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Saturday, February 4, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW
Domain (Domaine)
The Chronicles Of Nadia, Circa 2009
Isaïe Sultan as Pierre and Béatrice Dalle as Nadia in Patric Chiha's drama
"Domain".
Strand Releasing
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Saturday,
February 4,
2012
A tender, touching and tense relationship is chronicled in the French drama
"Domain" (Domaine), directed by Patric Chiha. The film, which debuted at
the Venice International Film Festival in 2009, opened in France in 2010.
"Domain" finally makes its theatrical release debut in the U.S.
Sexual tension between Pierre, a gay 17-year-old boy (Isaïe Sultan) and his
older aunt Nadia (Béatrice Dalle) percolates throughout their unusually close
relationship. Pierre, who has friends his own age, spends all his time
outside of high school with Nadia, a mathematician who is an alcoholic.
Each day after school is out Pierre gets a call from Nadia. He'll be there
in 30 minutes, he says. He always is. Pierre's mother is worried
about him always being with the sister she is estranged from. Nadia
rambles, talks about her sexual encounters with a former husband. She has
a long-time boyfriend whom she has a love-hate relationship with, shooing him
away when she sees fit. Nadia's dependency on Pierre arises from her
loneliness, her condition, and possibly a subconscious desire to have sex with
him.
Pierre, a quiet lad, admires and has genuine love for Nadia, but sees the
handwriting on the wall long before she does. "Domain", a gloomy,
absorbing conversation piece, is less a coming-of-age story than a sneak preview
of what later life struggles are like. Through Nadia's war with alcohol it
is Pierre who grows. He knows the score, and her future, and Nadia, who is
about 30 but looks like a much-older version of 50, wallows in the crumbling
mechanical shell of her mind, wrecked with booze. Nadia is isolated by
precise, orderly deteriorations, a woman who has mentally expired long before
she has physically crumbled. Ms. Dalle is haunting and most powerful in
these unsettling moments where intellectual discourse is breaking down in an
almost onomatopoeic fashion.
Mr. Chiha's film wears a golden earthy richness and cinematic looks Gordon
Willis would be most proud of. There's a shadowy, heavy feeling that
pervades "Domain", full of atmosphere and sexuality. Episodes of
opportunity for male and female characters to physically interact are like
punctuations, breathing spaces from the intense, uncomfortable and troubled
world Nadia lives in. Ms. Dalle brings an edginess and unselfconsciousness
to Nadia without inviting a pitying, woe-is-me mentality to a woman who in many
ways is still Pierre's age. Pierre, of course, is the old soul trapped in
an adolescent body, and Mr. Sultan plays him with freedom, caution and maturity.
Pierre's still a young boy but he has adult sensibilities.
"Domain" isn't especially unfamiliar, noteworthy or memorable, and when it
abruptly ends where it does it isn't too much of a surprise, although the film
could have ended at least 20 minutes earlier. The film's sole strengths
lie in some of Mr. Chiha's dialogue, particularly as spoken by Nadia, and in the
lead performances by Mr. Sultan and Ms. Dalle, who make for a very good pair on
the big screen. Otherwise, "Domain" plays like a diary in Pierre's earlier
life and times, such times lived by a man who grows up very fast, not unlike the
young men in films like "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and others.
With: Alain Libolt, Raphaël Bouvet, Sylvie Rohrer, Udo Samel, Tatiana Vialle,
Manuel Marmier.
"Domain" (Domaine) is not rated by the Motion Picture Association
Of America. It contains moments of sexuality, most of which are discreet. The
film's running time is one hour and 48 minutes.
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