is not a casual sex offender, he must protect himself, as well as the woman he takes to bed. Casual meetings such as these can be very dangerous!

The scenes in the hotel are well staged. In fact, there is nothing shocking, or done in bad taste. When Laure and Jean are making out, their behavior is very chaste, without French kisses, (I wonder if Pres. Bush would call them Liberty kisses?...) is a let down. But Jean and Laure do it very stylishly and with decorum.

Jean, obviously, is not a one-woman man. After all he has more condoms in his pocket and when he is in the pizzeria, he spots another woman who makes it known she wants to play with him downstairs.

At the end of the film we watch Laure leave the hotel room running into the deserted streets with a grin on her face. She'll go now to her own lover as though nothing had ever happened that night. She is a woman empowered by her own will to have fun, yet not take it too seriously, or hurt anyone. Perhaps she's laughing at her own sense of adventure having done something that perhaps no one will ever know.

Both of the principals are very effective. Veronique Lemercier and Vincent Lindon play very well together. The director is perhaps telling us that there is still hope for all of us, non movie star types, to have fun and meet a partner for the night, have great sex on the next transit strike, if we are in Paris.

Hen Night

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 10 October 2005]

This is arguably by far the most accessible film yet made by Claire Denis, indeed it's tempting to think that she was persuaded by the money-men to go at least semi-mainstream at least once in order to fund further indulgences like her very next movie L'Intrus, an academics wet dream. Here she opts for two well-known actors in Vincent Lindon and Valerie Lamercier - whose own third film as writer-director Palais-Royal opens in Paris this month - and wisely leaves them to do what they do best and let her camera linger on them as they do so. Lamercier is rare among French actresses in that she is not a head-turner in the tradition of Manu Beart, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, etc but she does have a very definite subtle beauty and Denis brings this out in lingering shots of her face. Laure (Lemercier) has just given up her flat, filled the back of her car with portable possessions prior to moving in with her boyfriend yet inexplicably breaking her journey by attending a dinner party. Perhaps I should have said that On Paper those are her plans because having left her flat she finds herself caught up in one of those French transport strikes that punctuate the City of Light the way pauses punctuate a Pinter play. Traffic is virtually at a standstill and the radio is urging drivers to offer lifts to pedestrians so when Vincent Lindon raps on the window and solicits a ride she agrees. This is the point where the pseudo-intellectuals come into their own and 'read' all kinds of stuff into it; her life is at an impasse, she feels mentally or spiritually paralysed unable to move forward, you know the kind of thing, easy to do and about as meaningful as a stryofoam cup. Whatever, she and Lindon experience an unspoken attraction and nothing is surer than that they will wind up in the sack but then it is, technically, her Hen night and who's to say she isn't thinking twice about what, to some people, is a major step. So they have their mayfly moment and we share it with them and then it's over. Just like a movie. It's all about the experience, the heightened glow, the memories. This is memorable and one that can stand re-viewing.

Sadly beautiful

[cartedevisite · 13 October 2002]

Claire Denis' films may look slick to the jaundiced American audiences, since many fashion and advertising makers employ devices that create Denis-esque effects. Beau Travail was unfortunately evocative of Bruce Webers' damp pretty man ad campaigns and books, yet the power of the film remained when the memory of the packaging had faded.

This film was beautiful to my innocent eye, as it wistfully, abstractly spreads out night-time Paris as a diorama into which drivers and passengers are thrown during a harrowing transit strike. The intimacy that occurs in the film between strangers is intensely depicted - close close close and the camera - as with Beau Travail - is genius. The film made me sad to consider the sense of loneliness inside of that city and my own during the night, yet I am pleased to have seen such a lovely rendering of that idea. I saw the film last night and the pictures are still downloading inside today, my mark of great films.

Finally, THANK YOU Claire Denis for never being ponderously intellectual during appearances and for not feeling that you need 3 hour films to make art. This film - in less than 90 minutes - is more profound than any of the 3 hour French films made.

