One to Another (2006) User Reviews (16)

Beautiful demons of youth bedevil filmmaker team

[Chris Knipp · 6/10 · 23 February 2007]

We've all heard of a "ménage à trois." Pascal Arnold and Jean-Marc Barr's film One to Another/Chacun sa nuit presents a ménage à cinq, an ultra-photogenic one with four boys to one girl, all tanned, pretty, and hot to trot and in the summer in a beautiful southern part of France. At the center of the five is the insecure but magnetic lead singer of the clan's boy band, Pierre (Arthur Dupont) He's the bisexual brother of Lucie (Lizzie Brocheré), with whom he has a relationship just short of out-and-out incest. Nicolas (Guillaume Baché) is also bisexual, so he and Pierre have sex on the sly. Sébastien (Pierre Perrier), the prettiest boy of all, is Lucie's ostensible boyfriend, but she's had sex with the other two. Baptiste (Nicolas Nollet) is boy number four. It's not so good for the story but fine for the vicarious titillation value of the film that the clothes come off right away and there are many bed and swim scenes; and while there isn't much overt sex, there is much casual nude lolling around together among the nearly inseparable five. Pierre also has sex for pay with gay men and orgies with a local politico, and we get glimpses of that, too.

In a story based on a real event in provincial France, this inseparable group of young beauties is shattered when Pierre is found dead, riddled with blows. The cops draw a blank and Lucie initiates her own investigation aided by the other boys. When the solution comes, the crime remains incomprehensible, even though who did it had become predictable.

Pierre has an intensity you notice, and he sings. Lizzie Brocheré emotes, Guillaume Baché has a way of holding back that's arresting; but despite the film's obsessive concentration on these young people, they seem chosen not for their acting skill but because they're generically perfect looking, with the result that it takes much of the film to gather even a vague sense of what distinguishes one boy from the others.

People are understandably enamored of One to Another/Chacun sa nuit for its lovely sensuality. From that point of view, it's a pleasure to look at. But the crime story and the beefcake are at odds with each other, the pretentious philosophizing of the young people is a poor substitute for acting, and the too-randomly inter-cut flashbacks after the death to flesh out the superficial portraits weaken the momentum of the hunt. According the Le Monde's reviewer Jacques Mandelbaum, One to Another "rises to the challenge of achieving a strong confrontation between the filmmakers' hedonistic philosophy and a barbarous act that resists it." Is it our Puritanical Anglo-Saxon culture? Somehow this seems unconvincing. But the images are beautiful. Jean-Marc Barr's second film was called Too Much Flesh. Hmmm…… Opened in Paris September 20, 2006. To be shown at the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center March 7 and 10, and at the IFC Center March 8, 2007. US distributor: Netflix/Strand Releasing. Should do well in the DVD sales and rental market.

Titilated by a titillating beautiful cast

[agmancuso · 6/10 · 3 August 2007]

We're told this was based on a true story. Okay. The potential was there for a truly powerful, shattering film. Well, it isn't. However, I stayed glued to the screen due to the beauty of the cast. The girl, a throwback to the cookie females of the 60's and the boys one more cinematic than the other. It is difficult to guess - and why should anyone care - the intention of the filmmakers. An art film this is not and it's not a commercial venture, not really. If money was their objective they could have gone all the way. No. The film sort of works because one feels titilated by those eyes and those looks. So if their intention was to titillate they succeeded, big time. I wish this story could be re told with the same cast but with a great imaginative, powerful filmmaker at the helm.

confusing but entertaining

[samzpan · 5/10 · 18 November 2007]

I think is is best to see this movie twice. At least, it was for me. The first time around it was a jumbled mess, but after a second viewing it made some sense. The movie is really about incest. The fact that the brother is killed almost becomes secondary to the sexual action. The sister, played by Lizzie Brochere, spends a lot of her time nude and engaged in simulated sex. She wants to find the killer of her brother. So anybody that had anything to do with that incident, gets to, if not see her naked, a chance to test the tightness of her vagina. Apparently, since they were teenagers, the siblings have been engaged in sex. And not only does she make it with her brother, she makes it with all of his friends. The French are really good at these sort of movies where sex and nudity dominate. An American version would probably resulted in a teen comedy with the males humping Boston cream pies. If naked people and simulated sex do not offend you, check out this movie.

Based On Real-Life Events

[Lechuguilla · 25 November 2007]

Visually, it's a fine movie. It looks great, with an attractive cast, excellent color cinematography, especially the lighting, and well-composed frames.

And the story is based on true events, provocative, at that. Four young guys, and one young woman named Lucie, explore life and love, perform in a band, and generally hang out together in modern day France. One of the guys (Pierre) is Lucie's brother. When Pierre goes missing and is presumed dead, Lucie sets about to find out what happened to him.

