In "Un Deux Trois Soleil," Victorine(Anouk Grinberg) gets into an argument with her mother(Myriam Boyer) on the way to school, resulting in her not going while her mother takes her place and yells at the teacher(Denise Chalem) about her problems. Surprisingly not having died from embarrassment, Victorine goes to the
rescue of the teacher who seeks protection from the youths who were intent on assaulting her just previously. In the melee, Sergeant Boigny(Charles Schneider) shoots a youth who is riding in a stolen car who is then taken to his wife Gladys(Irene Tassembedo) for some tender loving care which makes him feel much better.
The trick with enjoying "Un Deux Trois Soleil" is remembering not to take any of it literally. At first, everything might seem off but it eventually becomes clear what is going on once the fourth wall is demolished when the characters address the viewer directly. The events we see are how Victorine remembers them, as she is always in the body of an adult, even while mentally she is a teenager and starting to discover the opposite sex, while only looking to be comforted and loved.(Don't we all?) Then, there is her father(Marcello Mastroianni) who is old because that's how she remembers him, as his memory is shot from so much drinking. And all of this is complicated by the exaggerated fears of some people of a multicultural France and what that does to their perceptions.
May 20, 2011
