Gentille

Gentille gets off to a fantastic start, opening with a hilariously absurd sequence in which Fontaine (Emmanuelle Devos) accuses a man on the street of following her and then – after discovering that he was, in fact, not following her – asking the guy out to coffee. This is followed by further evidence that there’s something seriously off about Fontaine (eg she climbs a fence to get to work, despite the fact that there’s a normal entrance), and though the film’s nonsensical nature is initially charming, it’s not long before all this insanity becomes overwhelmingly irritating. Up to a certain point, though, Gentille is basically entertaining (provided the viewer is willing to overlook the fact that most of this makes absolutely no sense); Fontaine is a fairly intriguing character, and Devos does a nice job of portraying her rampant wackiness. The problem emerges when it becomes clear that writer/director Sophie Fillières isn’t going to answer the majority of the film’s questions, including the most obvious: is Fontaine crazy or not? As a result, the ludicrous vibe quickly goes from charming to annoying, and it eventually reaches a point where the only way any of this could possibly make sense is if the film turned out to be a French variation on The Truman Show (with Fontaine the unwitting participant in a bizarre reality program). But since that never happens, all we’re left with is an experimental, self-serving exercise in abject pointlessness.

* out of ****