‘I don’t want to wait anymore, I want to die…’
French auteur Claire Denis is perhaps best known for her 1999 classic Beau Travail. Whilst that film is undoubtedly experimental and esoteric there is also no denying its visceral power. Denis is an auteur at heart but crucially Beau Travail is an entertaining film first and foremost. Trouble Every Day is what detractors think experimental film always is. Meandering, largely plotless and, to be frank, pretty dull…
Newlyweds Shane (Vincent Gallo) and June Brown (Tricia Vessey) travel to Paris for their honeymoon. Whilst there, Shane also seeks out an enigmatic doctor (Alex Descas) who claims to hold the key to unlocking the male libido. Aside from that two-sentence description, very little actually happens.
It’s difficult to describe this film as anything other than pretty nonsense. There are lots of lingering close-ups of the two central couples in the film engaged in various levels of sexual activity. The little dialogue there is offers very little in terms of explanation. While there are atmospheric moments, and both Gallo and Vessey offer an intense portrayal of love and lust, Trouble Every Day is simply too avant-garde to really be successful. Proponents of experimental cinema will hate me for saying this but you have to meet the audience halfway. It is the job of the director to make us care about the characters and by the end of this film, I cared for them even less than I did in the film’s opening stages.
Despite powerful moments, this is not a film that is enjoyable or entertaining. Nor does it speak to any kind of deeper truth. Miss it.