Voyage En Douce

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C-     Film: C+

 

 

Michel Deville explores sexuality and even lesbianism in his 1981 drama Voyage En Douce in which best female friends (Dominique Sanda and Geraldine Chaplin) Helena & Lucie rekindle their friendship in ways they may not have even expected.  Friends since childhood, they have a long history together and when one of them leaves her husband, the trip they take offers reflections of all kinds.  This includes some interesting flashback sequences.

 

Though this is a decent film, it is not always a successful one, despite fine performances from the leads.  The problem is that writer/director Deville has some understanding of women, but not enough to sustain a film at this level, for this length of time and enough to suspend disbelief in the most intimate ways.  This is not to say there is some kind of “thought police lesbianism” or the like, but just that being male causes the film to hit walls it might have avoided with a skilled female writer and/or director.  Otherwise, it is often beautiful and is a mature work.

 

The letterboxed 1.66 X 1 image has a flattened look that limits depth and detail, with Claude Lecomte’s cinematography undermined by a transfer that should have been anamorphically enhanced.  Even color is sometimes strange.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 French Mono sounds a few generations down, but there are optional English subtitles that will help those who don’t like the sound or do not speak French.  There are no extras, though four New Yorker trailers are included.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo