Time and romantic attraction threaten to sour a family relationship in this drama from writer and director Claire Denis. Lionel (Alex Descas) is a middle-aged widower who makes his living driving a train and shares an apartment with his twentysomething daughter, Joséphine (Mati Diop). Lionel and Joséphine have a warm and caring relationship, and while it's not Lionel's nature to say very much, his affection for his daughter is clear. Lionel's on-and-off girlfriend Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue) and
their footloose friend Noé (Grégoire Colin) live in the same building, and together the four have fallen into a casual family relationship. However, when Lionel's close friend and fellow driver René (Julieth Mars Toussaint) announces he's retiring, Lionel becomes painfully aware that he's not as young as he once was, and realizes how much he depends on his daughter. This knowledge sets Lionel on edge when Joséphine's friendship with Noé begins to evolve into a romantic relationship. 35 Rhums (aka 35 Shot of Rum) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Denis sees human interactions with an uncommon clarity of vision. Her great talent, as evident as ever in this, one of her greatest films, is her ability to allow an audience to see those relationships in the same quietly revelatory way she does.
Those who go into it expecting to see a smart character piece and those who are patient will find the well-acted feature rewarding, even emotionally satisfying.
...a character-based story told at a human scale by a director (Claire Denis, who also co-wrote the script) who lets the story develop at an unhurried pace...
Offering a poignant, subtle, realistic yet poetic portrait of a father-daughter relationship, 35 Shots of Rum is another enchanting film from Claire Denis, whose work is still little known in the U.S.
I can see the similarities to that of the work of Ozu and I understand that nearly every detail, no matter how simple, is actually meaningful and symbolic, it just didn't have enough intensity for me. The scene with the dead body was brilliant and I know it would have been a different film had that been the only thing
it was out to achieve, but I guess I would have just rather had watched that other film. I do like Claire Denis, I just think directors like Nuri Bilge Ceylan convey these kinds of concepts in a better, more entertaining manner. It's still no way a bad film, I did really like it and I'm a fan of hers, I guess that's maybe why I'm a little more critical. Had it had a more appealing cast, maybe I would have liked it more but again, it probably would have distracted from its main purpose.
Daughter loves father dearly , repeat to close. Now I'm no slouch with plots but I struggled to work out who was who in the supporting cast and how they were interrelated. Such willful obfuscation may be intended but it ruined things for me.
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