Vendredi Soir

There are innumerable variants on the ever-popular French fantasy of the casual sexual encounter. Most are kitsch projections of male desires but Vendredi Soir is a wonderfully different, light, near whimsical addition (the closing shot could be a hommage to Truffaut) to the category.

Scripted by Denis with Emmanuele Bernheim from the latter's novel the film is light on plot and dialogue but rich in visual pleasures, often having recourse to a montage of incidental moments in creating the central character's subjectivity. Camerawork by Agnes Godard is remarkably malleable whilst the suitably understated performances by the leads, Valérie Lemercier and Vincent Lindon, together with Dickon Hinchcliffe's music all contribute effectively to the depiction of a tentative, ephemeral but rewarding experience, much like the film itself.

 

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