"On S'Embrasse" IB Film Review

"On S'Embrasse" is a short film directed by Oliver Pierre which joins nostalgy and fate together in order to introduce simpathy into the audience.

The film begins with a young woman entering a coffee store minutes before having to assist an audition which would give her the major role in a play. She looks anxiously for a person which could make her polish her lines before such a stressful moment. First, she stares towards a man with papers all over his desk and decides (by her facial gesture) that he would not be able to help her. She then looks towards the darkest place in the store where lies an old man with his sight pointing straight towards his feet. He looks devastated and with "lack of life" which seems not to worry the woman who approaches the table and asks him to help her.

The script told the story of a woman who left his husband named Paul and finishing his speech with the phrase "On S'Embrasse" ( in english, can we kiss?) and a reply from her husband "no get out". As the lines ar repeated over and over again the man pronounces a phrase which gives the turning point to the film "try it smiling". Confused, the woman begins her lines again (this time smiling) and as time goes by she realizes how the man's advice came to be so effective, by personale experience.

As the woman says her lines once again, this time with tears covering most of her face, Oliver Pierre takes a close-up to the man's face to show his internal suffer after every word resitated by the woman. In addition, this outstanding director turns the story completely by returning to the past, a past in which the girlfriend or wife of the man sitting in the bar leaves him by saying "On S'Embrasse" without listening to the predicted response of the man "no get out".

As a conclusion, this french film tries to show how fate can join people with no common interests and get them involved in a conversation which will tend to show their most deep feelings and life experiences. I really enjoyed watching this film and assure it will be useful for future year groups in giving their first step towards IB film.