contains spoilers
Story about France in the late 60-s and a young American who comes to Paris and meets twins who are movie fanatics just like him and the plot which goes around peace and anti-war messages and sexual revelations is the content which sounds promising. But after watching it, I felt there wasn't everything said and explained in this one.
We meet a young American who comes to the university to Paris and two young twins, a brother and a sister who spend their time watching movies, acting and guessing scenes from old classics and who follow the believes of the Revolution going on in the their city. Young Frenchmen fought for free thought, free love and peace on Earth. When Matthew gets involved in the twins' life and weird behaviour, he feels happy and satisfied for finding friends in such a short time. He couldn't even dream what a friendship with them would bring him. After inviting him to live with them while their parents are gone, Matthew starts to discover a whole new side of them and their lives. It seems they cannot do anything alone and they spend night and day together. They play their weird games, which at the beginning attract Matthew, who starts falling in love with Isabelle, a beautiful girl, who obviously has some problems with relationships, being to closely attached to her brother, who on the other hand allows himself to spend some time away from her.
Step by step, Matthew becomes involved in a relationship where twins play the main role. From a shy, silent boy, he turns into a young man who isn't afraid to speak his mind, but simply can't make to win Isabelle over. He must constantly fight with Theo, Isabelle's twin brother, who has a strong influence on his own sister. Their relationship is way beyond a normal brother sister relationship and Matthew must accept that or be left alone. He begins a relationship with both of them, but tries to get Isabelle for himself.
This movie is a great portrait of the young rebels of that time. It shows their strong spirit and their will to fight against the politics, but in my opinion it relies too much on their sexual exhibitions, without going deeper into the main problems of that period. Three main characters are on one hand strong individuals who aren't afraid to speak their mind, but who hide their weak side between their four walls and are scared of getting caught, explaining that revealing their secret would finish by ending their lives.
Three main actors made an excellent job here and Michael Pitt was a big revelation, after watching him in some of his earlier roles. Eva Green is absolutely beautiful as a messed up, innocent and fragile Isabelle and I think she gave the strongest performance in this movie. Her character goes through so many different phases and deals with various thoughts and she proved that she has the talent to play that kind of roles. Louis Garrel, as the youngest one of the trio also made a great performance as stubborn Theo, who keeps fighting for what he believes and isn't afraid of the consequences.
Two other things which I really liked in this movie are the flashbacks of old classics which must be guessed by the main characters and its fabulous soundtrack (The Doors, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan etc.), which perfectly depicted this period.
There are many things that make this a movie worth watching and one you could watch many times, but the fact that the main message of the Revolution wasn't revealed here make me give it a lower rating than I would usually do after watching a movie with this topic, a European movie which is always so much braver then American movies.
LovelyT
