TRILOGY 3: AFTER THE LIFE (APRES LA VIE) [ 1/2] (two and one-half stars)
Satisfying if slow-moving conclusion. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 124 minutes. Not rated (adult themes). At the Angelika, corner of Houston and Mercer Streets.
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THIS final installment in director Lucas Belvaux’ mostly fascinating experiment – three films dealing with the same incidents and characters in different genres – fills gaps in the underlying narrative in a way that’s both satisfying and provocative.
Indeed, seen together with the first film in the trilogy, “On the Run” (the second film, “An Amazing Couple,” is hardly worth the effort), “After the Life” raises interesting questions about the way storytelling works.
Once you’ve had to second-guess your initial reactions to the characters, you find yourself watching both them – and your own judgments – with greater care.
“After the Life” is much more political (in a daring way for a French film) and movingly personal than the other two films – unfortunately, the film’s pacing seems to suffer as a result.
“After the Life” focuses on Pascal (Gilbert Melki) and Agnes (Dominique Blanc). Pascal is the rude, angry cop who has been simultaneously leading the chase for Bruno the escaped terrorist (Belvaux) and spying on the neurotic insurance adjuster Alain (Francois Morel) on behalf of Alain’s suspicious wife, Cecile (Ornella Muti). Agnes is Pascal’s drug addicted wife (Dominique Blanc).
Here Pascal seems far more sympathetic than in the previous films. You get a sense of the terrible compromises he’s made to provide for his wife’s intense morphine addiction (portrayed as both agonizing and monstrous in its selfishness) and the moral and psychological cost of those compromises.
And once you’ve understood his bind, characters like the womanizing surgeon or Pascal’s wife’s snooty colleagues at the local high school with their silly toasts of “death to the pigs” begin to seem much less charming.
The fine performances by Blanc and Melki give Belvaux’ whole clever undertaking some needed weight.
That said, there are still some mysterious gaps in the overall story when “After the Life” comes to its abrupt end. (You can imagine Belvaux making another film, adding yet more perspectives to his story.)
And the very effectiveness of “After the Life’s” depiction of its main characters makes its immediate predecessor seem that much more of a waste.