Leos Carax's 1986 film "Mauvais Sang" was only the directors second. Yet it immediately confirmed his status as the inheritor of the New Wave legacy. The film is above all a celebration of cinema and all things cinematic (including the entrancing Juliette Binoche's flawless face).The plot of the film is slight and inconsequential, concerning the heist of a serum that cures STBO an Aids like virus which effects people who "make love without being in love". Piccoli plays Marc the gang leader who enlists the quick fingered Alex (Lavant) to break into the Darley-Wilkinson building and steal the serum. Matters are complicated when Alex falls in love with Anna, Marc's vastly younger girlfriend Anna (Binoche).
Carax's film is a visual tour de force. His main concern in "Mauvais Sang" is a celebration of cinema. The film constantly alludes to Godard (Binoche is a dead ringer for Anna Karina in this role ), to Chaplin (Lavant's clown like movements) and to film Noir in genereal through the use of music and the presence of Piccoli.
A previous review likens the film to "Amelie". However barring a resemblance between Binoche and the cookier and altogether more cartoonish Audrey Tautou these likenesses are unfounded. Unlike the entertainment based Amelie, "Mauvais Sang" aspires to the art of cinema itself as a visual medium.
The visuals by the late, great Jean Yves Esscoffier, as stated constantlty allude to Godard's 1960's masterpieces (the use of extreme close ups and primary colours, and have been repeated since in more mainstream fare such as "The Professional" ("Leon" in Europe).
"Mauvais Sang" was a cult hit and winner of the prestigious Louis Delluc Prize in 1986. It paved the way for Carax's more ambitious 1991 stunner "Les Amants du Pont Neuf" and was the first film where Juliette Binoche's face (now an important cinematic institution) was used as a visual reference.
Mauvais Sang is a difficult, at times exasperating film, but it is also sublime and rewarding...
