Details
Movie Description
In this meditation on family, romance, and the search for contentedness from French director Andre Techine (THE WILD REEDS, MY FAVORITE SEASON), a troubled young man named Martin (Alexis Loret), rethinks his past. At age 20, Martin finds himself living with his bohemian brother Benjamin (Matthieu Amalric) in Paris, after fleeing from their father's house for an unexplainable reason. Benjamin's violinist roommate, Alice (Juliette Binoche) responds to Martin, who falls obsessively in love with her. Alice quickly becomes pregnant. Though Martin has a profitable modeling job, and is very close with Alice--who will do anything to help him--he cannot stop worrying about his past, and is tortured by it in his dreams at night.
Synopsis
When ALICE ET MARTIN begins, Martin (Alexis Loret) is a young boy living a pleasant life with his hairdresser mother, when he learns that he is to go to live with his father, whom he hardly knows. Once in the care of his father--a cruel and cold man--Martin is extremely unhappy and attempts to fake illness in order to escape. When the film continues, it is ten years later and Martin is hurtling out the front door of his father's estate. Running recklessly into the French countryside, he spends the next several weeks living like an animal, feverish and hungry. Finally, he arrives at his brother Benjamin's doorstep, only to find Alice (Juliette Binoche), Benjamin's best friend and roommate practicing violin and annoyed at Martin's unannounced appearance. As Martin acclimates to Paris, he begins to fall in love with Alice, and once declared, their passion runs fast and wild, leaving Martin's brother and everyone else behind. While on a trip to Grenada, Alice reveals to Martin that she is pregnant and Martin falls sick with guilt and fear over elements of his past that he cannot reveal. As the two attempt to fight for their love, Martin faces his past and Alice realizes that her love for Martin is the most important thing in her life.
Film Notes
Originally released theatrically on July 21st, 2000.
Industry Reviews
"...Quietly shattering....Boldly structured, intensely focused and briskly paced, ALICE AND MARTIN has a tremendous emotional density..."
Los Angeles Times - Kevin Thomas (08/04/2000)
"...This deeply layered drama boasts a protagonist in Martin as every bit as neurotic as Proust's Marcel..."
Sight and Sound - Geoffrey Macnab (05/01/2000)
"...Téchiné directs in a dynamic style....Powerfully performed..."
Movieline - Stephen Farber (09/01/2000)
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