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Thread: DEEP BREATH - an unheralded gem

  1. #1
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    DEEP BREATH - an unheralded gem

    DEEP BREATH (Le Soufflé)

    Directed by Damian Odoul (2001)

    Abandoned by his father, 15-year old David (Pierre-Louis Bonnetblanc) is sent by his mother to spend his summer with his uncle in the rural Limousin region of France and has to contend with the backwardness of French country life. Deep Breath, the highly stylized and poetic first feature by Damian Odoul is a coming of age film that uses dreams, ritual, and myth to capture the uncertain passage between adolescence and adulthood. Shot in high contrast black-and-white cinematography, Deep Breath is visually striking and its dreamscapes underscore the director's poetic relationship to the world. While the film has elements of Bresson, Bunuel, Truffaut, Cocteau, and Dumont, Odoul's darkly hued tone poem is unique to his artistic vision.

    Recently expelled from school, David is unsure of what is expected of him, sometimes lashing out in frustration, at times showing affection, and, more often than not, retreating into a private world of images and sounds. He desperately wants to assert his freedom and individualism. "I walk any way I want, even sideways if I feel like it," he says but his pose hides a deeply insecure self-image. Odoul assaults our senses from the start as we witness the slaughter of a sheep for the daily meal (animal lovers are warned!) while his gruff uncle snaps at David to perform menial chores. David, however, is not in a hurry to do anything and would rather just hang out or dance convulsively while listening to French hip-hop music on his Walkman. When his uncle invites a group of men friends to drink and gamble at an afternoon barbecue, David is persuaded to join in the afternoon delight and reluctantly agrees to the macho ritual. As the drinking continues, however, the conversation becomes dark.

    One man relates that his dad shot one man, Jean-Claude, in the head. "Ah, memories," he sighs. Pierrot, who is plotting to leave his wife and children, warns David: "Get this into your skull – fathers always abandon their sons." David surrenders to his initiation and gets dead drunk, then tries to sober up by immersing himself in a pool of water, triggering a surreal recollection of his first sexual experience. In a hallucinatory trance, the boy stands helplessly by as the men pour some salty coffee down his throat in a scene with homoerotic overtones. Full of rage, he steals a rifle and wanders off into the fields fantasizing about wolves and looking for his friend Matthieu (Laurent Simon) and his cello-playing girlfriend Aurore (Laure Magadoux). When he meets Matthieu, it is not long before his frustration boils to the surface and finds an outlet in a shocking act that, literal or metaphoric, becomes a catalyst that will change his life forever.

    GRADE A-
    "They must find it hard, those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority" Gerald Massey

  2. #2
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    I'm glad you decided to review this film, I brought it up earlier in another thread as one of the films people need to know more about. However, I was slightly disappointed in Odoul's next Errance with Magimel and Casta. Also, where did you see Le Souffle?

  3. #3
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    Odoul

    Originally posted by arsaib4
    I'm glad you decided to review this film, I brought it up earlier in another thread as one of the films people need to know more about. However, I was slightly disappointed in Odoul's next Errance with Magimel and Casta. Also, where did you see Le Souffle?
    I didn't realize anyone else on the planet had seen this. Can you provide a link to your earlier thread? I saw this on a DVD imported from UK that I had to convert. Is Errance available anywhere or did you see it at a festival? I am very interested in Odoul and would like to find out more about him. I understand he is a published poet and also seems like sort of a mystic. Does Errance have any spiritual undertones?
    "They must find it hard, those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority" Gerald Massey

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    Re: Odoul

    Originally posted by Howard Schumann
    I didn't realize anyone else on the planet had seen this.
    Hey, that's exactly what I initially thought. Seriously, Odoul is a major talent and one of the very few to have come out of France in recent years. I bought the R2 dvd of Le Souffle when it came out in the U.K, I do have multi-system player. I was thinking about reviewing it but you did a great job, I only mentioned the film in the 'IMPORTED DVD'S' thread which is in the 'Dvd Releases' section of this site. You'll also find some other films discussed primarily by me and Oscar. The dvd of Errance was released in france in May this year, unfortunately no english subs so i'm not sure how helpful it'll be for you. As i mentioned I was slightly disapponted only when comparing it to 'Le Souffle', but then not many recent films measure up to it. Odoul also explores the theme of a certain loss of childhood in 'Errance' but not as in-depth, the film deals with the troubled relationship between a husand and wife played with conviction by both Magimel and Casta. One thing for sure, Odoul has a unique sense of pacing and a sharp eye for the natural world around which his films take place and this distinguishes him from his contemporaries. The dvd is available from amazon.fr and many other french sites.



    info on Errance
    trailer/Bande Announce

    http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefil...ilm=45652.html

    Damien Odoul's latest film premiered at Cannes this year, also played at Edinburgh and will at Venice. It's called En Attendant le Deluge (Waiting for the Flood).

    http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/eiff_cu...ter_were_gone/

    hopefully this was helpful......

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    Odoul

    Thanks very much for the information and for the links. I would see any films by this director that become available. Perhaps there might be one at the upcoming Vancouver Film Festival.
    "They must find it hard, those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority" Gerald Massey

  6. #6
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    I read a bit more about him and Le Souffle yesterday in 'film comment' (there's an interview/review) and it's interesting that he mentions Cocteau as one of his influences as he was also a poet. Also the film with originally shot with color stock on a 16mm before it was transferred.

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