Slow, but interesting

[amzo · 7/10 · 28 April 2003]

I very much like how this film begins, and it is a creative aspect to have a story line start out of being stuck in traffic. Yet, about 1/3 of the way into the film, it begins to become a bit bizarre, when the man enters her car. Everything seems a bit surreal and things do not always follow logically. My explanation, and what I think makes the film better in retrospect, is that everything that follows may not have actually happened. It seemed to be all too perfect, and she did everything without a single qualm. We were already shown that she was a bit apprehensive about leaving her current comfortable, and the fact that she entered a fantasy seems quite normal under that sort of stress. Nonetheless, whether you believe it was a fantasy or it really happened, it is poetically shot and deserves to be seen, to make ones own decision about the film.

Beautiful film...

[dwpollar · 7/10 · 11 March 2010]

1st watched 3/9/2010 -- 7 out of 10 (Dir-Claire Denis): Beautiful film about a woman preparing for a new life, getting stuck in a traffic jam, picking up a stranger and then having a night together with him. This film is like watching a ballet with it's beautiful depiction of everything from the city of Paris, to the hotel room, to the main characters. The camera is like a peeping tom into the heart of the main character played by Valerie Lemercier as we feel and see everything she sees and feels. Except, of course, the emotions are a little restrained -- which is typical of the French. With French films, you never expect a cut-and-dry ending and they take their time letting you experience every moment(this is unique to this countries films). The film has a very simple premise and it lets you think thru what's going on in the character's minds and never gives away anything. There is very little dialogue which lets you breathe in and experience every minute. Sure -- not much happens, but it doesn't have to. Sometimes life is "exactly" like this and Claire Denis captures it beautifully. Do we know what happens to the character's when it's over?? -- no, but we can guess and that's where the fun lies in a film like this.

Not your average love story!

[Red-125 · 9/10 · 14 February 2004]

Vendredi Soir (2002), directed by Claire Denis, is a film about two

residents of Paris who come together because of a horrendous,

citywide traffic jam. The movie is slow and deliberate, but not

boring. The film's power derives from the interaction of two

attractive strangers who are temporarily trapped--and yet

liberated--by the fact that mass transit is shut down, and auto

traffic has come to a standstill.

Valérie Lemercier portrays Laure, a young woman who has left her

apartment to move in with her lover. Ms. Lemercier owes a great

debt to Ms. Denis, who could have cast the part with a more

traditionally beautiful woman. (In the U.S., the role would probably

have gone to Demi Moore.) Instead, the director chose an actor

who is undeniably beautiful, but in an interesting, complex way.

Lemercier is an outstanding actor, and she is given enough time

on screen to demonstrate her professional skills.

Don't see this film if you're looking for excitement, graphic sex,

violence, or a strong narrative story line. See this film if you want to

view Paris--and human relationships--portrayed in a serious, but

almost dreamlike, lyrical, fashion.

Like a dull woman's sexual fantasy

[zetes · 6/10 · 20 November 2006]

Rather dull and disappointing. A man and woman meet and have a one night stand during a Parisian mass transit strike. It might be a tad more interesting if we knew a single thing about either of these people, but it's all kept very anonymous (we know that the woman is moving in with her boyfriend, but we don't know anything about the guy, who embodies the physical stereotypes that won the French that offensive, amphibian slur). With such a paper-thin scenario, the film doesn't seem like anything more than the sexual fantasy of a very unimaginative woman. You know, meet a handsome stranger and have no-strings-attached sex during which the guy does all the foreplay stuff, takes his sweet time and after which he doesn't take you for granted. There are no real emotions in the story, so Denis lets the music pick up the writing's slack. The film-making is pretty good, but also fairly cliché modern European cinematics. Denis has yet to impress me much.

It is life

[eroticnights · 10/10 · 25 March 2005]

This was a damn good movie. Very different, the closest movie that comes to the feel and over all effect is The Loss of Sexual Innocence. Movies such as this catch many off guard because they don't follow the de facto movie format. Meaning, an event happens, people react to said event, drama, conclusion, resolution.

