Leos Carax's Les Amants du Pont-Neuf | The Lovers on the Bridge (1991)

Leos Carax's film took five years in the making, and although the bridge here in Paris was closed for repair at the time, Carax was forced at one point to reconstruct it in Lansargues, Hérault . More than anything, I saw this film as the quintessence of the expression 'le cinéma du look' which has been used to describe the early films made by Jean-Jacques Beineix, Luc Besson and Carax: the fireworks, the speedboat, the fire-eating, etc. After Boy Meets Girl (1984) and Mauvais sang (1986), this is the final part of the 'Alex trilogy' (Alex being Carax's original first name), and Denis Levant being a kind of alter ego to Carax.

Alex is an SDF ('sans domicile fixe'), living in one of the alcoves on the closed Pont-Neuf along with the older Hans (Klaus Michael Grüber), who provides him with the drug Alcyon, a powerful sleeping draft. Money comes from Alex giving fire-eating shows to the tourists, and from stealing. And then along comes Michèle (Juliette Binoche), who is going blind, has a cat, sketches, and has been thrown out of her home by her boyfriend.

Alex learns this not by asking Michèle about her past, but indirectly by looking at a letter with her former address, visiting it, and reading her diary. Although Hans (with his own tragic backstory) is against this intruder, Alex and Michèle slowly fall in love and make money by sending wealthy café terrasse customers asleep by contriving to pour Alycon into their drinks and taking their wallets.

Although the plot gets somewhat lost in the literal and figurative fireworks and is impossible to believe, I can't see how anyone can truly dislike this film: certainly it's unforgettable. It would have us believe the unbelievable: that Alex can stun a cop and escape along the Seine in his speedboat, Michèle water-skiing behind; that a whole string of wanted posters (asking for information on Michèle because a cure for her eye disease has been found) would be plastered on walls of all advertising spots in the métro; that Michèle and Hans could enter the Louvre using an old key!; that Michèle can escape from shooting her partner through the skull; that the couple can survive the cold by Alex throwing them into the Seine in the middle of a chilly winter; and that a passing boat, with only an elderly couple on board would come passing by and agree to let them join them all the way on their final voyage. What the hell does that matter: this is 'le cinéma du look', and this is a hell of a film.