Elisa (1995) Movie Review

Seven years after she flagged down a brief stint in the UK charts with the annoyingly catchy Joe Le Taxi, waif-like songstress Vanessa Paradis showed that there was more to her than a pesky pop song.

By the mid-1990s her movie career was still pretty much in its infancy, so nobody held their breath when Elisa was released and, perhaps unsurprisingly, this little-known French drama slipped by largely unnoticed. An unfortunate turn of events, because Elisa is a tremendous film. The big surprise, however, is that one of the main reasons for this is Paradis herself, who turns in a remarkably adept performance which, at the time, hinted at a highly promising screen career.

Why things didn’t quite pan out that way is anyone’s guess (perhaps a certain Johnny Depp had something to do with it), but on this evidence she’s talented enough to put many of the current crop of bright young female stars to shame. Here she stars as Marie, a rebellious teenager living in care who spends her days pulling off petty scams and generally getting up to no good with her two orphan friends Solange and Ahmed.

How she got into this state of affairs occupies much of the first half of the movie as we learn in flashback about Marie’s torrid and tragic past. It turns out that Marie’s mother killed herself after she botched an attempt to suffocate her daughter when she was a baby (a scene which provides the film’s harrowing opening). As she grows up, Marie learns more about what drove her mother to commit suicide and she resolves to make those responsible pay.

Top of her list is her own father (Depardieu), who abandoned her pregnant mother and is now a successful but drunken songwriter who uses alcohol to keep him company and as a means of trying to forget his past. It’s Marie’s obsession with trying to discover his identity which dominates the movie’s second half, but when she eventually finds him, her lust for murderous revenge is put on hold. First he has to suffer. Confidently directed by Jean Becker, he skillfully handles the deftly layered plot to deliver a film which never allows Paradis’ character to slip into the realms of teen rebel cliché.

However, it’s something of a disappointment that Depardieu only appears in the last 20 minutes, because a lot more could have been made of the father-daughter confrontation. Still, it’s a pairing which works particularly well and while Depardieu’s character threatens to overpower the seemingly meek Marie, Paradis never allows her more experienced co-star to dominate.

Indeed, Paradis is exceptional, oozing a cool and sultry sexuality in her portrayal of a young woman who is wise beyond her years when it comes to men and who is an expert at manipulating people to satisfy her own selfish aims.

Boasting a solid script and underscored with a poignancy which never really goes away, the subtle structure paves the way for a surprisingly touching story which is summed up by Marie’s vow to her dead mother: “I have to find that son of a bitch father of mine. I swear to you mum, I’ll kill him, slowly but surely, slowly but tenderly…”

A powerful, tragic and occasionally whimsical personal odyssey, Elisa is your basic undiscovered marvel. Another triumphant example of classy French cinema which is crying out for more widespread recognition.