Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Mauvais Sang (1986) is known as Bad Blood in the Western Hemisphere and The Night is Young in the United Kingdom. For the sake of consistency, this review will only refer to it as Bad Blood.

Bigtime crook Marc (famed Michel Piccoli) owes a lot of green to the infamous crime-queen "The American" (Carroll Brooks: Boy Meets Girl). The American has decided to let Marc live for now, but he needs to come up with the money real soon. He enlists the help of getaway car driver Hans (Hans Meyer: Barry Lyndon) in order to pull off a big robbery for fast cash.

The heist:
An experimental laboratory-developed STD is worth a lot of money to unsavory buyers. The malevolent disease only infects those "immoral" young people who engage in sex with someone they don't love. A successful theft of this STD from the laboratory would not only pay off Marc's debt to The American, but it would also leave him plenty of retirement dough. The typical "one last job."

Alex (Denis Lavant) is asked to join Marc and Hans in retrieving the STD. Son of The American's latest victim, Alex is no stranger to the fast life, nor ignorant of the high stakes involved. He deserts his innocent girlfriend Lise (Julie Delphy: But I'm a Cheerleader) to be "the young hands" in Marc's upcoming heist.

Like most Leos Carax movies, the plot isn't the center focus of Bad Blood - it serves as more of a circumstance bringing the characters together. The themes are the "real" story...

The most obvious theme within Bad Blood is obsessive, fatal, intricate love. It's a theme that Leos Carax molds into a cynically twisted mess of extreme dark humor, spitting on stereotypical romance flicks old and new. No true romance here folks, the receivers of love in Bad Blood aren't "in love" with the persons who are giving it. One-sided love is damning and dreadful, demanding the audience's pity rather than warming hearts. As an ironic topper to this theme, Carax gives us the symbol of stealing the STD - a disease that by its very nature would target the very same people who's livelihood depends on its theft.

Another central theme to Bad Blood is escapism. Everyone wants to get away from something: their city, their career, their mind, their body. What at first is presented as a cute muse, soon becomes a stark obsession, especially for the characters of Alex and Marc's girlfriend Anna (Juliette Binoche: Chocolat).

The cast of Bad Blood is just as good, if not better than most films made within the last twenty-five years:

You have the oldschool cast led by Michel Piccoli, who is undeniably one of the top ten international screen actors of alltime. Veteran of over one hundred films (good films), Piccoli was the leading man of choice post-1960, and still continues to be highly coveted. You also have noteworthy actor of the first French New Wave, Hans Meyer, in the role of Hans. Meyer has quite a respectable filmography himself, but nothing compared to Piccoli's (whos credentials surpass practically everyone in the industry). The only role leaving something to be desired is that of Carroll Brooks, "The American." For no fault of her own, she doesn't fit in with the big names. I often fantasize about what Bad Blood would be like if Jeanne Moreau or Catherine Deneuve had taken her place.

The younger half of the cast is quite exceptional as well. Denis Lavant, who's Alex character is the protagonist of all three Alex Trilogy films, is astounding as usual. A developing young actress back then, Juliette Binoche practically built her solid international status on Bad Blood and Lovers on the Bridge (third of the trilogy). Binoche would later go on to famed roles in Blue, The English Patient, and Chocolat, among others. Last but not least, we have young Julie Delphy as Lise in only her third major feature film. Needless to say, being a Carax and Godard cast member helped build her personality as a picky actress who despises Hollywood mainstream.

Typical of the Alex Trilogy, the audience is treated to the combination of director Leos Carax and DP Jean-Yves Escoffier. Needless to say, Carax is the cinematic genius of generation-x; an elitist who would have gone down in the pantheon of directors had his first feature film Boy Meets Girl not been considered his best. Deciding not to cross over into Hollywood didn't help his chances of worldwide fame either (rumor has it that he almost made a film with Sharon Stone but she couldn't stand his constant smoking). Highly underrated cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier did cross over, but America drastically tamed his drive for perfection. You can catch tiny glimpses of Escoffier's photographic genius in films such as Goodwill Hunting, Rounders, Nurse Betty, Gummo, and The Crow-City of Angels.

Obviously, the imagery in Bad Blood is top notch. The film is told in a highly expressive visual fashion, leaving dialog and action as a mere supplement to what the audience sees onscreen. Don't take everything "as is" because there are countless scenes and sequences that aren't really happening - they exist for the purpose of symbolically illustrating a theme or idea (the Bowie song is a perfect example of this). While complex and often expressionistic in nature, the imagery isn't terribly difficult to decipher nor does it feel awkward or out of place.

There are so many elements to Bad Blood that I am forced to leave untouched: connections with the first French New Wave, the unification (or separation) of generational themes, the film noir atmosphere, etc. If you're into quality cinema at all, this should be on your list of top films to watch. One of the best films of the French neo-New Wave (1980's). Alternative and sometimes abstractly expressive, Bad Blood isn't something that appeals to everybody.

4.5 STARS





Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age