Froid comme I'été (2002)

Jacques Maillot's Froid comme I'été bears what it seems to me an unmistakable resemblance to the atmosphere in Lynne Ramsey's movies. The same creepy dreaminess. This movie may be a bit more of a social drama than Ramsey's films are, but the eerie feelings are highly present. The strange tension and sense of impending catastrophy that gradually arises. Rachel raises a child on her own. We quickly realize that she did not want this child, nor does she seem to know how to take care of a kid. She seems miserable, isolated. The baby cries and cries. Rachel can't stand it - she leaves a note for the neighbor and takes the train to the south. The kid is left behind with nobody to attend to it. It might seem obvious that this is a chilling story. But somehow, the film does not turn to social pornography, or a moralistic tale about women unable to live up to the holy duties of a mother. We get a raw film about abandonment and flight and instead of preaching, one is able to feel for the main character and her desperation. Maillot may not have the Dardenne brothers' attention to social structures and surroundings, but he surely shares their compassion, their ability to portray a complex character that has ended up in a deadlock. Maillot's film is a harsh description of escapism, something we can all recognize. The wish to board the train, start life again, a carefree existence, new relations. Even though clumsy storytelling devices exist, somehow these remain acceptable because of the acuteness of the feelings evoked.