Half-Price (Demi-tardif) (Isild Le Besco) (2003)
I saw a little offbeat gem of a movie last night. I am pretty sure you haven't seen anything like it before, but if you are willing to meet it on its terms, you will be rewarded.
Half-Price (Demi-Tardif) spends an hour portraying a brother and two sisters, aged 7, 8, and 9, who have basically been abandoned by their mother to live alone in a rundown Parisian apartment. She phones occasionally, even visits once in a while, and for a while pays the utilities, but essentially it is up to them to feed and clothe themselves and get themselves to school. Unsupervised, they develop an unfettered lifestyle that involves shoplifting, sneaking onto the Metro, begging, always running when they go somewhere, and lots of dress-up and play with very little sleep.
One interesting aspect of Half-Price is that we get subtitles only for the narration, which is from the viewpoint of the oldest girl later in life. At first it was a bit annoying not to fully understand the dialogue, but even with my high school French I was able to understand more than enough. In the end, the lack of subtitles for the dialogue even came to be an asset. Kids just accept what their life is and learn to live with it; in effect I reiterated that lesson.
The movie, helmed by always interesting actress/director Isild Le Besco, doesn't even deliver any kind of an ending, but nevertheless it will remain with me. because I was able to shelve my expectations and accept Half-Price on its own terms
I was curious about what happened to the child actors. According to IMDB, the two younger ones had one more appearance each around that time, while the older girl returned to the industry as a young adult before retiring again. I can't imagine they will forget the experience of appearing in this move themselves!
imdb.com |