This movie takes a totally different approach, and that's what makes it shine. This movie defies being labeled as a movie altogether. People say this movie is boring, that nothing happens, there are almost no words. They'd be right, there is no real drama, conclusion, resolution. I don't believe that's what this movie is even about.

From the opening moments of the Paris rooftops I knew I was in for something special. The long shots, the turning off of lights, the gazes at the Paris skyline. This was a visual feast with poetic credentials, and I expected as much.

Folks, this movie was not about Jean and Laure. I believe thats where all the critical flack stems from. This movie isn't about a brief encounter that is over by sunrise. The plot that you all speak of, that's secondary.

The movie tends to focus on their surroundings more so then them. A cluttered car, a heater, traffic, boxes. A best example of this is their skin, during the sex scenes there are close ups of their skin rather then showing them making love. As if the plot, in this case, making love, is secondary to the poetic element of the story.

In any given event, the surroundings are just as important as the story itself. This movie displays that perfectly. That is the purpose of this movie, that is it's beauty, that is what it is about.

If this movie is about the surroundings rather then a plot or story, then what would be the purpose of showing rooftops, skin, lamps, boxes? Because is it life, and it is poetic and beautiful. What is the purpose of a rose? Why take a picture of it, or give it to someone? A rose simply is, this movie simply is. The nuances of life deserve appreciation and this movie pays homage to that fact. That is what this movie is about.

It is life, it is the beauty of everything around you.

A well done bit of nothing

[=G= · 6/10 · 24 January 2004]

"Friday Night" is a slow moving bit of relatively uneventful voyeurism in which the camera follows a woman around observing her activities during one Friday night. In the first twenty minutes you'll see Laure (Lemercier) pack up her belongings, bathe, dress, get in her car, hit the bricks, and get bogged down in a traffic jam. I ran through most of this inconsequential French artie in x2 mode slowing down occasionally for the sparse dialogue. Although what meager substance there is in this film is well done, is simply isn't enough for a full length feature. (C+)

Tearfully Boring

[tgossard-1 · 2/10 · 31 May 2003]

Not sure what a SPOILER for a film of this type would be, so if you're a "fan" or your film or literature teacher or girlfriend wants you to see this picture, you'd probably better skip my comments.

Simply stated, this film literally bored me almost to tears. I kept thinking, "I'm just going to leave," but then I kept hoping that something would finally happen. Thankfully I dozed off, but then, tragically, I started to snore and woke up again.

The local paper said, more or less, that a "Parisian woman gets caught in a monumental traffic jam and gives a ride to a freezing young man on the last night of her single life." Well, the traffic jam goes on for maybe 30 or 40 minutes before she ever meets the man; I was squirming in my seat by then, but determined to see it through. Interesting photography could have saved this part of the film, but the endless close shots of car hoods and trunks, roofs and windows was just oppressive. And the shots of the other drivers, or even the pedestrians were no relief, as they were as uninteresting as any mediocre commute. It makes a statement, but this could have been done in about 10 minutes, with much more time left to develop the relationship between the protagonists, had there been one.

When the man finally knocks on her car window, there's a surge of hope that something is finally happening, but that quickly fades at the lack of chemistry between the two protagonists. The "ride" seems interminable and there's almost no conversation between them, so when they finally begin to show an interest for one another, you may find yourself asking "Why?" The man is not convincingly "freezing," by the way. He's not convincing in any sense. Just kind of lukewarm.

The obligatory scenes of intimacy are poorly framed, as though the director either has no visual sense, lacks interest or feels apologetic about including them at all.

Finally, well over an hour into the film, the couple visits a restaurant to have dinner, and the film seems to acquire some life, as they interact somewhat and look around at the other patrons having dinner. Maybe it's the other diners who contribute the life. Sadly, less than 15 minutes later, the film is over with little sense of completion at all. I don't think the director knew what statement he wanted to make.

