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France 1992
Directed by
Agnieszka Holland
108 minutes
Rated M

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
2.5 stars

Olivier, Olivier

In what is a kind of The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) for our times, Olivier, Olivier tells the story of a teenager (Gregoire Colin) who turns up at a Paris prefecture claiming to be a boy who mysteriously disappeared six years earlier. Needless to say, both films turn on the question of whether or not this claim is true but Agnieszka Holland's film is not anywhere near as powerful as Daniel Vigne's which provided a motive and explanation for its conundrum.

Olivier, Olivier adopts a more Chabrol-like approach to its story, being as much about the dynamics of its bourgeois family as about the mystery itself and is far less rigorous in plotting.   Aside from the question of how the older Olivier could have known details about the younger Olivier’s life, one is compelled to ask how his family, his rather loopy mother (Brigitte Rouan) aside, could possibly mistake a total stranger for their flesh and blood. Six years is not that long and if one had doubts it wouldn’t be that difficult to confirm them would it?

If the narrative thus rests on a fairly weak premise and there are too many elements which don’t develop into anything, notably the intimations of psychic powers possessed by Olivier’s sister (Marina Golovine), with the help of its effective performances, the film manages to work our doubts well before giving us the solution to the mystery. 

 

 

 

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