Night Wind
Le Vent de la nuit
France, Switzerland
1999
95 Min
Color
FrenchSubtitled in English
552 Views
552 Views
A wayward young man (Xavier Beauvois) finds himself involved with two mysterious people of a previous generation. After an affair with Hélène (Catherine Deneuve), a married bourgeois who falls for the young student, the young man tries to escape her obsessions by setting out on a road trip with Serge (Daniel Duval), a taciturn, scared relic of the revolutionary generation of ’68. Criminally underseen in the U.S., this existential road movie by director Philippe Garrel ( Regular Lovers ) aches with the pain and passion of fragmented, personal memories. Shot in lunar color by Caroline Champetier (who has worked with Godard, Rivette, Straub/Huillet, and Desplechin), ‘Le Vent de la nuit’ is a spare work about the very personal weight of the past, the gulf lying between generations, and of the deep, mysterious undercurrents of loneliness, and human need.
Philippe Garrel is a French director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and producer. His movies have won him awards at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. He was born in Paris in 1948, the son of actor Maurice Garrel. He started his film career early directing and writing his first film Lés Enfants Désaccordés in 1964. Garrel met Nico in 1969 when she performed the song “The Falconer” for his film Le Lit de la Vierge and the couple were soon living together. Nico first appeared in the 1972 film La Cicatrice Intériure (aka the Inner Scar). Songs included in the film appear on Nico’s album Desertshore, which features stills from the film on the front and back covers. Nico appeared in a number of Garrel’s films after this. Their ten year relationship ended in 1979.
Prix Jean Vigo for the film L’Enfant Secret. He won Perspectives du Cinéma Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984 for his 1983 film la Nuit Liberté. Over a ten year period, Garrel enjoyed… read more
As bruised as a song by The Velvet Underground, Night Wind is another despairing depiction of being alone in the world. The events of 1968, death, drugs and Nico (always Nico) haunts this film. The… read review
A wayward young man (Xavier Beauvois) finds himself involved with two mysterious people of a previous generation. After an affair with Hélène (Catherine Deneuve), a married bourgeois who falls for… read review
This is my fourth Garrel and he is 4/4 so far in my book. The film is lovely to look at despite being quite drab other than the color red which is really meant to stand out. I loved the strange relationships… read review