Movie Description
Polish director Agnieszka Holland's OLIVIER OLIVIER is a deeply haunting mystery that resonates long after the movie has ended. When nine-year-old Olivier disappears, his mother, Elisabeth Duval (Brigitte Rouan), who dotes on him to the exclusion of her husband, Serge (Francois Cluzet), and 11-year-old daughter, Nadine (Faye Gatteau), is beside herself with grief. Enlisting the help of police inspector Druot (Jean-Francois Stevenin) to find her son, she refuses to admit the possibility that he might be dead. Six years later the inspector discovers an adolescent male prostitute whom he believes to be the missing Olivier (Gregoire Colin), and the boy is "reunited" with his family. The mother is ecstatic, but the husband and daughter, always jealous of the attention paid to Olivier, have reservations. Taking her cue from the theory that the truth is stranger than fiction, Holland based her mystery on a real story from a French newspaper, consciously leaving it ambiguous in the film. She succeeds in maintaining an almost unbearably eerie level of mystery that is masterful and truly unsettling.
Notes
Theatrical release: March 1993.
Filmed in Vendee, France.
Holland wrote several screenplays for famed Polish director Andrzej Wajda (KANAL, MAN OF IRON, MAN OF MARBLE) before branching out with her own directorial efforts.
OLIVIER OLIVIER is based on a true story from a French newspaper.
Editorial Reviews
"...Entertaining, initially sunny, very spooky....[OLIVIER, OLIVIER] reveals a gift for serious humor..."
Canby
"...Extraordinary....A multilayered blend of mystery and intense family drama..." -- Rating: A
Entertainment Weekly - Lawrence O'Toole (03/25/1994)
"...Magic and realism blend wonderfully in Agnieszka Holland's OLIVIER OLIVIER..."
Film Comment - Kathleen Murphy (11/01/1992)
"...Intriguing....Holland has concocted a story of intense theatrical possibility..."
Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman (04/02/1993)
"...OLIVIER OLIVIER is an eerie, unflinching portrait of domestic self-destruction....It's dense, gripping stuff..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Lloyd Sachs (04/02/1993)
"Holland probes into some very uncomfortable areas, but her approach is never prurient and she contrives a moving and redemptive ending..."
Sight and Sound - Geoffrey Macnab (08/01/2007)
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