David O'ConnellRICKY @ The French Film Festival
February 18th 2010 04:26
Francois Ozon’s Ricky begins in a very real place. Toiling factory worker Katie (Alexandra Lamy) is raising her daughter Lisa (Melusine Mayance) alone. Her life is shiftless and repetitive when she finds herself drawn to fellow worker Paco (Sergi Lopez). Though she has no real desire for a man in her life Lisa begins a relationship with Paco and before long falls pregnant to him. It’s an outcome neither craves considering their struggling working class status, but both are prepared to make sacrifices to accommodate the arrival of their son Ricky into the world.
For a while everything seems fine. Alternating their shifts to offset the need for an outside carer, the pair fall into a new routine but it places a massive strain on their relationship. Paco seems like a very reluctant father to begin with and when Lisa accuses him of dropping the boy after finding a bruise on his back, his immediate reaction is to flee. But strange developments are ahead as Lisa discovers the appearance of further bruises of mysterious origin on Ricky’s back. These are no ordinary bruises and Ricky, she soon learns, is no ordinary baby. He's a miracle of sorts.
Ozon’s screenplay, based on a short story by English writer Rose Tremain, won't be remembered as one of his major achievements. The film sits many notches below his best work like 5x2 (2004) and Swimming Pool (2003). And yet, though it takes on an absurdity that defies any rational explanation, it still maintains interest throughout. I can’t remember ever being bored by an Ozon film and Ricky is no exception. Having his characters treat the contravention of some supernatural realm in such a matter-of-fact way just about makes it believable on some level for the audience as well.
The performances can’t be faulted at all: Lamy has to hold it all together as a mother of a child with very special needs. Though she hardly reacts the way we might expect – referring Ricky to medical experts for example - it’s her maternal instincts that are the most rational part of her response. Deferring hysteria for curiosity, she’s only mildly interested in understanding the reason for her son’s condition, instead tending to his particular needs like any parent would.
Evading reality, in a sense, to prevent her son being subjected to a world curious to understand the reason for his existence is a sympathetic and understandable course of action. Inevitably though, the secret gets out, in a scene reminiscent of Hollywood in which wonder is ably evoked; so too a very modern response from onlookers who reach for their mobile phone cameras, brains ticking over with notions of exploiting the situation for a quick buck.
Spanish-born Lopez has become a fixture in quality French films of the last decade or so (most memorably in A Pornographic Affair and Harry, He's Here to Help). This isn’t much of a stretch for him, but his slightly disheveled charm makes him a very credible partner.
Naturally you have to suspend disbelief to gain any sort of enjoyment out of this; anything else will render Ricky puerile escapism of the vaguest, pointless type. But as an unabashed Ozon fan I’m inclined to grant him more leeway than most, and found myself somewhat won over by this whimsical stab at magic realism. His regular composer Philippe Rombi provides another classy score with a beguiling main theme that sounds like a very familiar children’s lullaby.
The ending is a curious one: wildly ambiguous but weirdly transcendent. I’m not sure what to make of its otherworldly implications but it seems strangely appropriate, even as it leaves you shaking your head.
Ricky will be screening at the 2010 French Film Festival across Australia.
In Melbourne it will be screening at ACMI in a special season from Feb 25 to March 10.
For a while everything seems fine. Alternating their shifts to offset the need for an outside carer, the pair fall into a new routine but it places a massive strain on their relationship. Paco seems like a very reluctant father to begin with and when Lisa accuses him of dropping the boy after finding a bruise on his back, his immediate reaction is to flee. But strange developments are ahead as Lisa discovers the appearance of further bruises of mysterious origin on Ricky’s back. These are no ordinary bruises and Ricky, she soon learns, is no ordinary baby. He's a miracle of sorts.
Ozon’s screenplay, based on a short story by English writer Rose Tremain, won't be remembered as one of his major achievements. The film sits many notches below his best work like 5x2 (2004) and Swimming Pool (2003). And yet, though it takes on an absurdity that defies any rational explanation, it still maintains interest throughout. I can’t remember ever being bored by an Ozon film and Ricky is no exception. Having his characters treat the contravention of some supernatural realm in such a matter-of-fact way just about makes it believable on some level for the audience as well.
The Happy Family
The performances can’t be faulted at all: Lamy has to hold it all together as a mother of a child with very special needs. Though she hardly reacts the way we might expect – referring Ricky to medical experts for example - it’s her maternal instincts that are the most rational part of her response. Deferring hysteria for curiosity, she’s only mildly interested in understanding the reason for her son’s condition, instead tending to his particular needs like any parent would.
Evading reality, in a sense, to prevent her son being subjected to a world curious to understand the reason for his existence is a sympathetic and understandable course of action. Inevitably though, the secret gets out, in a scene reminiscent of Hollywood in which wonder is ably evoked; so too a very modern response from onlookers who reach for their mobile phone cameras, brains ticking over with notions of exploiting the situation for a quick buck.
Damn Ricky, how the hell did you get up there!!?? Almost as if you have wings or something!!
Spanish-born Lopez has become a fixture in quality French films of the last decade or so (most memorably in A Pornographic Affair and Harry, He's Here to Help). This isn’t much of a stretch for him, but his slightly disheveled charm makes him a very credible partner.
Naturally you have to suspend disbelief to gain any sort of enjoyment out of this; anything else will render Ricky puerile escapism of the vaguest, pointless type. But as an unabashed Ozon fan I’m inclined to grant him more leeway than most, and found myself somewhat won over by this whimsical stab at magic realism. His regular composer Philippe Rombi provides another classy score with a beguiling main theme that sounds like a very familiar children’s lullaby.
The ending is a curious one: wildly ambiguous but weirdly transcendent. I’m not sure what to make of its otherworldly implications but it seems strangely appropriate, even as it leaves you shaking your head.
Ricky will be screening at the 2010 French Film Festival across Australia.
In Melbourne it will be screening at ACMI in a special season from Feb 25 to March 10.
| 33 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Paul Martin
Having watched the film, it's a real joy to hear that Cat Power track in the trailer embedded above. I thought it really capped off the film well, setting a touching mood. It is very touching and I love the ending, including the ambiguity.
BTW, I can't log in to your site. I've reset the password, and it's not being accepted.