LA FRONTIERE DE L’AUBE (COMP.)
(BY ALI NADERZAD) The new Philippe Garrel film La Frontiere de L’Aube (COMP) screened this morning before a Theatre Lumiere which was filled to capacity. The film’s an elegy to a love that’s impossible and links to what separates the visible world from the afterlife. The director’s son Louis Garrel (The Dreamers) stars opposite Laura Smet in this self-absorbed but beautifully lensed tale of broken hearts. Francois (Garrel) is a photographer who meets Carole(Smet) during a shoot at her home. A liaison develops but Francois finds out that Carole is married. Each one finds different ways of dealing with the crushing choice and its consequences. Lensed in grainy black and white, the beauty inherent to Frontiere is owed in no small part to William Lubtchansky, director of photography (Lubtchansky lensed for Godard, among many other filmmakers). The fact that Frontiere was filmed in Paris is also worthy of mention. During an interview after the film he director said that he drew inspiration from Jean Cocteau for the visual esthetic of the film. “Henry Langlois told me to never abandon black and white,” he also allows. When asked where he got the idea for the film, Philippe Garrel said he was inspired by Spirit, a novel by Theophile Gauthier where a ghost appears in a mirror. The director was interested in exploring the link between the beyond and the living and lovers who will live together forever. Garrel told Screen Comment that the film’s working title was Le Ciel Des Anges (the angels’ sky), which is a reference to Louis Arragon. Regarding the casting for the film, Garrel said that the choice of his son was easy, since ‘we often hang out in the kitchen talking.’ He searches for rest of the ensemble one by one, based on their chemistry with the first person he cast. Regarding his choice of Laura Smet for the role of Carole, he had seen Les Corps Impatients in which Smet had starred and was immediately interested. La Frontiere de L’aube will be released in France this month; no US distribution deal as of press time.
Pedro Almodovar

Michelle Dockery
