Three Dancing Slaves

****

Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray

Le Clan
"In the tradition of dans-vous-visage Gallic cinema, Three Dancing Slaves (Le Clan) cuts the audience no slack."

In the tradition of dans-vous-visage Gallic cinema, Three Dancing Slaves (Le Clan) cuts the audience no slack. It conveys a sexual intensity that is never exploited as box office bait and yet gives vent to suppressed fury that has warped the teenage experience since Rebel Without A Cause.

The mood is edgy and dangerous, personified by a performance of exceptional power from Nicolas Cazale, as Marc, the middle of three brothers, living with their father on a smallholding within sight of the Alps.

Copy picture

The film is aggressively male. In fact, when a girl is introduced near the end, as older brother Christophe's fiancee, it is difficult not to see her as a transvestite. In the town, where the boys hang out, attitudes are hard, homoeroticism is rife, heads are shaved, iron is pumped and drugs are expensive.

At first, Marc appears as a leader, but the disparate group of unemployed lads that surrounds him has no real direction and soon his anger against his father and brothers, ever since their Algerian mother died, feels more self-destructive than self-motivated.

Although Marc's violent dispute with a biker gang dominates the way the story drifts ever closer towards tragedy, Christophe's attempt to go straight after prison and the youngest Olivier's recognition of his sexuality, as well as a new found confidence and responsibility, are given equal prominence.

The film's use of music is as fiercely original as its camerawork. In the Neuveau Realist school that began with La Haine and continues through the recent Les Mauvais Joueurs (Gamblers), this is a honourable addition.

Reviewed on: 10 Sep 2005
Share this with others on...
Three Dancing Slaves packshot
Tension among brothers at a sexually intense age.
Amazon link

Director: Gaël Morel

Writer: Christophe Honoré, Gael Morel

Starring: Nicolas Cazale, Stephane Rideau, Thomas Dumerchez, Salim Kechiouche, Bruno Lochet, Vincent Martinez, Jackie Berroyer, Aure Atika, Nicolas Paz

Year: 2004

Runtime: 90 minutes

BBFC: 18 - Age Restricted

Country: France

Festivals:


Search database:



DJDT

Versions

Time

Settings from settings.local

Headers

Request

SQL queries from 1 connection

Templates (9 rendered)

Cache calls from 2 backends

Signals