Hideaway (Le Refuge): Review By harveycritic

HIDEAWAY (Le Refuge)

Strand Releasing

Reviewed for MovieWeb by Harvey Karten

Grade: B

Directed By: François Ozon

Written By: François Ozon, Mathieu Hippeau

Cast: Isabelle Carré, Louis-Ronan Choisy, Pierre Louis-Calixte, Melvil Poupaud

Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 9/1/10

Opens: September 10, 2010

Everyone wants to touch the belly of a pregnant woman. There is something altogether mysterious, even other-worldly about the creation of life, a feeling well known, I'm told, by the woman herself. She might alternate the lows of throwing up and the restrictions against alcohol and drugs with a quiet ecstasy that Leonardo da Vinci may have had in mind in giving an allegedly pregnant Mona Lisa her world-famous smile.

In "Hideaway," Mousse (Isabelle Carré), the woman whose pregnancy advances from two months to the birth of a baby girl, seems to have the maternal feeling evoked by her physical condition, though she is conflicted not only about bringing the baby to term but about her ability to live and love once Louis (Melvil Poupaud), her charismatic, musician boyfriend, falls dead from a heroin overdose that she miraculously survives.

Louis's aristocratic mother (Claire Vernet) suggests that Mousse abort the fetus because she "does not want any descendants of her dead son." Perhaps more important to her is the older woman's belief that the irresponsible Mousse will deliver a defective baby given her voluminous use of methadone, her smoking, and as we see midway through the story, the dancing at a club. Mousse refuses to terminate her pregnancy. She has not developed the necessary maternal urge, but we surmise that she wants the baby as a reminder of her lost love.

"Hideway," or "Le Refuge" in its original French title, is directed by François Ozon, whose "Swimming Pool" finds a reserved British author unnerved when her publisher's reckless and socially energetic daughter upsets her need for peace and quiet. His current drama takes place also in an area far from Paris overlooking a beach, where Mousse, like Charlotte Rampling's character in "Swimming Pool," finds herself awakened by unforeseen events. Having invited Louis's gay brother Paul (French singer Louis-Ronan Choisy) to share the lodge with her, Mousse is at first irritated by her guest's interrogation but gradually falls under his spell. Though moral issues are involved not only in Mousse's continued smoking, beer-drinking and methadone-taking but in the abrupt decision she makes at the film's conclusion, Ozon is more interested in putting two people within a confined space learning to connect and discover a new ripeness. Though Mousse is undergoing an identity crisis, Paul is likewise questioning his sexuality despite the time in which he indulges his sexuality with Serge (Pierre Louis-Calixte), Mousse's helper and delivery-man.

The opening scenes of the film look like something out of Otto Preminger's 1955 movie "The Man With the Golden Arm," so be prepared to look away if you wish. The remainder of the film is more sedate, allowing Paul and Mousse to effect changes in their lives. "Hideaway" insists that we cannot take refuge for long: death, grieving, and most important, life must be dealt with. In "Time to Leave," Ozon kills off Melvil Poupaud who plays a gay photographer coming to terms with his imminent death, while the poor fellow is done in once again in the current film. The beautiful Isabelle Carré, thirty-nine years old and pregnant in real life, but with the face of a young woman who looks as though she had just graduated from college, is a stunner, well worth looking at whether you can touch her belly or not.

Unrated. 105 minutes. © 2010 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online