Strayed  / Les Egarés (R)

by André Téchiné

Strayed is the long-awaited new drama from the acclaimed director André Techiné, who shares scripting duties with his long time collaborator, Gilles Taurand. Their impressive resume includes the much-loved  Les Roseaux Sauvages (The Wild Reeds), Hotel des Ameriques, Les Voleurs (The Thieves) and Alice et Martin. Their latest drama premiered in Official Competition at the 2003 Cannes International Film Festival to great acclaim.

June 1940. German troops are advancing on Paris. Odile (Emmanuelle Béart), a widowed teacher, succumbs to the widespread panic and, with her two children, joins the exodus from the city. Her son Philippe is on the cusp of adolescence, and little Cathy knows only that they are going south. After fifty kilometres, a German plane attacks, decimating the helpless refugees; Odile and her children lose everything.
Suddenly a youth appears from nowhere, and leads them away from the carnage. His name is Yvan (impressive newcomer Gaspard Ulliel), he's seventeen years old - and they decide to trust him. Yvan finds an abandoned house and breaks in. Here, with no radios or clocks, they are cut off from the outside world, and, struggling to survive, the four characters will come slowly to know each other and move inexorably beyond their limits.

Avoiding clichés and the typical themes normally associated with the World War II period, Techiné doesn't follow a predictable path and instead takes us into unknown territory.  Exquisitely shot by DP Agnes Godard, Téchiné's masterful drama is a visually ravishing and emotionally compelling story of discovery and loss, a luminous portrait of an impossible love, and features performances of extraordinary intensity from Béart and Ulliel.

France- 2003- Drama - 95 min -French with English subtitles
Director: André Téchiné
Script: Gilles Taurand, André Téchiné
With: Emmanuelle Béart, Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Clémence Meyer, Samuel Labarthe
Distributor in Australia: Hopscotch