Study in China

Leos Carax’s story of two homeless bums and their relationship is built around these contradictions and tensions that make the film a struggle to grasp. It’s a warm, beautiful and intimate film, but it’s also filled with harsh, repulsive imagery and a protagonist who is so rampantly selfish he makes spats of the film hard to watch as this almost naïve and childlike relationship is filled with dark, abusive undertones. Alex (Denis Lavant) is one of the many bums wandering around the city of Paris with no clear directon or purpse. He keeps up residence at the decaying old bridge, the Pont Neuf, but when he returns one night to find Michèle Stalens (Juliette Binoche) has taken his place, he suddenly has a new pursuit in life and quickly becomes obsessed over discovering more about this strange woman with an eye-patch. While it initially appears that Michèle’s gradual descent into decaying eyesight might be a romantic metaphor for true love, a love that is blind...