Strange Place for an Encounter

This is the first feature film of Francois Duperyon and he is fortunate to have the services of two of France's most iconic stars one of whom, Catherine Deneuve, had sufficient faith in Duperyon to be the film's Producer whilst the screenplay is by the director and his wife Dominique Faysse.

One wonders what attracted Mlle Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu to this hollow, tedious, angst-ridden material. Both characters are an absolute mess emotionally and far too tiresome to engage our sympathies and their Love/Hate relationship is played out in and around the plastic cafeteria of a service station frequented by assorted musty superfluities. The one bright spark amidst the gloom is the taking performance of newcomer Nathalie Cardone as Sylvie, a waitress.

Deneuve and Depardieu have been described as 'la belle et la bete' of contemporary French cinema and although they do their best here, of their six films together this is undeniably the weakest.

Following this lacklustre effort Duperyon's films could only get better and of course he went on to redeem himself, notably with 'La Chambre des Officiers'.