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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

With a dreadful opening score reminiscent of what one might hear in a doctor’s waiting room, the French film Wild Grass (Les herbes folles) delves into an odd relationship between two strangers. An aimless, incomprehensible mess, Wild Grass makes David Lynch’s befuddling Mulholland Drive look like an easy-to-read Dr. Seuss book.

Marguerite Muir (Sabine Azéma) is a flaky, albeit successful, middle-aged dentist and pilot with a hairstyle not seen since Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. On one sunny day Marguerite’s purse is stolen, yet she decides to take a long bath instead of notifying the police or her bank.

Georges Palet (André Dussolier) is a middle-aged husband/father whose bizarre thoughts include such things as wanting to strangle a young woman for wearing black panties under white slacks. His life crosses Marguerite’s when he stumbles upon her missing wallet in a parking garage.

Even after handing over Marguerite’s wallet to the local police, an obsessive Georges continues to send her odd letters and leaves rambling phone messages on her machine. He even goes so far as to slice her tires.

In spite of Georges’s erratic behavior, Marguerite, in turn, develops her own weird obsession for him. Oddly, his loving yet slightly demanding wife, Suzanne (Anne Consigny) is less despondent than what one might expect considering the fact her husband has a dangerous infatuation over another woman.

The pacing for director Alain Resnais’s film is often erratic and becomes bogged down in molasses during a sequence involving a Palet family gathering. We become engulfed by poorly done, extemporaneous jazz music while being bombarded with useless shots of the exterior and interior of their home. It is akin to watching an episode of Martha Stewart minus any usable recipes.

None of the film’s characters are too likable and the dialogue comes across as haphazard at best. Voiceover narration can be a tricky thing and with Wild Grass it comes across as dullish. Overall, Wild Grass can be likened to a chaotic Jackson Pollock painting, however, it is not worth as much nor is it as pleasing to the eye.

On a letter grade scale from “A” being excellent to “F” for failing, Wild Grass receives a D.

Wild Grass is rated PG and has a running time of 100 minutes.

Now showing through August 26@
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for more information.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.