Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.
Leos Carax's visually extravagant romantic melodrama is one of the most singular French films of its era. Denis Lavant and Juliette Binoche deliver ferociously committed, physically demanding performances that elevate the material beyond its somewhat familiar doomed-love scaffolding. The cinematography — staging operatic spectacle on the sealed Pont Neuf, culminating in the Bicentennial fireworks sequence — is genuinely breathtaking and unmistakably Carax's own vision. Novelty is very high: the film's blend of street-level grime, circus physicality, and grandiose romanticism is utterly distinctive. The plot itself is emotionally powerful but somewhat schematic, relying on melodramatic contrivance (particularly around Michele's blindness and the surveillance subplot). The ending resolves with a romantic sweep that feels both emotionally satisfying and slightly too neat given the rawness that precedes it.