What the heck, if you've got nothing better to do, it's a nap!

purring chrome creatures all headed somewhere, presumably

[christopher-underwood · 9/10 · 6 August 2007]

Sublime, dreamlike and impressionist take on one night in Paris. There are two people who meet and get it together but this beautifully shot film pays as much attention to the neon sign of a café or the bumper of a car as it does the main protagonists. A transport strike has left the gorgeous Parisian streets grid locked with purring chrome creatures all headed somewhere, presumably. This movie is so good to look at it reminds one of how by taking just that much more care director's could give us this all the time. It is not just the leading actor that has to be lit right but yes the underside of balconies the lettering outside the hotel, even the condom machine. It would be fair to say here that less care seems taken with the appearance of the lead couple than their surroundings and this helps give us an increased sense of the 'reality' of the characters. Beautiful film and the scene in the bar when a third character introduces the erotic element that the main couple will take up is brilliant.

Ultimately too self-conscious to be fully convincing

[howard.schumann · 7/10 · 26 January 2004]

In an American film, picking up a stranger hitchhiking in Paris during a transit strike would lead to rape, murder, or perhaps endless hours of superficial talk. Friday Night, the latest film by Claire Denis (Beau Travail, Trouble Every Day), shows it simply as a one night stand without moralizing or psychological evaluation. Based on a novella by Emmanuelle Bernheim and supported by an original score by Dickon Hinchcliffe and exquisite cinematography by Agnes Godard, the film is rich in poetic and surrealistic touches. Though there is very little conversation, communication is intimately conveyed by a warm smile, a gentle touch, a knowing glance. We know nothing about either of the characters, where they come from, what they think, what they feel, yet they provide a stand in for our fantasy about that one romantic night with a perfect stranger.

Laure (Valerie Lemercier) has packed up her belongings and is ready to move in with her boyfriend. On a Friday night, on the way to dinner with a friend, she gets stuck in a nightmarish traffic jam caused by a transit strike in which the cars barely move. She listens to the radio commentator urging people to give others a lift. She dries her hair on the car heater, listens to music, watches the other car drivers, and rummages through her books whole waiting for the cars to move. She offers a ride to a handsome stranger (Gregoire Collin) but he says he would rather walk. When she gives a ride to a paunchy middle aged man named Jean (Vincent Lindon), her door is open literally and figuratively. When Laure gets out of the car to make a phone call, Jean assumes the wheel and zips through side streets until she tells him she wants to stop. They bicker, separate, but find each other again and discover their growing attraction.

Without considering the effect it will have on her relationship with her boyfriend Francois, Laure agrees to rent a room with Jean for the night at an empty hotel managed by an inquisitive attendant. Before and after eating dinner at a local pizza restaurant, they make love in their room while the hand-held camera caresses isolated body parts in jumpy rhythms. There is gentleness and romance but the look on their faces does not reveal any exuberance. Friday Night has a playful feel but is ultimately too self-conscious to be fully convincing, lacking the element of passion or danger. It is Denis' minimalist Ode to Joy but the running, smiling figure of Laure at the end failed to convince me that the joy was genuine.

?

[andres-42 · 1/10 · 23 June 2003]

Perhaps I was not on the same wavelength as the director, but I thought it was painfully torpid with little substance. I can definitely appreciate a movie that has a different pace; I was simply not mesmerized by the same elements everyone else seemed to be.

A warm, human film, but weaker than most of Denis's other films

[ametaphysicalshark · 17 February 2009]

Claire Denis uses close-ups better than anybody since Sergio Leone. Agnes Godard is amazing. A Denis film almost always has a human warmth few other filmmakers achieve with their films, even if it's their intention to do so. All these qualities are present in "Vendredi soir", yet I felt it was significantly weaker than the three Denis films I had already seen: "Chocolat", "Nenette et Boni", and "Trouble Every Day". It's not that the film is 'slight' or that it doesn't have much narrative drive that bothered me, either, but that it never took on the sort of gravity I thought it should have. Moreover, the film falls apart toward the end, when it should have come together. The opening stages of the film, with Godard's camera taking us through Paris were absolutely gorgeous, the first few scenes after the two main characters meet were great, especially the brilliant impressionistic montage after Jean unexpectedly takes over driving Laure's car (accompanied by a Hitchcockian musical score), but when they actually get together and have sex the film just falls apart. Here's a film which is technically brilliant (direction, cinematography, acting, Dickon Hinchliffe's great debut score), formally interesting, but which just doesn't have enough in it to justify even its short length.

