The New Eve (1999)

Sick Product of a Sick System

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Though she has some seventeen films under her directorial belt Catherine Corsini lacked - until she made 'Leaving' - the cachet of other French female directors with far less movies to their credit, people like Toni Marchall, Ann Fontaine, Danielle Thompson, Nicole Garcia, Agnes Jaoui, etc. Nevertheless she has a sure touch both as scriptwriter and director and La Nouvelle Eve is a fine example of her style. She has, of course, in Karin Viard, a wonderful actress and if that weren't enough there is if anything a slightly finer actress, Catherine Frot, wasted in a supporting role. Sergio Lopez, whose truck driver character is briefly married to Eve before beating her up, was in the early stages of his career and though everyone is in good form it is Viard's movie and she makes the most of it.

When we first meet Camille, the woman at the center of the story, she is seen at the swimming pool where she works. Camille has a problem relating to her own family, yet, she hangs out with two lesbian friends, who show great maturity on their part. Camille is given to bouts of despair and depression.One day, she bumps into a balding man, Alexis, as she has come out of a pharmacy with a supply of medicine prescribed by her doctor. Alexis, who is a socialist, watches the distressed Camille and advises her to throw away her medicine. Camille, who has seen Alexis walk into a nearby bistro, begins to frequent the place in hope of talking to him. One day while Camille is hanging out at the place, a long lost female friend happens to come into the bistro and is excited to see her again. Their meeting is cut off short when Camille decides to go after Alexis, who happens to pass by. The friend, clearly offended, gives Camille a piece of her mind.Alexis, a socialist organizer, is a married man. He doesn't want to get involved with Camille. He has a lovely wife and two daughters. By inviting Camille to come to dinner, he encourages this unstable woman to believe he is showing interest in her. The wife, Isabelle, who senses Camille's intentions, tells her Alexis is hers, and not to forget it. In spite of all the warnings, Camille's passion for this man is overpowering.Camille meets a truck driver at Alexis', Ben, who takes her out, but soon tires of getting no reaction to his advances. Ben, who reappears later in the story after Camille and Alexis have quarreled, asks her to marry him. On the way to their honeymoon, Ben tells her of a place in Auxerres. Camille decides to telephone Alexis and have him come to get her in the last train from Paris. Ben finds her at the station and beats her up. When Alexis arrive she is being taken away to the hospital. Months go by and one day a pregnant Camille runs into Alexis again. This time things will be different.Catherine Corsini, the talented director of "La Nouvelle Eve" also co-wrote on the script. She created a complex young woman, Camille, in a story that could be annoying because of the way Camille behaves. The saving grace was Karin Viard's luminous appearance in the film. This is not a heroine to love, on the contrary. Camille has so many mood swings that she baffles us because we don't know where she is coming from, at times.The rest of the cast do what they can. Pierre-Loup Rajat, looks like an unlikely romantic lead, yet, he is always interesting to watch. He and Ms. Viard make the film. The excellent Sergi Lopez is seen as Ben, the kind man who likes Camille, but he can't obviously live with her. Catherine Frot, as Isabelle has some good moments.The viewer will have to wait for the next Catherine Corsini's films, since, no doubt, she has what it takes to keep an audience going.

Camille's story could be every woman's story and actually the main parts are played by women.Men are desired, missed, run after, dropped but it's the women who call the tune. If men seem useless it's only because Camille has to remain alone to acknowledge she needs someone to reach the happiness she's longing for. She needs to touch Eden and to lose it to keep it when met again. Before she succeeds her demands are strong even if not clearly defined but what is difficult to handle is the way society functions nowadays. Rules don't exist anymore and she has to make sense with a deconstructed and puzzling world : family doesn't exist anymore and in order to find a sort of equilibrium people get married, have children, are in politics, cling to real or occasional friends, use drug or forget themselves in a sexuality deprived of taboo. Indeed as they fail to be taboo sexual relationships become less attractive, deprived of desire . Camille is completely lost in this world she doesn't understand. The director succeeds in showing the life of this `new Eve' without making concessions but without judging her. Even when we could or do blame her for what she does, he manages to let her pain show in a very touching way. Moreover the way she throws herself into the fight makes her very likeable. Actually if the film was a success I think it's because she's a sort of French Bridget Jones and a lot of women can identify with her. Karine Viard is really wonderful in that role and makes of Camille a very endearing character. You really have to see that film.

Sometimes charming, sometimes annoying, Camille is a carefree "modern girl" who seem to have a tendency to bump into people and objects. So she lives alone, and spends her time with a bunch of friends or lovers of mixed sexual inclinations, until she bumps (physically) into the man of her life, who really has nothing to do with her. "La Nouvelle Eve" is a more humorous than usual comedy in that oh so French tradition of "who do I really love" movies. The setting is very classical (Parisian thirtysomething artists who have nothing else in their minds than sex and its related complications) and follows the pattern of most comedies of this kind. However, the movie is fun, fast, and is propelled by the energetic Karin Viard, one of the best French actresses of the new generation.