Avis des critiques

This 30-minute short feels like minor Denis because of two reasons: it lacks richness of settings (because of budget constraints it was filmed mostly against blank walls, in bare rooms, and in close-up), and, equally important, it lacks movement.

The older film [Friday Night], is one of Denis' most unambiguously tender, while the new film—like Bastards, the ferociously bleak film noir she completed last year—is one of her bitterest and least open to the possibility of truly mutual erotic exchange. Its guiding thought is something like Henry James' suggestion that the "sacred fount" of romantic satisfaction is "too much for a single share, but not enough to go round… One of the pair has to pay for the other.

Formally, it's unlike anything Denis has done before. The closest precedent is perhaps Vers Nancy (2002), a short film in which philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy and a young woman debate "foreignness" as a concept while Descas, a dark-skinned embodiment of their signifying language, wanders just outside their view. Composed entirely of tight master shots and staged in an unadorned room, Voilà l'enchaînement is a bitter and pensive exploration of commonplace racism.

Denis' great gift lies in her ability to visualize the unspoken through editing and composition; this talky piece is a rare showcase for her considerable talent for directing conventional dialogue. It's a decidedly minor work, but still sharp in its observations about how relationship dynamics can uncomfortably overlap with issues of class and race.