Boring? Consider the Eye of the Beholder

[arturobandini · 9/10 · 2 September 2003]

I'm stunned that there aren't better user reviews for this gorgeous, erotic film. Boring? Hardly. Ever see Hitchcock's "Rear Window" or Godard's "Weekend"? Great drama can exist in a traffic jam, behind sealed windows...if you're willing to watch others instead of diddling with your makeup or cel phone. Seriously, I wouldn't expect this movie to appeal to the "Joe Millionaire" crowd, but whatever happened to respect for the non-mainstream? For movies that refuse to follow formula? And why are so many amateur reviewers incapable of recognizing a diamond in the rough? The fact that so much in this movie is communicated without dialogue - the true test of cinema - puts in heads-and-tails above just about every American movie I've seen lately. Besides, this is one hot date movie!

Ephemeral and sensual poetry

[DarkProfile · 8/10 · 18 May 2020]

I guess that I must be living under a rock because it took me this movie to bask in the luminescence of Claire Denis (and Agnes Godard). I stumbled across Beau Travail in the beginning of my cinephile journey and her baroque images and elliptical editing style just flew past my head. Then, I saw 35 shots of rum a few years back and it did make me sit up, especially "The Nightshift" sequence, but I still felt that her magic lacked a dramatic gravity.

But this film just blew me away. This is poetry of a heightened experience so ephemeral and intense that it is remembered in fractured glances and gestures, in hazy motives and unclear desires, in actions that are incomplete ellipses, in the associations and impressions of the surroundings that stand in as a placeholder of the actual experience.

Highly recommended.

An insult to all but the pompous.

[jonar99 · 2/10 · 27 April 2003]

I found the movie boring: a self indulgent throwback to the fifties, as interesting as a fall off a bike with much less poetry. Sitting thru it seemed to me as frustrating as being trapped in a traffic jam like the one depicted on screen. Some beautiful shots of Paris and a pleasant score fell far short of redeeming this picture for me.

Like great, slow, sex

[[e-mail] · 10/10 · 23 November 2002]

I saw this movie at The Toronto Film Festival and afterwards I told Claire Denis that her movies were like great sex and this one is no different. Yes it is slow but it is languid and sensual. The lack of dialogue allows us to really see these characters and be with them in their environments. I loved this picture but realize it is not for everyone. Stupid people, for instance, or those who enjoy fast-paced action movies will not like this movie. This movie is so wonderful but it is an art film and it is a journey. Sit down with a glass of wine, no a bottle and seep into this film. 10/10

a worthless film

[vlee39 · 1/10 · 10 November 2003]

i love the french cinema, i am not bashing this film because i havent seen alot of foreign films but they have copied the american film industry and made a worthless clone of previous french films. okay maybe i am a little to hard, but when i watch a film i expect certain things and so it should be advertised as an experimental film. there is no drama just two people who have an affair in a hotel, so theres a little mood going on; a night, a transit strike. and to top if off there's even a director's commentary, about what? two people who meet with hardly any dialogue and hardly any chemistry? the dialogue is so muted at times that i couldn't even practice my french. i am so angry after watching this, a film that shouldnt even have been made.

Poetic and sexy

[bkossy · 15 January 2004]

The traffic jam sequence alone stands as an amazing and lyrical study of the rhythms of stop and start driving. The two lovers are so anchored in the magnetism of the present. This movie is a homage to human nature, and sexual attraction consummated. Also, I absolutely love that the film accepts and cherishes the moment as the lovers do. It's very French.

