Les combattants (AKA Love at First Fight)

Dir: Thomas Cailley

2014

****

Les Combattants, or Love at First Fight as it is also known, is a touching and rather unexpectedly sweet tale or romance when opposites don’t, and then do attract. I don’t like to generalize but I find that the French always manage to produce a sweeter kind of romance film, ones where the quirky, while very much there, never distract from the chemistry of the couple in question. Les Combattants literally translates as ‘The Fighters’, which goes some way in telling the audience that this isn’t going to be your typical boy meets girl scenario. It is neither conventional or predictable, but it is rather wonderful. The ‘boy’ in this ‘boy meets girl’ tale is Arnaud (Kévin Azaïs), a carpenter in business with his far more enthusiastic brother. He’s easy going, relaxed, mild-mannered..docile even. He takes life in his stride, carpentry doesn’t really seem for him but while he might wonder if he is meant for other things, he certainly isn’t looking. That said, he would never let down his brother. In the opening scene, he and his brother Manu are informed of the passing of their father and the pair set about making a coffin for him, only to be told home-made coffins are not allowed at burials. While visiting a couple who are interested in having a pergola built in their garden, Arnaud is distracted by their daughter Madeleine (Adèle Haenel). Madeleine is strange, determined and almost nihilistic. She is obsessed with mastering the art of extreme survival skill and spends hours holding her breath in her parent’s pool. She is determined to be ready for the end of the world, should it be on the immediate horizon. The pair clash immediately, Arnaud is intrigued but confused by Madeleine’s attitude and Madeleine doesn’t seem to give a damn about anything but her own survival achievements. It is clear however that both are unsure of their futures, while their ways may feel quirky and even a little extreme, they are very much typical teenagers approaching adulthood. Arnaud is strangely drawn to Madeleine and Madeleine does not push him away. When Madeleine declares that she is joining the French Army, Arnaud takes everyone by surprise and joins up too. Madeleine then becomes annoyed, even more so when Arnaud does well in training while she struggles at the bottom of the class. Over time Madeleine realises that her dream is lost, Arnaud is clearly attracted to her but how could she possibly be with someone who only highlights her failures. The behaviour of the two characters is strange but the script is written so beautifully, you realise that actually this is the evolution of what would become a romantic relationship. I’ve never joined the army for love, but I did some strange things in my teenage years, mostly in the pursuit of love. The film then takes a wonderful path of awakening when the pair decide to run away from the camp to live in the woods. There, they flourish, as does their love for each other. Finally Madeleine is surviving how she imagined, catching her own food and sleeping under the stars. It is only when she eats a piece of uncooked squirrel does it all come crashing down. Falling desperately ill, Arnaud carries the unconscious Madeleine to the nearest village, only to discover that it has been evacuated. With ash falling from the sky, it feels that this could actually be the end of the world. It isn’t of course. A nearby fire has caused the village to be evacuated and the pair are found by the army. One wonders whether it was one of their fires that caused it. At the hospital Madeleine realises that she has failed in her mission to become a survival expert, worse than that she was saved by someone with no interest in the subject, a boy no less. However, he could never have saved her without the training he had no interest in and in the forest all they needed was each other, thus, all you really need is love. It’s subtle and quite wonderful. Thomas Cailley’s direction is wonderful, thanks to him and the brilliant performances from Adèle Haenel and Kévin Azaïs, it really did feel like witnessing true young love. You can’t fight it. To find the balance of romantic and quirky is hard, most rom-com are awful because they get either one of both counts wrong but here Cailley gets it spot on, thanks also to his co-writer Claude Le Pape’s excellent screenplay.