- Actors: Louise Bourgoin, Pierre Rochefort
- Director: Nicole Garcia
- Format: Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Language: French
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: Not Rated
- Studio: Cohen Media Group
- Release Date: June 21, 2016
- Run Time: 95 minutes
Going Away is excellent at mood and
atmosphere, setting up a predictable melancholy romance with intriguingly
mysterious characters. Dolling out information slowly is the wisest choice that
director and co-writer Nicole Garcia makes, but it also leads to a major
letdown once all of the secrets are revealed. The questions turn out to be far
more engaging than the answers. The third act takes the film into an area of
contrived social commentary, but this isn’t even the worst offense. The shift
of the narrative handicaps the characters in many ways, but even more
disheartening is Garcia’s apparent inability to decide what to do with them
once turning the film away lonesome romance narrative and into a discussion
about class divisions. All of the effort to get us to care about them in the
first hour dissipates as the filmmaker appears uncertain how to end their
story. We are left with a final scene, but no real resolution.
Romanticizing
the loner as cinema often does, Going
Away begins by introducing us to Baptiste (played by Garcia’s real-life
son, Pierre Rochefort), a roving primary schoolteacher who makes a point out of
switching schools each term. Even when offered a full-time position, Baptiste
politely refuses for unknown reasons. Despite an unwillingness to make lasting
connections, it is obvious that Baptiste is committed to the children and their
education. With no apparent friends or family and a shoddy apartment
overlooking the school he is currently working at, it seems that this
dedication is all that he has.
When one of his
pupils named Mathias (Mathias Brezot) is abandoned by his neglectful father
over a holiday weekend, Baptiste volunteers to watch him, taking him to see his
ambitiously hardworking mother. Sandra (Louise Bourgoin) is painted with a bit
more flawed realism than Baptiste, ambitiously working at a seaside resort in
hopes of achieving personal goals of success at the sacrifice of motherhood,
but we know immediately that they will end up connecting with each other.
Rather than merely dropping Mathias off with his mother, the schoolteacher
inexplicably hangs around long enough for this to happen.
The draw
mysteriously wounded Baptiste has to the openly flawed beauty that is Sandra
would have been believable enough, but the screenplay unwisely seeks to manufacture
this through action. Sandra’s failed past endeavors have left her in debt and
sought out by a pair of unsavory men looking to collect what she owes. This
problem turns out to have a fairly easy solution once Baptiste reveals the
secrets of his past, taking the mother and child on a road trip to his
childhood home. The biggest issue is consistency in tone and pacing. Going Away seemingly switches genres
with each act, and as intriguing as the characters are, they are not developed
enough to withstand the jarring narrative shifts.
The DVD release
includes a theatrical trailer.
Entertainment Value:
7/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 1/10
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