French filmmaker Claire Denis (Chocolat) immerses us deeply into the lives of her characters, principally two motherless children, sister and older brother, a pregnant teenage runaway and a lonely pizza cook who lusts in his fantasies after a comely neighborhood baker. The deep immersion is quite literal, by way of a searchingly close-up camera that permits us little perspective or breathing room. The closeness produces some interesting effects (the alien landscape of a pastry shelf, the kneading of pizza dough), as well as a pervasive tactile sensuality. And, under this patient scrutiny, there are a number of personality-revealing or soul-revealing moments: the baker, for instance, busying herself with her dusting and intermittently breaking into smiles under the watchful eye of her lover, with a Beach Boys song in the background; or the same woman chattering away at a restaurant table to the transfixed and tongue-tied pizza man. Gregoire Colin, Alice Houri, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Vincent Gallo. (1996) — Duncan Shepherd
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