Le passé devant nous (2016)

Directed by: Nathalie Teirlinck | 110 minutes | drama | Actors: Evelyne Brochu, Zuri François, Adonis Danieletto, Guillaume Duhesme, Eriq Ebouaney, Johan Leysen, Romàn Malempré, Marie Rosselet Ruiz, Véronique Seghers, Arminé Telimi, Arieh Worthalter

The existence of prostitution as an escape from real emotional bonding, that is what ‘Le passé devant nous’ is all about. Anyway, a nice title. The past is literally before us, but it can also pass us by. Not surprising, if you’re talking about an escort girl who is confronted again with the past, in the form of a six-year-old son who was abandoned at birth, but has to rely on this Alice (Evelyne Brochu) again due to the death of his father. . There is more, such as a demented father (Johan Leysen), with whom Alice also seems at a loss, and her friendly driver Michael (Eriq Ebouaney), with whom she maintains an intimate but platonic friendship. As long as it doesn’t get too close.

It comes close, because little Robin (Zuri François) moves in with Alice. She usually leaves the child alone when she has to work, but the concentrated Brochu clearly shows that the sense of responsibility is there. Most of the time, Alice looks anxiously ahead – neurotic smoking, as beautiful as in her clients’ imaginations. This is not a cold, rather a frozen woman. Why? We don’t get to know, and that seems like a sign of weakness. However, the execution is so good that we forgive it. The film opens with a rolling thump below the title page, which could just as easily be a passing train or a disco thump, but when the footage starts it turns out to be a treadmill in a gym. The associative power of the sounds has already done its job.

The intention is apparently to alienate the viewer in a neurotic way, like Alice herself. The city of Brussels is on the other hand brought into sharp focus, but always filmed from a distance – as a backdrop. That leads to a congruent film. Focused on intimate relationships, which are indeed there, although the main character is unstable or emotionally absent. Too much character development would only detract from that. In fact, the fact that Alice is spinning in circles suggests that disaster is constantly lurking. Perhaps it is the fear of losing that has made Alice what she is, and that, given what is presented to us, as well as the human condition in general, would not be a crazy idea at all.