Strayed
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Description
Emmanuelle Béart gives another beautiful performance in this fable-like story of World War II. She plays a widow with two children in tow; escaping from Paris, their car is bombed in the countryside and they stagger into the woods along with a rough, savvy teenage boy (the feral Gaspard Ulliel). Their idyll in an abandoned chateau takes up the remainder of the film, as various tensions simmer within this ad hoc family unit. Director Andre Techine (Wild Reeds, Scene of the Crime) is a master of the small, telling moment and the frailty of people in a natural landscape. He also proves, in the riveting sequence of Germans attacking the line of refugees, that he could probably make a great action film if he cared to. Along with Béart's sensuality, his treatment of hushed interiors and sympathy for the imagination of children creates an intimate arena for these lost souls. --Robert Horton
Description
DVD extras include: 16x9 anamorphic, 5.1 sound, interviews with Andre Techine, Gaspard Ulliel & Gilles Perrault, subtitle control, storyboards, photo gallery. Set in 1940 at the beginning of France's occupation by the Germans, Strayed stars French film icon Emmanuelle Béart (Nathalie, 8 Women) as Odile, a young and beautiful widow fleeing Paris with her two children. When German planes bomb the road filled with refugees, Odile's car is destroyed and the three must escape into the woods. There they encounter Yvan (sexy newcomer Gaspard Ulliel - Brotherhood of the Wolf), a 17 year-old illiterate delinquent whose survival skills and charm soon prove indispensable. They soon take shelter in an abandoned house and become a makeshift family. Odile, at once suspicious of and attracted to the mysterious stranger, soon finds herself at the center of a fascinating set of personal and sexual dynamics. One of the most respected filmmakers in France, André Téchiné (Wild Reeds, Rendez-Vous) once again, builds on his reputation as one of the most sensitive and intelligent filmmakers working today.
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