Review: Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

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Garçon Stupide

A fresh take on a well-worn genre

By PEG ALOI | February 23, 2006

3.0 Stars

ARTISTIC YEARNING, but he won't let anyone help him

Newcomer Pierre Chatagny’s Loïc is a Swiss teenager whose life consists of anonymous tricks in Lausanne (with men he’s met on-line), a dull job at a Bulle chocolate factory (juxtaposed in split screen with graphic, orgiastic tableaux), hanging around with friend/flat mate Marie (Natacha Koutchoumov) while she works at a museum of medical oddities, and unpredictable conversations with an unseen man who’s full of questions. The questioner is co-writer and director Lionel Baier, and though these meta-cinematic segments may seem indulgent, they ground this unsettling coming-of-age film in real time when it veers into ambiguous fantasy. Loïc’s shallow outlook belies an artistic yearning, but he’s too socially stunted to let others help him; even loyal Marie is forced to kick him out. Retreating to the Swiss suburbs, he just may be finding himself at last. Or does he finally fall in love? Baier challenges viewers with a stop-and-start narrative and film-school cleverness, but stunning visual textures (chocolate and skeletons vie with mountains and carousels) and honest performances enhance this fresh take on a well-worn genre.

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Topics: Reviews , Cultural Institutions and Parks, Museums

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