DRÔLE DE FÉLIX
THE ADVENTURES OF FELIX |
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Writer/Director:
Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau
Cast: Félix: Sami Bouajila; Mathilde: Patachou; Isabelle:
Ariane Ascaride; Daniel: Pierre-Loup Rajot; Jules: Charly Sergue.
Awards: Jury Award at Berlin Film Festival (2000).
Running time: 95 minutes
Year of production: 2000
Rating: Not rated (sexual situations)
Gauge: 35mm Cinemascope, DVD (color)
Language: French
Distributor: Wellspring Media
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“Félix
is as airy as the Blossom Dearie tune it opens with, and the lush
French countryside through which Félix passes--the movie’s
real star--is almost as sumptuously shot as Bouajila’s frequently
exposed anatomy.” Mark Holcomb, The Village Voice. |
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When
he gets laid off from his job in Dieppe, the carefree, gay, HIV-positive
Félix decides to thumb his way to the south to find the father
he never knew. He and his live-in lover, Daniel, agree to meet in
Marseilles in a week’s time. Félix’s journey takes
him first to Rouen where, after narrowly escaping a drubbing in the
street, he meets a gay artist with whom he steals a car but refuses
to have sex. In Le Puy he stays with a lively, outspoken and worldly-wise
old woman (Mathilde). On the road he has an “aventure” with
a railroad employee in a roadside field, then gets picked up by Isabelle,
shuttling her three children to their three different fathers. Finally
Félix arrives in Marseilles, encounters a man who fishes all
day in a river without fish, then meets Daniel. Each episode is preceded
by a caption, My Little Brother, My Grandmother, My Sister, My Cousin,
and My Father, which suggests that Félix is creating his own
imaginary family. Indeed, once in Marseilles, he decides not to bother
looking for his real father. Despite the picaresque structure and
effervescent tone, the movie points to many political issues of contemporary
France; but the film’s real distinction is to maintain a jaunty
feel-good realism in the face of such issues.
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| PHOTO Courtesy
of Wellspring Media |
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