The Passengers of the Night

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Make no mistake, the central character of this film is Paris. The characters and their narrative are layered against its sweeping backdrop.  Beautiful camera work slightly grainy in parts, sometimes a blur. French write/director Mikhael Hers, is in love with this city of dreams and as a city lover myself I get it.

Elisabeth, Mother of a teenage boy and girl is grieving the collapse of her marriage. Suddenly thrust into the position of  breadwinner she finds work at a radio station. 

Set in the 80's, an era that seems so near (to me) yet so far. A time that pre dates the internet and all that entails, mobile phones, laptops, the strange ways we now communicate with each other. The lost and lonely listen to late night radio, they call up and tell their stories to the night.  One caller, Talulah a teenage girl living on the streets touches Elisabeth and she invites Talulah into her home and her family. 

The views from the wide windows of Elizabeth's apartment are stunning, this is a Paris of tower blocks and the row upon row of square windows seem woven into the fabric of the sky, a never ending tapestry. Paris seems very much like a real home, the film does not take us on a trip of tourist highlights, it is far more interesting than that.

The teenagers do what teenagers did in the 80's they smoke and bunk into the cinema. They fall in love and fall into the Seine. They try drugs and make love yet, everything they do has an innocence about it, as does the film itself. Talulah comes and goes from their lives, a free spirit, the family care for her and yet she does not stay. she is independent, self possessed and unsettled. 

I very much liked the way the film does not over explain. We know nothing of the ex husband and father, we know nothing of Talulah's background. The film is rooted in time and place, these are ordinary people with ordinary problems who are inherently kind and show consideration for each other. They eat dinner at the table and play records. They dance together to old tunes in a swaying hug, this film is warm at heart. 

Music defines the era and the film score which has been released as an album, features music from Lloyd Cole, The Pale Fountains, John Cale and Kim Wilde. If you are old enough to have lived through the eighties this is a nostalgic delight.