Very good movie, can't complain

[beatnick49 · 9/10 · 25 September 2006]

This movie is good.

The concept is simple, two strangers meet up by chance, and fall in love. However unlike the love films we are accustomed to, this film, ends on a somewhat positive yet open note.

There is mostly quiet movie, but like the Japanese film Dolls (which I reviewed just a few minutes ago) the lack of dialogue works. This is a movie about love and just a night together in both the crowded and deserted parts of the city (which are deserted because of the congestion). The main point of the movie is what the stars are doing, sitting in the car together, meeting up again, eating together, sleeping together, and just getting along and being friends and lovers.

The movie is also well shot with some nice shots of Paris and and appealing looking hotel and restaurant.

9 out of 10.

A somewhat minor film for Claire Denis

[bastard_wisher · 8/10 · 19 July 2006]

By Claire Denis' standards, this film is a little slight. Which is not to say that it isn't great, but considering she is one of the greatest filmmakers working today (in my opinion of course), anything less than a flat-out masterpiece (as is the case with "Beau travail", "Trouble Every Day", and "L'Intrus") has to be considered a lesser effort from her. The visuals here are as ravishingly beautiful as anything she has ever done (or anything else by anyone I've seen for that matter), but the story (to the extent there is one) is a bit thin to support them. I'm always a fan of minimal plot, but this felt a little empty and sort of contrived. I could have also done without the occasional moments of magical realism that threatened to push the film uncomfortably toward cutesy, whimsical "Amelie" territory. The somewhat over-embellishing music didn't help in this respect either. In many other respects, this film comes as close to perfectly epitomizing what i look for in a film as anything I have seen (elliptical plot, minimal dialogue, endless moody shots of blurry florescent lights through windshields!). I wish all the perfect film-making had been applied to a more substantial narrative though. I like that the film strips the story down to it's barest essentials, but the story itself feels slightly trivial and flimsy.

Bo-ring and pointless

[neoplop · 2/10 · 5 August 2005]

What we have here is two ill-defined, unlikeable characters being bounced around for no justifiable reason. The pacing and cinematography are annoying. It all has that been-there-seen-that feel about it. The narrative keeps changing POV for no good reason. And the sex is stone cold.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a trasher of independent French films. I do not _require_ to be entertained a la Star Wars. To be fair, the overall mood and feeling (Paris as the humid, drizzly, polluted wintery-cold nightmare) is well captured. You can smell the stale-cigarette-soaked hotel room.

Compared to other "random coupling" movies (The Lover, Last Tango in Paris, La Desenchantee), this is limp "caca de chien".

Slow burn but keeps you interested to the end

[JuguAbraham · 8/10 · 23 April 2023]

A lyrical, almost wordless film on a one-night stand involving two strangers in Paris. The artistically made film is almost as beautiful as Aleksandr Sokurov's "Mother and Son," which in stark contrast, did not involve sex.

The best aspects of the film "Friday Night" are: (1) the screenplay adaptation of the novel (which included collaboration of the novelist Emmanuelle Bernheim herself) ; (2) the magical opening roof-top cinematography sequences of Agnes Godard (a regular Denis collaborator); (3) Dickon Hincliffe's original musical composition (a debut for him for films before he stunned us with his music in "Leave No Trace" and "Locke" and possibly his sole collaboration with Denis); (4) the performance of the lead actors (Valerie Lemercier, who plays Laure, is a film director of repute): and (5) last but not least, the fascinating direction of Denis, which included imaginary thoughts of Laure imagining Jeane (Vincent Lindon) with another pizzeria customer, spliced between real visuals. The film is slow but well-made and will be well appreciated only by knowledgeable cineastes.

The final sequence reminded me of the end-sequence of Paul Mazursky's "An Unmarried Woman."

Trivia--(1) The "for sale" notice of the car pasted on the rear window disappears halfway into the film. (2) The shots of the pizzzeria being swept did not serve any purpose.

One of the very sophisticated films of Ms Denis, who is one of my favourite active directors.