PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES
(Coeurs)
© 2006 by C. E. Murphy. All Rights Reserved.
L to R: Sabine Azéma as Charlotte
and Pierre Arditi as Lionel in
Private Fears in Public Places (Coeurs)
Directed by Alain Resnais, France

Photo Credit: Canal Plus
   
        In the 1980s, Alain Resnais reinvigorated his then-slumping career with
an adaptation of two Alan Ayckbourn plays. For his latest work COEURS, which
in festival screenings has been using the Ayckbourn title of PRIVATE FEARS IN
PUBLIC PLACES, Resnais has assembled a cast of notable actors (many of
whom he has previously directed). Employing subtle techniques that merge
theater with cinema -- especially in the use of lighting -- Resnais has crafted
a magical yet minor masterpiece.

       Clearly Ayckbourn subscribes to the theory that there are six degrees of
separation among humans. Why else would he use six characters in his piece?
Each of them is tied in some way to one another, knowingly or not. And each
is searching for a balm to the loneliness of human existence.

        The film opens with businesswoman Nicole (the radiant Laura Morente)
being shown an apartment by realtor Thierry (André Dussollier). The place
has been subdivided and made smaller and the opening scene serves as
a metaphor for the divisions that the characters in the piece encounter in their
lives. Nicole has long been engaged to Dan (Lambert Wilson), a disgraced
career soldier now at loose ends. He ostensibly is searching for a job, but
prefers to spend his days and nights drinking at a hotel where Lionel (Pierre
Arditti) tends bar. Lionel lives with his invalid father (Claude Rich) whom the
audience only hears. He has hired Charlotte (Sabine Azéma) to care for the
elderly man during the evenings while he is at work. By day, Charlotte, a
devout Christian, works with Thierry in the real estate office. She spreads her
beliefs by passing around videos of her favorite religious television show. It
also turns out that the videos also contain images of her acting in a less than
Christian fashion (think soft core porn). Thierry is caught watching one of the
tapes by his much younger sister Gaëlle (Isabelle Carré), who spends her   
evenings waiting to meet men who have answered her personal ad, with
invariably disappointing results. That is, until Dan, who has separated from        
Nicole, shows up and the pair hit it off.

        The film is a roundelay of encounters, all of which are tinged with sadness
and disappointment. The actors are all exemplary and Resnais' direction is
spot on. COEURS, or PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES does not as yet
have an American distributor which is shameful given his status in world cinema.
Still, one can hope that this film will eventually end up on DVD, the fate his
last film, PAS SUR LA BOUCHE, met.*

        
                        Rating:                B+
                        Running time:     125 mins.
* The film was distributed in the United States by IFC Films and released in April 2007.