Attenberg — Film Review By Deborah Young, September 16, 2010 05:33 ET “Attenberg” Bottom Line: Wacky and fresh coming-of-age tale tackles sex and death without morbidity. VENICE — A Greek film with style and verve, writer-director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s second feature, “Attenberg,” is an offbeat coming-of-age tale that follows a young woman of 23 as she navigates between her father’s terminal illness and her first, not-so-great sexual experiences. In the lead, newcomer Ariane Labed has a fresh, low-key eagerness that earned her best actress kudos at Venice. But many viewers will have trouble getting a grip on this strange little film, even if strong critical notices should help it swim to foreign art houses. Tsangari, who directed “The Slow Business of Going” and worked in production on curious indies like “Dogtooth,” sets the story in a bleak industrial town that unhappily overlooks the Greek sea. Life there revolves around the factories that dominate the visuals, though the action takes place on muddy roads, in a modern hospital and at a small hotel for business travelers, where Marina (Labed) hangs out with her best friend Bella (Evangelia Randou). Both girls do odd jobs as they wait for the future to arrive. In a memorable opener that makes viewers sit up straight, the experienced Bella tries to teach Marina to tongue kiss. But she doesn’t like it, and the girls switch to playing animals with each other, like little children. The deliberate ambiguity of the sexual message keeps the audience guessing, especially after Marina tells her father Spyros (Vangelis Mourikis) she finds women more interesting than men — though not as sex partners — and hates the thought of physical intercourse with a man. Her frank, uninhibited sex talk with her good-looking Dad even includes a question about incest taboos, at which point he ends the discussion. With her tomboy attitude, Marina comes across as a girl belatedly growing into adult sexuality. Her mother apparently is dead and her father is dying; she really has no choice but to go forward, even if it means experimenting with a mismatched young engineer (Yorgos Lanthimos). The sex scenes are tasteful but quite frank. Alternating with Marina’s efforts to lose her virginity is that other theme: death. Spyros takes his chemo sessions with a philosophical shrug and instructs Marina on getting him cremated, not an easy thing to do in Greece. Their matter-of-fact talks are smart and never morbid, despite their underlying emotional edge, and Tsangari’s light but serious handling of sex and death themes is a major achievement. This Eros-Thanatos combination is whimsically visualized in the nature documentaries of David Attenborough (or “Attenberg,” as his name is mispronounced) that Marina loves to watch. They suggest that death is just part of nature — which her father might agree with — and sex means no more than following one’s instincts. But evidently, there’s a bit more to life. If, in several scenes, the characters get down on all fours and imitate animals, Marina and Bella also join hands in the street and dance bizarre duets for the sheer pleasure of being alive and human. Labed’s kooky-realistic performance has a certain amount of self-consciousness in it, which doesn’t detract from her screen presence. The other actors are barely there, with the exception of the excellent Mourikis as the architect-father soon to become ashes. Helping the wackier parts of the script to work is Thimios Bakatakis’ careful, precise camera and good editing work. Venue: Venice Film Festival Production: Haos Films, Faliro House Prods., Boo Prods. Cast: Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelia Randou, Yorgos Lanthimos Director-screenwriter: Athina Rachel Tsangari Executive producers: Christos Konstantakopoulos Producer: Maria Hatzakou, Yorgos Lanthimos, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Iraklis Mavroidis, Angelos Venetis Director of photography: Thimios Bakatakis Production designer: Dafni Kalogianni Costumes: Thanos Papastergiou, Vassilia Rozana Editors: Matt Johnson, Sandrine Cheyrol Sales: Match Factory No rating, 95 minutes

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Change of Plans — Film Review By Frank Scheck, August 30, 2010 05:20 ET “Change of Plans” Bottom Line: Skip the film and go to a good French restaurant instead. The next time you’re invited to a French dinner party, you might want to give it a pass, if the tedious proceedings in “Change of Plans” are any indication. Depicting the endlessly complex and convoluted emotional entanglements among the numerous characters, Daniele Thompson’s comedy of manners doesn’t quite deliver on its tasty promise. Co-written with her son and frequent collaborator, Christopher (also part of the acting ensemble), the film, like an unfortunately high number of current offerings from France, is mainly notable for its showcasing of its terrific cast, which includes Patrick Chesnais, Marina Hands, Karin Viard, Patrick Bruel, Dany Boon, Marina Fois and Emmanuelle Seigner. As might be expected, the onscreen goings-on encompass adultery — real, prospective and imagined — health issues, divorce, midlife crises and did I mention adultery? The film’s chief imaginative conceit is switching back and forth chronologically between the dinner party and a year later, with the subsequent events forecast in ways subtle and blatant. Unfortunately, the profusion of characters and situations is more than the film can comfortably handle, especially when its observations rarely rise above the level of banality. As if aware that its culinary delicacies are of more interest than the story line, the film’s end credits include a recipe for the onscreen main course of bigos, a traditional Polish stew, credited to Seigner’s real-life husband, Roman Polanski. Opened: Friday, Aug. 27 (IFC Films) Production: Thelma Films, Alter Films Cast: Karin Viard, Dany Boon, Marina Fois, Patrick Bruel, Emmanuelle Seigner, Laurent Stocker, Pierre Arditi, Christopher Thompson, Marina Hands, Blanca Li, Patrick Chesnais Director: Daniele Thompson Screenwriters: Daniele Thompson, Christopher Thompson Producer: David Poiret Director of photography: Jean-Marc Fabre Editor: Sylvie Landra Production designer: Michele Abbe Costume designer: Catherine Leterrier Music: Nicola Piovani No rating, 100 minutes

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