From Cannes: "Valley of Love" Fails to Rise

“The Valley of Love” has an interesting premise that shows great potential at least during the first half of the movie. However, the film’s abrupt ending negates these efforts and cancels out the momentum built up throughout the movie, ultimately condemning it to mediocrity.

The film’s plot begins attractively, and until the end it is difficult to predict how the story will end. As the audience follows the two main characters through a road trip in Death Valley to find their reincarnated son, circumstances seem normal, and there is no sign of their son. The two begin to understand each other again, and they talk about their son together for the first time in many years. Both Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu give brilliant performances as former husband and wife. Depardieu especially creates an interesting and relatable character: a disheveled, washed-up film star who is content with his retired life. He has grown fat, but does not really try to lose weight; he likes talking about the past, but is not too obsessed with it; although he often complains about Isabelle, deep inside he is still in love with her, and in some crucial scenes he shows touching tenderness both for her and their son. Huppert’s acting, on the other hand, is a bit overwrought in some of the more emotional scenes, but otherwise her representation is vivid and persuasive. While the film's subplot of a recovering relationship is somewhat clichéd, the main actors’ performances make it much more believable and touching than it would be otherwise.

Another strength of the movie is its interesting and in-depth depiction of America as an exotic land. While most of the film’s dialogue is in French, the story happens entirely in the Death Valley area, and director Guillaume Nicloux spends a decent portion of time on the seemingly unimportant scenes of the typical resort hotel, conversations with residents in the hotel, and the sights of Death Valley. There are also many details in the film that are typically American, such as the red “Death Valley” cap Depardieu’s character buys at a local store. All of these put together convey a subtle but mesmerizing atmosphere similar to that of “American Beauty” or “Blue Velvet,” and, in the case of “Valley of Love.”

However, “Valley of Love” has two obvious and fatal problems. The first is the split style of the film. While first half of the story seems to be nothing more than a warm road trip narrative about healing a marriage after the death of a child, the film suddenly turns surreal in its second half. This turn itself, while surprising, is not necessarily a bad choice; unfortunately, Nicloux returns to the road trip as soon as he creates a true sense of mysticism. It becomes increasingly evident that he can neither balance the two different narratives nor firmly choose one over the other. The second half of the movie ends up as a confusing mixture of family story and mythic travel.

A bigger problem, though, is the film’s ending. Not only does it fail to explain any questions raised at the beginning, but it also cancels out all the momentum that has led toward it. As the credit rolls out abruptly, the audience is left without guidance and potentially in disappointment and confusion.

For the greater part of its runtime, “Valley of Love” is a well-crafted piece with subtle acting and an interesting story. However, at some point during the production the director seems to have used up his skill set and the quality of the film declines steadily for its last thirty minutes.

—Tianxing V. Lan can be reached at tianxing.lan@thecrimson.com.