Three Dancing Slaves

Le Clan
(2004)
Directed by
Gaël Morel

Writing credits
Christophe Honoré
Gaël Morel

Genre: Drama

Cast overview
Nicolas Cazalé .... Marc
Stéphane Rideau .... Christophe
Thomas Dumerchez .... Olivier
Salim Kechiouche .... Hicham
Bruno Lochet .... Le père
Vincent Martinez .... Le "professeur"
Jackie Berroyer .... Robert
Aure Atika .... Emilie
Nicolas Paz .... Montana
Mathias Olivier .... Ryan
Gary Mary .... Luc
Geordie Piseri-Diaz .... Jérémy
Clément Dettli .... Henry
Pierre Vallin .... Sly
Janine Ribollet .... La mère de Sly
(more)


Also Known As:
3 Dancing Slaves (USA)
Clan des hommes, Le (France) (working title)
The Clan (International: English title)
Trois danses d'esclaves (France) (working title)
Runtime: 90 min
Country: France
Language: French
Color: Color
Sound Mix: Dolby
Certification: UK:15

Earthy, tough and very masculine, this tale of three brothers is full of powerful scenes and extremely strong performances, even if it never quite comes together in a meaningful way.
Middle brother Marc (Cazale) is the focal point, as he feels completely unhinged about his life. Not that he'll let anyone know this! A natural leader, he adopts a rude attitude to deflect his insecurities. He feels helpless to protect his younger teen brother Olivier (Dumerchez); and when older brother Christophe (Rideau) returns from prison with a desire to straighten out his life, Marc feels betrayed and alone. It doesn't help that there are no women in their lives. Or that their father (Lochet) is so ineffectual, still stunned by the death of his wife.


Director-cowriter Morel captures young male life vividly--the brothers hang out with their gang of friends, clowning around, getting in fights, working out at the gym and obsessing about sex. The film is shot with an intriguing blend of gritty colour and artful light, but this is undermined by an awkward inability to get some key bits of action on film, which Morel tries to cover with choppy editing. Several important scenes are badly botched, leaving us frustrated and unclear as to what happened.
Still, the feelings are beautifully captured on screen--the way a sense of powerlessness launches these young men on a nasty spiral of escalating violence and revenge, all while they alienate the friends and family who could help. The strong cast creates extremely compelling characters, and their interrelationships are vivid and intriguingly complicated. Alas, the vague writing and direction never help us understand the tension between the brothers, and clumsy gaps in the filmmaking obscure important events. In the end it almost seems like the film is actually about Olivier's emergence from his fog through a romance with one of Marc's pals (Kechiouche). But even this is unfocussed. And in failing to highlight his themes more coherently, Morel misses the chance to say something significant about the important issues he raises.














Nicolas Cazalé
la nueva imagen de Chevignon
El joven actor francés será la imagen de la marca para la nueva temporada primavera-verano 2006.
Nicolas Cazalé es joven, guapo y famoso. A sus 28 años, este actor de raíces argelinas es conocido por sus apariciones en televisión y cine, en especial por su papel protagonista en “Le grand voyage”, un film de Ismaël Ferroukhi.
Chevignon, marca francesa nacida en 1979, continúa así su relación con el mundo del cine. La temporada pasada fue Samuel le Bihan el actor escogido para promocionar la firma. Y qué mejor que relacionarse con jóvenes promesas de cosecha nacional y aprovechar para mostrar su apoyo al mundo cinematográfico.
Cazalé, con un look vintage inspirado en la América profunda de los años 70, será el principal reclamo publicitario de este año. Dejando de lado su incipiente faceta como modelo, podremos ver al chico Chevignon en la gran pantalla española con la nueva película de Júlio Médem, “Caótica Ana”, que se empieza a rodar el 13 de febrero.