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WAITING FOR BOJANGLES
Director: Régis Roinsard Cast: Romain Duris, Virgine Efira, Solan Machado Graner, Grégory Gadebois MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:04 Release Date: 9/2/22 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 1, 2022 A man and a woman meet at a party on the French Riviera, and they instantly fall in love. These two are proven liars, as he's trying to make a good impression with people more successful than him and she's playing a game—or so it would seem—of hiding her real identity, but Waiting for Bojangles makes it clear that this love, as hastily passionate and unlikely as it might seem, is the real deal—for better and, as other realities become apparent, for worse. The film, written by director Régis Roinsard and Romain Compingt, features the kind of story that could go terribly wrong in terms of its tone, how it presents a key detail about one of the characters, and the general air of lightheartedness and eccentricity that seems to define its first act. On the surface, this is a love story about a couple of quirky, carefree people who seem to have no worries, no problems, and only adoration and affection for each other. Theirs is a bliss that seems too good to be true, and in revealing how the relationship is that way, the film is ultimately deeper, more compassionate, and more melancholy than it first appears to be. The two lovers are Georges (Romain Duris, charming and vulnerable) and Camille (Virgine Efira, luminous and tragic), although she goes by many other names that she gives herself that Georges provides her. They meet in the late 1950s, and by the end of their whirlwind meeting, they have married themselves in an empty church. About decade later, the two live in a fancy Paris apartment with their 10-year-old son Gary (Solan Machado Graner). Camille's long-time friend Charles (Grégory Gabebois) is now the couple's mutual friend and like an uncle to the boy. Life is basically a dream for the family, with Gary keeping an African bird as a pet, the couple holding lavish parties every night that they want to, and the mail being tossed in the corner of the entryway whenever Georges returns home from work. The family unit soon becomes even more insulated when Camille decides to homeschool the boy. Georges ends up at home, too, after selling his family car business to pay off all those bills. The problems here are more significant than financial ones, though. While Roinsard handles the gradual revelation about Camille's health issues in a way that may seem dismissive at first, that is the larger point of this story. Georges and Camille desperately love each other and their son, and the central question, presented through a series of difficult choices and further attempts to keep the truth at bay, is at what point does doing anything for a loved one become a denial of oneself, another person's well-being, and reality itself. Waiting for Bojangles starts as a convincing romantic fantasy. By the end, we equally feel the sweetness and the bitterness of both the romance and the fantasy. Copyright © 2022 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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