Olivier, Olivier (1992)

Simply Perfect

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A nine-year-old boy disappears without a trace. Six years later, he reappears in Paris but there are doubts about his real identity. The film entered the competition at the 49th Venice International Film Festival and won an award at the 1992 Valladolid International Film Festival.I don't really have much to say about this film. Having now seen about half of the director's work, I would not go so far as to say I am a fan. Some of it, like "Angry Harvest", I thought was really good. But then we have this film, which never really held my attention. Some of the early scenes are good with the children interacting, but it becomes much less interesting once Olivier (if that is really him) appears as an adult.

Interesting and slightly odd film about a son who disappears from his French family. He has a somewhat Oedipal relationship with his mother, and the family is very dysfunctional. Years later, he returns, but questions are raised if he is the real young man. The family drama is good and well-acted, but contains some truly bizarre subplots, such as the daughter's ability to levitate objects. The film also leaves some major perplexing questions regarding the boy, which I will not reveal. Nevertheless, an interesting and different film.

My first Agnieszka Holland movie was "Total Eclipse"(1995), and I was very disappointed. At the end of that of that movie I couldn't feel any sympathy for the lead characters. But that didn't stop me to see some of her previous movies: "Europa, Europa" (1991) and this movie, "Olivier, Olivier" (1992)."Olivier, Olivier" is not as good as her 1991 movie was, but it comes so close, that I simply cannot give it less than 10/10.The most important character of the movie is Elizabeth Duval, Olivier's mother. Brigitte Rouan's performance is extraordinary. Her portrayal of the over-possessive mother is perfect.The rest of the cast is very competitive. Gregoire Colin is a wonderful fake prodigal son. Francois Cluzet and Marina Golovina are superb.The movie does however have a flaw. Nadine's supernatural powers are interesting to look at, but useless to the plot. Forgivable.

The much-pampered, oedipally-loved son of a neurotic french mother, disappears without a trace (almost) while running a routine errand. Years later, a street-hustler teen, claiming to be the long-lost boy, is brought to live with the family, reuniting the mother and the father but alienating the older sister who remains skeptical of the youth's identity. Not entirely flawless as evidence of the lad's true fate are dropped like Hiroshima bombs upon the viewer. Perhaps if a certain Australian singer/actress had played the mother this film could be retitled "Olivier, Olivier Newton-John".