No Rest for the Brave

Guiraudie’s already turned heads with his two earlier featurettes, most notably that of Jean-Luc Godard, who singled him out for praise at Cannes in 2000. But what to make of his feature debut? Well, whatever you can, really. For despite a vibrant punk-flamenco soundtrack, an agreeably whimsical tone and the beautiful, pleasantly relaxed photography of Antoine Herberlé (who also shot the exquisite-looking 2003 Moroccan drama ‘A Thousand Months’), it’s all a bit baffling. It starts with young Basile Matin (Thomas Suire) describing a dream he’s had in which an omnipotent figure tells him that this is his penultimate sleep – if he sleeps again, he dies. So Basile decides to abstain from shut-eye, after which point reality and dream begin to merge, both in his mind and in the film. Reality bending is no bad thing, but, unlike David Lynch, Guiraudie doesn’t provide enough alternative paths to coherence – there are no visual or thematic rhymes. Having to follow the rapid-fire dialogue in subtitled form doesn’t help, and ultimately the only French of any use is je ne comprends pas.