Oscar History
Film Bitch History
Welcome

The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)

Follow TFE on Substackd

Powered by Squarespace
COMMENTS

 

Keep TFE Strong

We're looking for 500... no 390 SubscribersIf you read us daily, please be one.  

I ♥ The Film Experience

THANKS IN ADVANCE

What'cha Looking For?
Subscribe

Entries in La promesse (1)

Sunday
Apr242011

Take Three: Jérémie Renier

Craig from Dark Eye Socket here with another Take Three. Today: Jérémie Renier

Take One: Private Property/Nue propriété (2006)
Joachim Lafosse’s beautifully-crafted French family drama Private Property, starred arthouse doyenne Isabelle Huppert alongside Renier and his brother Yannick (also an actor). They're just about getting on in a country house that non-identical twins Thierry (Jérémie) and François (Yannick) don’t want to sell, but Mater Dearest does; the live-away father/ex-husband backs the twins – and it’s his house. The drama is all about the to and fro of this looming possibility, the elephant smack bang in the front room and pregnant with the biggest pause imaginable. Lafosse curiously shapes his narrative with inharmonious tension between the three: it’s sometimes sexual, sometimes queasily thick, and most times unavoidable. Freud would’ve loved a visit with this Gallic clan.

Renier plays the pivotal character; an invisible finger seems to poke us into scrutinising him more than the others. Though the twins share a bond and personality traits, hes' the independent one. The connection between these adult brothers is still very adolescent (computer games, play fights etc) and  proves to be part of the family’s undoing. Everyone is excellent (come on, it’s Huppert!), but Renier has the most baggage to haul. In a scene where his childishness is on full display he hides from the family in nearby woods. Renier's face goes blank and he seems to be disappearing inside himself. It's incredibly powerful but he handles extensive complex, quick-fire dialogue just as maturely as an actor. Thierry is one of his strongest recent roles.

Take Two: In Bruges (2008)


Martin McDonough’s In Bruges holds a small, throwaway role for Renier, an elevated cameo if you will.

Click to read more ...