The problem with this movie is that the lead character is so flawed yet manages to dominate this movie in such a was as to make the movie flatline into what is ultimately suicide for the movie as a whole.
The fault is that Simon is so utterly fallacious as to be unbelievable! He is weak, dull, pathetic, immature, soulless, sexually inadequate, aggressive, violent, cowardly, fragile, disinterested in the world around him and without any kind of direction whatsoever. There is nothing redeeming at all in this character. As the movie progresses we begin to dislike him more and more, yet we are supposed to believe that a woman is capable of falling in love with this man. Unfortunately this leads to what ultimately is a very boring and lack lustre film. The problem also is that the movie paints Paris as city of sad, lonely, desperate people used and abused as the make their way through city streets, backlit by prostitutes, and violence, and when, we superimpose this fragile character on this mis-en-scene we are left with nothing more than a dull voyage into senility.
Many low budget movies achieve so very much more and with a decent script, characters and direction this movie could have been something really special. Somehow as a USA / French production it just doesn't work, and this is reflected in the lack of any kind of meaningful communication between the lead roles in the movie.
This said, I recommend you watch it because it is a good example of how a movie will never work if the camera hates what it sees. When an idea such as this is done brilliantly we end up with a film like "Alfie", (original version) in which yes, we see a deeply flawed character, dominating the movie, yet the camera loves him and so do we.
The fault is that Simon is so utterly fallacious as to be unbelievable! He is weak, dull, pathetic, immature, soulless, sexually inadequate, aggressive, violent, cowardly, fragile, disinterested in the world around him and without any kind of direction whatsoever. There is nothing redeeming at all in this character. As the movie progresses we begin to dislike him more and more, yet we are supposed to believe that a woman is capable of falling in love with this man. Unfortunately this leads to what ultimately is a very boring and lack lustre film. The problem also is that the movie paints Paris as city of sad, lonely, desperate people used and abused as the make their way through city streets, backlit by prostitutes, and violence, and when, we superimpose this fragile character on this mis-en-scene we are left with nothing more than a dull voyage into senility.
Many low budget movies achieve so very much more and with a decent script, characters and direction this movie could have been something really special. Somehow as a USA / French production it just doesn't work, and this is reflected in the lack of any kind of meaningful communication between the lead roles in the movie.
This said, I recommend you watch it because it is a good example of how a movie will never work if the camera hates what it sees. When an idea such as this is done brilliantly we end up with a film like "Alfie", (original version) in which yes, we see a deeply flawed character, dominating the movie, yet the camera loves him and so do we.