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DEMI-TARIF
5/10
aka
1/2 Price : France 2004 : Isild LE BESCO : 63 mins
Chris
Marker reportedly called Demi-Tarif "the greatest debut
since Godard's A bout de
souffle" - a quote which perhaps says more about Marker than
it does the movie. And it should also be noted that, according to the
Edinburgh Film Festival programme, Marker is "at least in a loose
sense, the young film-maker's stepfather" (whatever that means).
21-year-old
Le Besco was the female lead in Cedric Kahn's Roberto
Succo, and the very rough-and-ready Demi-Tarif feels
like something she dashed off in between acting gigs: the protagonists
are three seemingly inseparable siblings aged between seven and nine,
all born to different fathers: Romeo (Kolia Litscher) and his half-sisters
Louna (large-mouthed Lila Salet) and Leo (Cindy David), the youngest of
the trio. They live in a Paris flat where they have been effectively abandoned
by their mother - who makes only the most fleeting and intermittent of
appearances in their lives.
Otherwise,
they pretty much have to fend for themselves, stealing or sweetly "cadging"
food from shops, travelling for free on the Metro (they have no problem
squeezing under the barriers) and generally running wild. But just as
stray dogs mimic the behaviour of wandering household pets, the children
aren't feral in a way that might draw attention: they're no more than
a little high-spirited. There's no 'plot' as such: the only real drama
occurs when they're questioned at school about their tatty clothes. Most
of the very brief running time consists of the children playing games,
indoors and out, with dreamy, rather precious retrospective narration
provided by Le Besco herself ("We had great fun").
 This
voice-over is translated in subtitles, as are any instances where the
children interact with adults (including some painful Americanisms: "half
dollar", and a reference to the "ASPCA"). But whenever
the kids are alone, their dialogue isn't subtitled - this is clearly intended
to reinforce the idea that they are creating and inhabiting their own
private little world, but it does so at the price of alienating and excluding
non-Francophone audiences.
The basic
set-up is a promising, original idea (albeit somewhat contrived) and the
extremely low-fi digital-video camerawork (by Le Besco's brother Jowan)
is appropriate and nimbly deployed, with nearly all the shots taken at
the children's height - the camera is like an observant, complicit, silent
fourth sibling. The outdoor sequences work particularly well, tapping
into previous 'running through the streets of Paris' sequences that were
one of the hallmarks of the rambunctious nouvelle vague.
Even at 63
minutes, however, Demi-Tarif feels repetitive and padded out. Watching
the children at play is charming up to a point, but scenes - especially
those indoors - are often extended way beyond such a stage. And many viewers
may find the numerous sequences featuring child nudity more than a little
discomfiting.
It's possible
to interpret the film on a political level, as an oblique indictment of
an atomised society where such neglect (albeit relatively benign neglect)
can seemingly unnoticed and unchecked for such a prolonged period of time.
But this intriguing subtext remains frustratingly underdeveloped. And
while Le Besco is clearly talented - good acting from children is almost
always a reliable litmus-test of directorial ability - she needs to get
a firmer grip on her material. To sum up: Demi-Tarif - demi-duree -
demi-succes.
10th September,
2004
(seen on DVD, 25th August : videotheque : Edinburgh
Film Festival)
click
HERE for our full coverage of the 58th Edinburgh Film Festival
by Neil
Young
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