Odd Couples

Two touching films about mismatched people:

MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON (2009) (B+) - A sullen would-be masterpiece about a man who falls for his child's teacher. Every scene drips with aching and longing, underscored by pensive classical music. Jean (Vincent Lindon) lives a perfectly contented life with his lovely wife and son, until he falls for his son's homeroom teacher, Veronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlane). His wife suggests inviting the teacher over for a meal (because apparently they do that in France) but instead Jean ends up offering his construction skills to Veronique and replaces a drafty window.

While he's there, Veronique serenades him with a pensive violin piece. That melody and thoughts of Mlle. Chambon begin to haunt Jean. Turns out, she's pining, too. She later supplies him with CD versions of the music. (Edward Elgar's "Salut d'Amour, see below)

Veronique tends to hop from school to school each year, so her days in town seem numbered. Will that looming deadline push them together? Lindon and Kiberlain are understated here under the direction of Stephane Brize -- nearly to the point of letting the flame between them flicker out. But their mostly platonic flirtation turns out to be a clever slow burn and is quite refreshing. Our leads are not glamorous: Lindon has the mug of a Saint Bernard, and Kiberlain is rather plain and gawky.

We're left with two rather ordinary folks who have developed an improbable attraction. The result is a pleasing melancholy, as we're drawn to these lonely souls and ache along with them, wondering if such a sweet love story will have a happy ending.


LONDON RIVER (2009) (B+) - Speaking of melancholy ... This film wants to be hopeful and happy, it really does. And you root for it throughout. Will it succeed?

In another simple storyline, two strangers head to London -- Elisabeth (Brenda Blethyn) from the countryside, Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyate) from North Africa -- to search for their adult children in the wake of the 2005 train/bus bombings. Elisabeth, frustrated about not being able to reach her daughter by phone, goes to her daughter's apartment. She is out of her element in the multi-ethnic neighborhood, and her fear and paranoia slowly build, especially when she learns that her daughter was studying Arabic at the local mosque. That, of course, is where Ousmane's missing son worships.

What happened to these young people? Were they victims on one of the buses? Were they possibly in on the attacks? Did they just happen to run off somewhere on that fateful day?

Blethyn is heroic as a mother fearing the worst and who is alternatively frightened and fascinated by this whole nother world. Kouyate is regal as a father who abandoned his son at age 6 and now is on a mission to make sure the boy is OK. Kouyate has the build of Bill Russell and an unforgettable face as long and craggy as a continent. (This apparently was Kouyate's final film. He died in 2010.)

The two parents slowly start to warm to each other as their missions merge. (She speaks some French, which helps.) But that haunting question won't go away: Where are those damn kids, anyway? This is an elegant mood piece that works no matter what the outcome. It's full of heart.


Bonus Track
Here's the sweet musical piece featured in "Mademoiselle Chambon":