LA FRANCE is set in the midst of World War I, appropriate since the film traces a squad of soldiers traveling on foot somewhere in the north east of France.  The story centres on wife, Camille (Sylvie Testud, last seen in PIAF) who bundles up her breasts and dresses as a guy to join the soldiers in the hope of finding her lost husband.

LA FRANCE, co-written by Bozon’s collaborator Axelle Ropert is a strange film that crosses several genres.  For that reason, the film will most likely never get a commercial release with the screening at the Cinematheque Ontario or other specialized venues being the only opportunity for viewers to catch this film.  Bozon’s film breaks into pop music occasionally – the type heard in the 60’s (the British Herman’s Hermits are the closest group I can think of, or maybe early Beatles) and the film is filled with homoeroticism.  At the film’s start for example, a girl professes her love for Camille saying that Camille has never ignored her before she (Camille) got wed.  For the male counterparts, the dim lighting when the men talk and fight creates the same effect.  Bozon does YENTL at war.

Though the film basically traces the travails of the soldiers led by a scuffed lieutenant (Pascal Greggory from LA TOURNEUSE DE PAGES), the script offers quite a few surprises along the way.  Whether Camille finds her husband at the end really does not matter as the film has distracted the audience towards other interests.  Stunningly photographed in stark bluish colors by Bozon’s sister Celine, LA FRANCE is an intriguing variation to normal cinema audiences are familiar with.  LA FRANCE has received mixed reviews from the critics but was chosen by France’s La Cahiers du Cinema as 2007’s Best 10 films.  Worth a look!