Alice et Martin (1998 film)
Encyclopedia
Alice et Martin is a 1998 French film, a psychological drama, directed by André Téchiné
. It stars Juliette Binoche
and Alexis Loret
. It is Téchiné's second collaboration with Binoche after the 1985 film Rendez-vous
. The plot follows the two title characters, Martin, a male model, and Alice, a struggling violinist. Their romance is shattered when Martin's troubled past begins to haunt him.
with Jeanine, his hairdresser mother and her taxi-driver lover, Said. Martin is the illegitimate child of a successful business man, Victor Sauvagnac. Against the child’s wishes his mother sends Martin to live with his father, who until then he does not know. Victor is married and has three sons older than Martin. The move is not a happy one and quickly Martin finds himself in conflict with his brash, cold father.
Ten years later, just after his twentieth birthday, Martin flees his home following his father's death. He disappears wandering across the country side and tries unsuccessfully to drown himself. Martin emerges weeks later at his half-brother Benjamin’s apartment in Paris. Benjamin is a struggling actor sharing living arrangements with his best friend Alice, a violinist in a local quintet that specializes in tango music. More outgoing that his younger brother, Benjamin, who is gay, has a close platonic relationship with Alice. Martin finds success quickly–within weeks he is a highly sought-after model.
Alice is nervous and brittle, harboring her own private grief, the tragic death at age eleven of her gifted sister. At first Alice resents Martin's presence in the apartment and she is cold towards him. Though Alice does not like the brooding Martin much, he becomes obsessed with her and starts surreptitiously following her. Alice discovers it and confronts him. She is gradually captivated by his attentions, and the two begin a passionate love affair.
Leaving Benjamin behind, Alice accompanies Martin to Granada, Spain, on a modeling shoot. Their happiness is brief. During the trip Martin's behavior becomes erratic and he becomes more and more self-obsessed. When Alice reveals she is pregnant, his decline continues. Martin suffers a nervous breakdown and falls into coma. The doctors determine that his condition is psychosomatic. In an effort to restore his health, Alice rents a cabin by the sea in Spain’s south coast. Martin swims for hours each night, but remains withdrawn. He is haunted by his father’s death.
A flash back recounts the period preceding Victor Sauvagnac’s death. His relationship with his sons was problematic: the aimless and withdrawn Martin failed to please him; Benjamin irritated him and a reunion about the prospects of the family's business ends up in a fist fight between Francois and Frédéric, the two eldest siblings. Martin celebrates his 20th birthday with Benjamin, who comes from Paris for the occasion. Their reunion is interrupted by a phone call from Francois who commits suicide hanging himself in the family's factory. When Martin decides to leave for Paris an argument erupts and Martin pushes his father downs the stairs killing him. Unable to deal with what he has just done, Martin runs away.
After Martin reveals that he caused his father's death, unable to bear the guilt and pain any longer, he commits himself to a mental institution. Alice, following Martin’s wishes, travels to Cahors to talk to the Sauvagnac family. She befriends Martin's mother, but Lucie, Victor’s widow, is unsympathetic. Frédéric Sauvagnac, who is the town's major, is openly hostile. Benjamin comes to town in an effort to stop Alice interfering in his family affairs. However they two reconcile. Eventually Lucie decides to tell the authorities about Martin’s culpability in her husband’s death. Martin confesses his crime, surrender to the authorities and goes to prison. Alice decides to have her baby. She appears playing her violin in a wedding. Martin is in prison but, in a letter to Alice, he seems to be finally at peace with himself.
. Filming took place on location in France (Paris and the southwest Cahors
region and Duravel
in the Lot valley) and Spain (Granada
), where Martin's climactic breakdown occurs.
in the presence of André Téchiné
, Juliette Binoche
and Alain Sarde
. The version screened ran at 114 mins, 10 mins shorter than the version that was released theatrically. The film premiered in France on 4 November 1998.
(1993) (Ma saison préférée); Wild Reeds (1994) (Les roseaux sauvages) and, Thieves
(Les voleurs) (1996). In a general consensus, critics and audiences perceived Alice et Martin, as a disappointment, particularly due to the grim nature of the plot. The star power of Juliette Binoche
, who became known to the American public thanks her Oscar winning performance in The English Patient
, was not enough for the film to find a large audience. In France, the reviewer in Cahiers du cinéma
raised doubts about the film’s narrative procedure and the incongruity of the epic sweep and the banal family narrative depicted.
Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 62% of 42 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews. Andrew Sarris
from The New York Observer called the film “not to be missed,”. Jonathan Rosenbaum
from Chicago Reader commented that "The sheer neurotic intensity of Techine's characters -- characteristically stretching both backward and forward in time, as in a Faulkner novel--holds one throughout, as does Techine's masterful direction and many of the other performances". A.O. Scott in The New York Times
called Alice et Martin " A richly populated, observant film that suffers, forgivable, from an excess of curiosity about the world it depicts -- a surfeit of generosity, intelligence and art". Edward Guthmann in the San Francisco Chronicle
saw the film as " heartfelt and passionate and brave in what it attempts to explore. It is only a qualified success". In his review for Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
described it as " Boldly structured, intensely focused and briskly paced, Alice and Martin has a tremendous emotional density that places the utmost demands upon its actors--and asks a lot of audiences, too." While in a disagreeing note Lisa Schwarzbaum
from Entertainment Weekly
said that "It's as if, in exploring the scars that shape these personalities, Téchiné has forgotten to color in the flesh.
André Téchiné
André Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....
. It stars Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during...
and Alexis Loret
Alexis Loret
Alexis Loret is a French film and television actor.Devoting himself initially to cabinetmaking, he became model, and was noticed by André Téchiné.-Filmography:*UV...
. It is Téchiné's second collaboration with Binoche after the 1985 film Rendez-vous
Rendez-vous (film)
Rendez-vous is a 1985 French drama film directed by André Téchiné. The film stars Juliette Binoche, Lambert Wilson, Wadeck Stanczak and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Rendez-vous premiered at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best Director. The film had a total of 766,811 admissions...
. The plot follows the two title characters, Martin, a male model, and Alice, a struggling violinist. Their romance is shattered when Martin's troubled past begins to haunt him.
Plot
At age ten, Martin is living in CahorsCahors
Cahors is the capital of the Lot department in south-western France.Its site is dramatic being contained on three sides within an udder shaped twist in the river Lot known as a 'presqu'île' or peninsula...
with Jeanine, his hairdresser mother and her taxi-driver lover, Said. Martin is the illegitimate child of a successful business man, Victor Sauvagnac. Against the child’s wishes his mother sends Martin to live with his father, who until then he does not know. Victor is married and has three sons older than Martin. The move is not a happy one and quickly Martin finds himself in conflict with his brash, cold father.
Ten years later, just after his twentieth birthday, Martin flees his home following his father's death. He disappears wandering across the country side and tries unsuccessfully to drown himself. Martin emerges weeks later at his half-brother Benjamin’s apartment in Paris. Benjamin is a struggling actor sharing living arrangements with his best friend Alice, a violinist in a local quintet that specializes in tango music. More outgoing that his younger brother, Benjamin, who is gay, has a close platonic relationship with Alice. Martin finds success quickly–within weeks he is a highly sought-after model.
Alice is nervous and brittle, harboring her own private grief, the tragic death at age eleven of her gifted sister. At first Alice resents Martin's presence in the apartment and she is cold towards him. Though Alice does not like the brooding Martin much, he becomes obsessed with her and starts surreptitiously following her. Alice discovers it and confronts him. She is gradually captivated by his attentions, and the two begin a passionate love affair.
Leaving Benjamin behind, Alice accompanies Martin to Granada, Spain, on a modeling shoot. Their happiness is brief. During the trip Martin's behavior becomes erratic and he becomes more and more self-obsessed. When Alice reveals she is pregnant, his decline continues. Martin suffers a nervous breakdown and falls into coma. The doctors determine that his condition is psychosomatic. In an effort to restore his health, Alice rents a cabin by the sea in Spain’s south coast. Martin swims for hours each night, but remains withdrawn. He is haunted by his father’s death.
A flash back recounts the period preceding Victor Sauvagnac’s death. His relationship with his sons was problematic: the aimless and withdrawn Martin failed to please him; Benjamin irritated him and a reunion about the prospects of the family's business ends up in a fist fight between Francois and Frédéric, the two eldest siblings. Martin celebrates his 20th birthday with Benjamin, who comes from Paris for the occasion. Their reunion is interrupted by a phone call from Francois who commits suicide hanging himself in the family's factory. When Martin decides to leave for Paris an argument erupts and Martin pushes his father downs the stairs killing him. Unable to deal with what he has just done, Martin runs away.
After Martin reveals that he caused his father's death, unable to bear the guilt and pain any longer, he commits himself to a mental institution. Alice, following Martin’s wishes, travels to Cahors to talk to the Sauvagnac family. She befriends Martin's mother, but Lucie, Victor’s widow, is unsympathetic. Frédéric Sauvagnac, who is the town's major, is openly hostile. Benjamin comes to town in an effort to stop Alice interfering in his family affairs. However they two reconcile. Eventually Lucie decides to tell the authorities about Martin’s culpability in her husband’s death. Martin confesses his crime, surrender to the authorities and goes to prison. Alice decides to have her baby. She appears playing her violin in a wedding. Martin is in prison but, in a letter to Alice, he seems to be finally at peace with himself.
