Microbe & Gasoline – Microbe et Gasoil (2015)

Directed by: Michel Gondry | 105 minutes | adventure, comedy | Actors: Ange Dargent, Théophile Baquet, Diane Besnier, Audrey Tautou, Vincent Lamoureux, Agathe Peigney, Douglas Brosset, Charles Raymond, Ferdinand Roux-Balme, Marc Delarue, Ely Penh

What do teenage boys do when school and parents think they are preparing them for the prime of life? Listening to rebellious music, fantasizing about defloration or a kiss from a flight attendant. The worlds of teenagers and adults should be strictly separated, and there is nothing wrong with that; this can even be called ultra-bourgeois. Daniel ‘Microbe’ (Ange Dargent) and Théo ‘Gasoline’ (Théophile Baquet) are fifteen-year-old boys with a remarkable friendship – the first an artistic outsider, the second a popular wrench. One-on-one makes such a difference less than in the group, and can even inspire it.

Whose deed. Michel Gondry’s films (‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’) always sparkle with youthful energy, and always dreamily zoom in and out on everyday reality – in the case of ‘Microbe et Gasoline’ more visually than plot-technically. This road trip comedy, which is as linear as it is frisky, introduces Daniel and Théo to the viewer in a feel-good way. We’ve got to like these grown-ups, and it’s not that hard. Everyone wants to break free from a straitjacket – even if your (liered) mother is called Audrey Tautou, and we shouldn’t expect anything else from teenagers.

Daniel and Théo build a lawnmower vehicle to take them on a tour of France. ‘On Land, ter Zee and in de Lucht’ in combination with a youth film atmosphere, that’s all on paper; the fanciful narrator Gondry nevertheless makes it an adult experience – with changing perspectives and wonderfully dry humor. Reality soon hits the boys as they traverse the land of the Michelin map, the ‘choucroute’, the TGV and the pink toilet paper. But that matters little on the planet Gondry. He keeps it light and airy – teenage friendship typical; at the end, the gentlemen look a little more alike than before.