Polish-born writer/director Agnieszka Holland directed one absorbing and masterful film with difficult subject matter, "Hitlerjunge Salomon" (1990, released in American two years later as " Europa Europa") along with disappointing adaptations of Christopher Hampton's brilliant play "Total Eclipse" and Henry James's (already satisfyingly filmed) Washington Square. I found at least Ed Harris interesting in "The Third Miracle," and have not seen "To Kill a Priest", a film which provoked savagely negative reviews.
The 1992 film in French, "Olivier, Olivier" has some very false notes. It is not as good as "Hitlerjunge Salomon" but is better than any of her other films I've seen, and has two particularly compelling performances by the adolescent siblings (maybe siblings), Grégoire Colin (who went on to play the male leads in "Nénette et Boni " and "Beau Travail" for Claire Denis) and Marina Golovine.
The film begins in grain fields of the Vendée with a nine-year-old boy (Olivier) dominated and spooked by his twelve(I think)-year old sister Nadine, who claims and actively works on developing occult powers. Olivier was born prematurely, nearly died, and is overprotected (except from his sister) by his mother (Brigitte Roüan) who is terrified of losing her delicate offspring. Her veterinarian husband (François Cluzet) is resentful of her attentions to their "delicate" son, and generally irascible.
Unable to find Nadine (who is in the attic doing something occult with eggs), the mother sends Olivier to deliver lunch to his paternal grandmother. His sister shouts down something like a curse on him for taking her bicycle on the errand (Little Red Ridping Cap with a baseball cap instead of a hood going off to grandma's house).
The grandmother does not get her picnic-basket lunch. Olivier cannot be found. His mother becomes hysterical and is sedated (with horse tranquilizers, one assumes).
And then it is six years later, and the provincial policeman who was involved in the case thinks he recognizes a hustler of the right age and coloration (dark) as Olivier. The mother comes and confirms that her lost son has been found, and the father returns from years of employment in Africa (the former French colony of Chad). Nadine resents all the attention going to the adolescent she considers an interloper. In particular, she is furious that the mother she has had to herself dotes on the male members of the family once they appear.
Although I think that the film cheats early on, I don't want to get into the central mystery or its resolution. A side mystery for me is what the older Nadine's telekinetic powers have to do with the story. This element leads nowhere and makes the movie hokey for no good reason. I guess that part of the intent is to remind the viewer that Nadine is more than a little crazy, like her mother, as well as resentful of Olivier as her father was (but is not when the family is reunited).
Bernard Zitzermann's photography is lush (I remember fondly his work on "Molière"). Martin is splendid as the seemingly level-headed witch and Colin is splendid as the wry, needy adolescent (a professional charmer, professionally a boy...) Holland seems to have a gift for getting outstanding performances from adolescents, even Anne Heche), but also has an unfortunate penchant for supernatural shtick.
It seems to me that the start of the movie, establishing the dysfunctional family, takes too long. The middle with the alternately complicit and combative Nadine and Olivier is fascinating. The ending moves quickly and (as I said) makes me feel cheated by something from the first part
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