French: Trois Mondes
Cannes Film Fest 2012–The gifted director Catherine Corsini takes a step down with her latest entry, “Three Worlds” (“Trois Mondes”), which world-premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Fest (in the Certain Regard series)
The protagonist is Al (Raphael Personnaz), a young man from a modest background, who is about to marry his boss’ daughter, aiming at succeeding the old man as the head of the car dealership.
One night while coming back from his bachelor party, he is guilty of a hit-and-run accident, caused by his two childhood friends, who are in the car.
The next day, guilt-ridden, Al decides to investigate the background of his victim, unaware that a young woman named Juliette (Clotilde Hesme) had witnessed the whole accident from her balcony. In fact, she is the woman who called 911 and then helped Vera, the victim’s wife who is an illegal immigrant from Moldavia. However, when Juliette recognizes Al as the reckless driver, she is unable to denounce him.
While the premise is intriguing, “Three Worlds” is a shallow film, not convincing as a psychological melodrama or as an actioner. Throughout, one gets the impression that Corsini looks at her characters from the outside, seldom providing compelling background or motivations for their conduct.
“Three Worlds” is a weaker work than Corsini’s “Partir”(with Kristin Scott Thomas) or “La Repetition” (starring Emmanuelle Beart), both of which had played at the Cannes Film Fest.