Cast
- Juliette BinocheJuliette BinocheJuliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during...
as Alice - Alexis LoretAlexis LoretAlexis Loret is a French film and television actor.Devoting himself initially to cabinetmaking, he became model, and was noticed by André Téchiné.-Filmography:*UV...
as Martin - Mathieu AmalricMathieu AmalricMathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
as Benjamin - Marthe VillalongaMarthe VillalongaMarthe Villalonga , is a French actress. She has appeared in 93 films between 1963 and 2008.She was born in Fort-de-l'Eau, Algeria.-External links:...
as Lucie Sauvagnac (Martin's stepmother) - Pierre Maguelon as Victor Sauvagnac (Martin's father)
- Carmen MauraCarmen MauraCarmen García Maura is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, Maura is best known for her collaborations with noted Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar.-Early life:...
as Jeanine (Martin's mother) - Jean-Pierre LoritJean-Pierre LoritJean-Pierre Lorit is a French actor.His most recognizable role is in the film Three Colors: Red.In 2005, He performed Strindberg's "Créanciers" directed by Hélène Vincent, with Lambert Wilson and Emmanuelle Devos...
as Frédéric Sauvagnac - Erik Kreikenmayer as Francois Sauvagnac
- Jeremy Kreikenmayer as Martin as a child
Production
The script was written by André Téchiné and his frequent scriptwriting partner Gilles Taurand with the help of Olivier AssayasOlivier Assayas
Olivier Assayas is a French film director and screenwriter.He made his debut in 1986, after directing some short films and writing for the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma.-Career:...
. Filming took place on location in France (Paris and the southwest Cahors
Cahors
Cahors is the capital of the Lot department in south-western France.Its site is dramatic being contained on three sides within an udder shaped twist in the river Lot known as a 'presqu'île' or peninsula...
region and Duravel
Duravel
Duravel is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France....
in the Lot valley) and Spain (Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
), where Martin's climactic breakdown occurs.
Release
Alice et Martin had its world premiere at the 1998 Valladolid International Film FestivalSeminci
Valladolid International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain since 1956....
in the presence of André Téchiné
André Téchiné
André Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....
, Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during...
and Alain Sarde
Alain Sarde
Alain Sarde is a French film producer and actor who was born on the 28 March 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt. One of his films, Mulholland Drive received the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Picture. The Pianist was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won the BAFTA Award for...
. The version screened ran at 114 mins, 10 mins shorter than the version that was released theatrically. The film premiered in France on 4 November 1998.
Reception
Alice et Martin, Téchiné’s thirteenth film, came after a string of three critic and artistic successful films: My Favorite SeasonMy Favorite Season
My Favorite Season is a 1993 French drama film directed by André Téchiné and starring Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil and Marthe Villalonga. The story concerns two middle age siblings, a brother and sister, who resume their fragile relationship when they are forced to care for their ailing mother...
(1993) (Ma saison préférée); Wild Reeds (1994) (Les roseaux sauvages) and, Thieves
Thieves (film)
Thieves is a 1996 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve and Laurence Côte. The plot follows a cynical police officer, who comes from a family of thieves, and a lonely philosophy professor, both romantically involved with a self-destructive petty...
(Les voleurs) (1996). In a general consensus, critics and audiences perceived Alice et Martin, as a disappointment, particularly due to the grim nature of the plot. The star power of Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during...
, who became known to the American public thanks her Oscar winning performance in The English Patient
The English Patient
The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned English accented Hungarian man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian-Italian thief, and an Indian sapper in the British Army as they live out...
, was not enough for the film to find a large audience. In France, the reviewer in Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
raised doubts about the film’s narrative procedure and the incongruity of the epic sweep and the banal family narrative depicted.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 62% of 42 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews. Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris is an American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism.-Career:Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the U.S...
from The New York Observer called the film “not to be missed,”. Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
from Chicago Reader commented that "The sheer neurotic intensity of Techine's characters -- characteristically stretching both backward and forward in time, as in a Faulkner novel--holds one throughout, as does Techine's masterful direction and many of the other performances". A.O. Scott in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called Alice et Martin " A richly populated, observant film that suffers, forgivable, from an excess of curiosity about the world it depicts -- a surfeit of generosity, intelligence and art". Edward Guthmann in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
saw the film as " heartfelt and passionate and brave in what it attempts to explore. It is only a qualified success". In his review for Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Marvin Kevin Thomas is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League. He was a standout high school football player at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California and a college football player at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada...
described it as " Boldly structured, intensely focused and briskly paced, Alice and Martin has a tremendous emotional density that places the utmost demands upon its actors--and asks a lot of audiences, too." While in a disagreeing note Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum is an American film critic. She joined Entertainment Weekly as film critic in the 1990s. She has been featured on CNN, co-host on Siskel & Ebert At the Movies as well as a cultural, theater and television reviewer....
from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said that "It's as if, in exploring the scars that shape these personalities, Téchiné has forgotten to color in the flesh.