Thomas Cailley’s unusual romcom will charm you without leaving much of an impact. Les Combattants (Love at First Fight) is lightweight, but the beautiful landscapes in Les Landes, France and the central relationship between two misfits, Madeleine (Adèle Haenel) and Arnaud (Kevin Azaïs), are so enjoyable that you hardly notice until the film is over.
In this engaging feature debut, Cailley plays to the film’s strengths by focusing on the central relationship. He exploits the idea of opposites colliding, gender-reversals, the awkward innocence of first love, the humourous search for identity and the uncertain bonding that could lead to true love.
Arnaud’s (Azaïs) friends are leaving Aquitaine for better prospects. Shy, unambitious and sexually insecure, Arnaud decides to join his older brother in the family’s timber business, selling and constructing homes and add-ons. The brother’s are unlikely to be ancestors of the wealthy forest owners in Francois Mauriac’s Thérèse Desqueyroux, however, as this is a struggling enterprise, dependent on Arnaud’s cheap labour. Arnaud does not turn heads or stand out in a crowd, but, reserved and non-judgmental, he is good natured and not bad looking. He is also hard-working, until the attractive, but frosty daughter of his first client distracts him.
Arnaud is embarrassed to find that Madeleine (Haenel), the self-flagellating, tomboy daughter he has been observing, is the same young woman he had wrestled with on the beach as part of a competition. In order to beat his female opponent and save face, Arnaud bites her. No one sees what happened, but Madeleine suspects it and Arnaud lives guiltily with his secret.
Somehow smitten by this morose young woman who swims in the family pool with a heavy tank on her back, Arnaud finds himself following Madeleine into the Army Reserve training camp where she wants to gain some ‘technical skills.’
Though this is the last place on earth Arnaud ever expected to find himself, his team work, obedience and fast thinking see him rising through the rank, while Madeleine’s aloofness, critical attitude and self-absorption get her into trouble. While Arnaud is eager to help Madeleine and make excuses for her, she lacks the good graces to be grateful. When Madeleine’s temper jeopardizes a final training exercise in the forest, Arnaud has to choose between his impressive record and responsibility to the reservists and a scornful woman who is more vulnerable than she lets on.
It is a pleasure to watch the shifting dynamics in the relationship between Arnaud and Madeleine, although when the tables turn and a more conventional romcom ensues, the momentum slackens. Adèle Haenel is charismatic enough without David Cailley’s (the director’s brother) camera appearing uncomfortably insistent on fixating on her body. The first two times we see Madeleine, she is in a bathing costume, while the couple’s journey through the forest sees her progressing from a blouse, to a tight undershirt to a water-drenched undershirt that is more or less transparent.
Though far from perfect, Les Combattants is an impressive, original film debut that heralds a new French talent.
Joyce Glasser – MT film reviewer
