‘Family business’: intellectual and fratricidal warfare

Arnaud Desplechin is fascinated by family conflicts, he could very well have been seen in ‘Kings and Queen’, ‘A Christmas Carol’ or ‘Three Memories of My Youth’. He also likes comparisons between the sexes or love triangles, as happened with “Ismaël’s ghosts”, in “Roubaix, une lumière” or in “Fantasias de un escritor”. Both elements are present in ‘Family Business’, a feature film that arrives in Spanish commercial theaters after passing through the Official Selection of the 75th Cannes Film Festival.

“Family Matters” turns out to be a kind of conglomerate of the best ideas from Desplechin’s filmography. There are family clashes, as the protagonists are two brothers (played by Melvil Poupaud and Marion Cotillard) who have hated each other for several decades; even a kind of pseudo sexual tension, that sibling bond has a certain ambiguity; and naturally, the typical torments of artists, with two protagonists who are a writer trapped by the ghosts of the past and an actress with a sick sense of leadership.

In the end, hate is the main engine of both. A feeling as visceral and passionate as love itself, from which only a thin line separates it. Desplechin plays with that feeling so powerful and, at the same time, so enthralling, like the opium smoked by the tormented writer on the tape. A dangerous game in which the director handles his cards in a way that never explains the origin of so much animosity, which he comes to feel in a fratricidal war between two brothers who show an innate selfishnessunscrupulous despite the fact that their parents are about to die after suffering a car accident.

A new cinematic success of the genius Desplechin

The fascinating thing is how that hatred feeds them so that they become a dangerous muse, a kind of Jezebel which encouraged the creative artistry of the writer; while she has fed the ego of the actress, in such a way that both, although they hate each other, they need each other to stay in the spotlight. On the other hand, Desplechin intersperses this hatred with eloquent dialogues, in which he displays his intellectuality and pedantry, which turns into a cynical critic of what he portrays.

And it becomes critical, because the comparison is never explained, leaving it free for the public to interpret (to the point of having certain scenes so ambiguous as to think of a relationship that breaks the morality of what two brothers should have). Add to that that its leads are deadly insufferable, showcasing the talents of both Melvil Poupaud and Marion Cotillard, both adept at extreme roles.

Naturally, where Desplechin’s proposal stands out, It works as an intellectual drama, as a family drama, and as a critique of the banality of the artist. With two performances delivered, it’s a new exercise in keeping the director, along the lines of his latest works, in which he seemed to be doing a sort of self-reflection on his own artistic gaze from a critical perspective. ‘Family business’ it is a proposal that will fascinate those who love his filmographyas well as those with a certain fondness for the archetypes of French art and art house cinema.

Note: 8

The best: His viscera is felt in every scene.

Worse: It ends up being too loud. It also doesn’t help that Marion Cotillard plays her older sister and Melvil Poupaud plays one of her younger brothers. The actor is nearly five years her senior and it shows.