PARISIENNE (PEUR DE RIEN)
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA D: Danielle Arbid. France. 119 min. Sep 12, 7:30 pm TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 Sep 14, 3 pm Scotiabank 13 Sep 19, 9:30 pm Isabel Bader. See listings. Rating: NN
French-Lebanese filmmaker Arbid fashions this coming-of-age tale from her own adjustment to Paris as a young adult from Beirut. Unfortunately that lack of artistic distance results in an unfiltered, shapeless, meandering account of sexual discovery and citizenship woes.
Manal Issa’s Lina is all wide eyes and fury, devouring every experience as she bounces between friends, lovers, residences and academic pursuits. She’s trying to build her new home while her permit is always in question and tries to accomplish that by being ruthlessly opportunistic in even her most intimate relationships.
That may be Arbid’s point. Too bad the message gets buried in a lot of pointless details.
