A wayward young man (Xavier Beauvois) finds himself involved with two mysterious people of a previous generation. After an affair with Hélène (Catherine Deneuve), a married bourgeois who falls for the young student, the young man tries to escape her obsessions by setting out on a road trip with Serge (Daniel Duval), a taciturn, scared relic of the revolutionary generation of ’68. Criminally underseen in the U.S., this existential road movie by director Philippe Garrel (Regular Lovers) aches with the pain and passion of fragmented, personal memories. Shot in lunar color by Caroline Champetier (who has worked with Godard, Rivette, Straub/Huillet, and Desplechin), Le vent de la nuit is a spare work about the very personal weight of the past, the gulf lying between generations, and of the deep, mysterious undercurrents of loneliness, and human need.
Philippe Garrel is a French director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and producer. His movies have won him awards at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. He was born in Paris in 1948, the son of actor Maurice Garrel. He started his film career early directing and writing his first film Lés Enfants Désaccordés in 1964. Garrel met Nico in 1969 when she performed the song “The Falconer” for his film Le Lit de la Vierge and the couple were soon living together. Nico first appeared in the 1972 film La Cicatrice Intériure (aka the Inner Scar). Songs included in the film appear on Nico’s album Desertshore, which features stills from the film on the front and back covers. Nico appeared in a number of Garrel’s films after this. Their ten year relationship ended in 1979.
Prix Jean Vigo for the film L’Enfant Secret. He won Perspectives du Cinéma Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984 for his 1983 film la Nuit Liberté. Over a ten year period, Garrel enjoyed… read more
A road movie that is somewhat like the obverse of Voyage to Italy starting from Naples (at least the road movie part) and wandering all over Europe, and leading to a negative illumination ne plus ultra of obsolescence, disconnection & decay of the flesh and the ethos. After L'enfant secret it's almost as if most of Garrel's films are really one film in different moods and the mood here is dark, lonely and fated.
Reminiscent of the classic road movies of Wim Wenders, albeit, with the usual Garrel meditations on regret (specifically related to May 1968) and desperation (more often related to couples and their inability to receive love). The bold use of 'scope photography seems intended to exaggerate the spaces between individuals and the loneliness of their world.
“Night Wind” is either the product of a jedi-master filmmaker playing us in a game of cinematic chess, or just underdeveloped and lazy. I’m not sure. Either way, it has a number of very nice qualities… read review
A wayward young man (Xavier Beauvois) finds himself involved with two mysterious people of a previous generation. After an affair with Hélène (Catherine Deneuve), a married bourgeois who falls for… read review
This is my fourth Garrel and he is 4/4 so far in my book. The film is lovely to look at despite being quite drab other than the color red which is really meant to stand out. I loved the strange relationships… read review
