Direction: Alice Winocour
Country: France
In her newest film, writer-director Alice Winocour (Augustine, 2012; Disorder, 2015) offers a modestly engaging account of severe PTSD and a possible path to recovery. Revoir Paris is a fictionalized story about a terrorist attack and the profound marks left on those who survived, undeniably bringing to mind the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks in the French capital.
Three months after experiencing the attack in a Paris bistro, Mia (Virginie Efira) remains in limbo, a stranger to herself and to the city. By returning to the place where all happened and where she was hidden for nearly two hours, this Russian translator makes an effort to remember the details that will allow her to heal and move forward. The taciturn accumulation of emotions finds some illumination in the optimism of Thomas (Benoit Magimel), another survivor who, on that grievous night, was celebrating his birthday.
Circumspectly shot, this heartbreaking yet timid description of how to overcome trauma is centered on the victims, not the murderers. The images are poignant, the sound is effective, and Efira is striking, but after some truly frightening scenes, the film falls into a kind of torpor that has its reason to exist. Each character is assigned a function that works within the dramatic construction.
By turns moving and horrifying, Revoir Paris might not be a massive hit but manages to carve out an identity.
