13 December 2020

Jean-Jacques Beineix's Roselyne et les lions | Roselyne and the Lions (1989)

 

This is certainly not a film I would normally watch because it contains what I would call cruelty to animals – namely the taming of lions in a circus. However, the little I do have to say about it essentially relates to Jean-Jaques Beineix's cinema, particularly to my previous post on 37°2 le matin.

Roselyne et les lions (with a literal translation Roselyne and the Lions in English) stars Roselyne (Isabelle Pasco) and Thierry (Gérard Sandoz). Thierry loses interest in school once he discovers a zoo nearby which has lion-taming acts: the immediate relation between the untamed force of Betty in the previous film Beineix made is quite clear.

And although this film (rather obscure and little known even in France) isn't normally included in 'le cinéma du look' movies, it contains several elements normally associated with that group: the film comes within the same timeframe; the images are all-important, taking precedence over the content; the couple become drifters, and even though they become successful it is not in their nature to tie themselves to any contract at all, they are free spirits following their dream outside of any conventional structure, and in fact share the same somewhat rebellious nature as other characters in the sub-genre.

Their one guiding principle, mentioned twice, is that the quickest link from one point to another is by a dream. Roselyne and Thierry live that dream and do not allow anyone else to stand in the way of it.

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