24 mesures (2007)

Directed by: Jalil Lespert | 85 minutes | drama | Actors: Lubna Azabal, Benoît Magimel, Sami Bouajila, Bérangère Allaux, Archie Shepp, Steve Mac Graven, Aurélia Thiérrée, Clotilde Hesme, Marisa Berenson, Julie Brochen, Xavier Beauvois, David Edouard

How many failures can you lose in an 85 minute movie? At least 4, according to the French Canadian co-production ’24 mesures’. In this film we meet a heroin hooker, a thieving taxi driver, an unhappy lesbian and a traumatized musician. The characters have in common that they have problems in the child-parent relationship. More importantly, they are all on the brink of a fatal nervous breakdown. And that on the evening before Christmas.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that ’24 mesures’ is not a light cost. If people laugh once, it is the drunken laughter of the notorious night owl. However, many hard nuts are cracked, especially between child and parent. Unfortunately, director/screenwriter Jalil Lespert forgets to provide context, so that the overwrought scenes, no matter how convincing they seem, remain a bit in the air. It’s also a shame that there is hardly a normal person among all the characters, so that we are now constantly in a messed up universe. Moreover, the number of themes and motives – parent, child, coincidence, religion, drugs, suicide, music, individualism, violence, sex, fornication – is quite large.

That doesn’t make ’24 mesures’ a failure. Camera work (alternately nervous and static), strobe effects and the raw portrayal of modern life are sometimes reminiscent of the better work of Gaspar Noé. There is nothing wrong with the structure of the story. We always take a step back in time, so that we can see how the encounters between the protagonists came about. It gives the story the necessary coherence. It doesn’t hurt that the protagonists are played by excellent actors.

The most important quality of ’24 mesures’ is immediately the most relevant: the film manages to captivate for 85 minutes. Watching this dark drama is like listening to jazz: although you don’t always understand what is happening, you surrender to the moment. All it takes is trust in the performer. A trust that Jalil Jespert deserves here, albeit on the edge.