Le bout des doigts

Nicolas Birkenstock is great movie maker and "Le bout des doigts" brilliantly exemplifies this statement. For it is not an easy task to derive such a taught and gripping little film from such a paper-thin plot.

What are its 21 minutes about? Nothing more than the tale of young Martin, a primary school pupil, chosen by his schoolmaster to recite a poem in public, and how this affects the boy's life until the D-day ordeal.

And these are 21 stylish, intense, suspenseful minutes.

"Le bout des doigts" is primarily the sympathetic account of the anxieties of a troubled mind pervaded little by little by the stressful anticipation of a performance to give before an audience and the fear not to live up to it.This first theme is enhanced by the allusive (but all the more effective) depiction of a family tragedy : Martin guesses more than understands that his parents are about to separate, which makes him terribly insecure.

But what makes this film a masterpiece of its kind is Nicolas Birkenstock's restraint style: very few words besides the abstruse words of the surrealistic poem the child repeats over and over again, very few characters on the screen besides Martin and -to a lesser extent- his father, almost invisible camera movements. By doing so, the director avoids the trap of cheap pathos and creates pure emotion.

Also wonderful is Birkenstock's poetic touch. The colorful pictures of insects translating Martin's mental images bring another dimension to the everyday life undertone of the narrative and the last shot showing a butterfly landing on the little boy's cheek is particularly beautiful.

Gonzague Flutsch, the young actor, must be praised for his first-rate interpretation. He does not do much - a feat for someone so young - but all his feelings pass. Thanks to him the viewer IS Martin and bears HIS burden to the very end.