Cannes 2023: L’autre Laurens (The Other Laurens)
CANNESWith ‘L’autre Laurens’ (The Other Laurens), Claude Schmitz crafts an engaging, dynamic drama that intertwines two warring generations discussing life, regrets, the truth, and the realisation of who people are at their core, with enough bite and bark as well as style to make an engaging feature.
For more contemporary audiences, one way to simplify or compare Schmitz’s film is that to something akin to the filmography of Nicolas Winding Refn. For one instance, it is a film that remains quite far away yet at the same time within reach for the audience, be that emotional or narrative accessibility. It is fiction yet fantasy and follows this thin line between perspective and reality. What element reinforces this feeling is the craft of production design by Mathieu Buffler as well as Florian Berutti's cinematography. They craft such a genuine sense of fiction and fantasy on screen, be that the depiction and composition of the camera but also in the way they create mood, in relation to comfort or distress; regardless, they do so with terrific stability and genuineness. This is not the case of seeing things that are not there in the fantastical sense but more so toying with the idea of the investigation at hand and what twists and turns are on offer. Thankfully never being patronising or floats on the verge of ego but more focused on this context due to the nature of the beast itself: character.
This is where ‘L’autre Laurens’ starts to find its gravity and composure. On the surface and after the fact, it is not necessarily clear what Schmitz’s film is about. Granted, the synopsis is not wrong and an accurate depiction but beyond that, digging a little deeper, Schmitz’s feature touches on a whole host of themes and subjects, be that of acceptance, fear, greed, and so on and so forth. Nevertheless, human emotive subjects that then the performers can grasp and uncover and revel. One such dynamic is the difference between what are the two main characters ages and thus perspectives in Olivier Rabourdin's Gabriel Laurens and Louise Leroy's Jade, the former in his fifties displaced and displeased with his direction and the latter a fifteen-year-old trying to find ultimately what Gabriel has lost, all the while trying to find happiness in finding a resolution for her family. Schmitz with co-writer Kostia Testut do a terrific job of intertwining said morals as well as diverting and switching them as they grow. The outcome is equally as compelling, as their direction and trajectories are not solidified to expectation and perhaps when everything is said and done, it is not the character who the viewer would expect to have a certation predisposed potion, which may not be the case.
This is ultimately brought on by dynamic and often muted performances that are terrific. Olivier Rabourdin does a tremendous job of a character aching to just move on, be that figurately or literally, echoing such a foreboding sentiment of baggage that carries throughout to his final scenes. Equally as engaging, albeit not given quite as much screen time as she arguably deserves, is Louise Leroy, of whom showcases a terrific weight and understanding of unspoken fear and instability of what is next. Separately, the two performances offer a terrifically engaging dynamic but are just as compelling when put together, even if that decreases and becomes sparse as the running time goes on, be that for a terrific final sequence.
The one thing that is very clear narratively and the emphasis of production is that of L’autre Laurens being a mystery of sorts but as aforementioned in the opening paragraph, it is not as simple as that description and more so works on a far greater visceral value for engagement. Nevertheless, the narrative is compelling, if not slightly convoluted, and while it does take precedent, the themes and characters arcs are ever more so prevelant and clear of what Claude Schmitz wants to discover and uncover through the running time. For those who are captivated by the character, this will come as little shock on screen but for those who find the narrative or the mystery at heart to be the core development, they will ultimately struggle with engagement due to the sheer branching off regarding the flow, of which consistently takes its time and creates its own speed.
