A TOUT DE SUITE (RIGHT NOW)

France, 2004, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Isild le Besco.
Directed by Benoit Jacquot.

A Tout de Suite is a short story about a nineteen-year-old girl. It is based on a novel and is a memoir of an experience in 1975.

Isild le Besco portrays a morose, moody and wilful nineteen-year-old who takes up with a young man in real estate who is, in fact, a bank robber. When he is caught in a siege and a bank and takes four hostages, he telephones her. She is willing to flee with him and they go to Casablanca.

The film shows her blind loyalty to the young man, her fears, her going with him to Greece and her being stranded in Athens. People are kind to her – although there is always a sexual motivation and she makes herself available. Eventually, she calls her parents.

The film is a portrait of a very immature young girl, introspective, uncertain, with the world before her but choosing paths that will lead her to some destructive behaviour. However, it obviously did not since the film is based on a memoir.

The film was directed by Benoit Jacquot who made such diverse films as a biography of the Marquis de Sade as well as a film version of the opera Tosca.

1.The impact of the film? The portrait of this young woman? Her character, behaviour, choices?

2.The black and white photography, the re-creation of Paris, Casablanca and Athens in 1975? The use of archival footage? The musical score?

3.The title – and the pressures on the young woman to make instant decisions? Her ability and her inability?

4.The portrait of the young woman, the waking up with her girlfriend? Her getting people out of the house undetected? The tantrum in the restaurant with the young man? Being picked on by Gerard, his friend, their going to the club, dancing, the return home, the liaison with the young man? His explaining to her that he lived with his parents and was dealing in real estate? Her own life, her relationship with her father, absent mother, sister? Family meals? Her drawing classes and her skill? The phone call, the story about the bank robbery, watching it on television, her going, letting him and the other man come to her house? Her being willing to go with them, Casablanca, trying to survive, her relationship, the moodiness of the other robber?

5.The decision to go to Greece, her wanting to go to an island, her fear on the plane, passport control, his getting through, her being questioned? The two men going off in the taxi, her being stranded? Georges helping her, the room, food, clothing, the meeting with the man needing a babysitter, his taking her shopping, giving her a room, wanting sexual favours, her promise, her nightmares, her leaving? Meeting the girl in the street, the questions, getting the job, moving in? Fear of the police? Outings, learning some Greek, the sexual liaison with the young woman? Her going out on the town, the two young men? Her decision to call her family, their bringing her back to Paris?

6.The aftermath, the trial in absentia? Her own condemnation to five years, on probation? Seeking out the young man’s friends, the meal with the family, his room? Their grief? Her wanting to move away, get a job, going to an island and standing in other people’s shoes and welcoming guests…? Her departure?

7.The portrait, her character, immaturity, the effect of the experiences, her hopes for the future?