Except for the musical performances, "Chacun sa nuit" is generally a slow, quiet film, with very long camera "takes". Characters spend a lot of time lounging around in the nude, sulking, dawdling, brooding, lost in thought. The script is not overly talky, thankfully. Indeed, the dialogue is measured, deliberate, contemplative.

But, the film's structure is difficult, for several reasons. First, the script's inciting incident happens off-screen, which renders some confusion as to what is going on, in the first half. Second, events do not occur chronologically. Instead, flashbacks to the time when Pierre was alive alternate with events after his death. And that compounds the confusion, especially the first time I watched the film. The second viewing did help to clarify the plot.

In addition, given that the other three guys (Nicolas, Sebastien, and Baptiste) are all about the same age, the same height, and have similar appearances, I found it hard to keep them straight ... so to speak.

I wish the film's script had gone through another rewrite or two. A few changes here and there could have clarified who was who and what was happening. But despite a less than perfect script, "Chacun sa nuit" is a film worth watching, for the beautiful cinematography; for the provocative, underlying concept; and for a story that is based on real-life events.

The day Pierre doesn't come home.

[incitatus-org · 6/10 · 26 September 2006]

Pierre and Lucie, brother and sister, are in a full sexual development swing with their friends, until one day, Pierre does not come home. The question of the movie is what happened to him. The curiosity of the movie, is how Lucie goes about finding out. We follow her as she uses the only power she has discovered, her body, to try to obtain answers in a micro- cosmos of perversity and sexual adolescent indulgence.

It is unfortunate that the movie suffers from a confusion from start to finish, due partly to the resemblance of the characters, partly to the bizarre nature of the script and partly to the (time-frame) editing. Consequently, the audience loses interest in what could have been an original youthful tale. Lucie's manipulation of others through their desire for her body is taken as her strength, which, even if taken as unfortunate, does not evolve into a more mature version. Character development is perhaps a lot asked for a group of youngsters, but a little more character would have helped. If you venture into the dark hall for this one, make sure its late and you are tired. You will leave with the inspirational originality of the sexual/ amorous melange without being too affected by the overall work. But beware of just being lulled into the realms of your own faraway dreamworld.

Sur-le-vif

[stodruza · 6/10 · 6 August 2007]

I shuffled into this film in a sur-le-vif kind of way, on a whim, while running about town. I was twenty minutes late. The young naked bodies thrown everywhere made a good impression. The protagonist girl, with her swarthy yet subtle, austere, French, and you can guess, sexual contradictory nature, energized me to some degree. The voice over, her running around with invective in her blood, trying to find out the murderer, energized me sexually even further, with just a tinge greater intensity than I would have been sensually energized if she had not been running around with such an imperative. The film has a calm energy which is interesting, viewed in this way. The sexuality does not have an energized imperative, as it does, perennially and ubiquitously, in all forms here in the United states.

Which is nice. The orgy in which everyone participates is calm, so European, sex as it is perhaps among many sea turtles doing it, simultaneously. The murderers are found, the film finally ends in a French nihilistic sort of way. This is the way to enjoy this film, which is to say it is better to watch it for mood instead of story.

Ties That Blind

[writers_reign · 5/10 · 25 March 2014]

It would appear that either no one in the UK has watched this film or, if they have, have not seen fit to post a comment. When you append a note to a movie that it is 'based on real events' you can get away with just about anything. Nine times out of ten the 'real' events are both provincial and obscure and by definition known only to a few so that the filmmaker(s) - two in this case - can give free rein to their fancies. So here we have five inseparable young people, four male and one female with the four guys working as a reasonably successful boy-band and the girl functioning as a groupie in the sense that she has sex with all four, including her brother, Pierre, who, having been beaten to death, supplies what plot there is in the shape of Lucie (the girl, and his sister) engaging on an obsessive quest to discover the culprit or, as it transpires, culprits plural. The lyrical camera-work and almost mandatory nudity and simulated sex define it as 'art house' fodder and the non-linear unravelling of the plot confirms this status. Probably worth a look.

If You Like French Film, Enjoy! More Than Once.

[madcardinal · 7/10 · 1 January 2010]

Very French! This film embraces the physical reality of living just as conspicuously as American films avoid it. The film centers on five young adults: Lucie, her bisexual brother Pierre, and their friends Nicolas, Sebastien and Baptiste. The young men play together in a band and enjoy rocking local audiences. The viewer has to pay attention - the film is part murder mystery and follows Lucie's thoughts in the form of flashbacks. I'd recommend watching it twice: first for immersion and second for appreciation and understanding.

In terms of cinematography, this movie is beautiful - featuring sumptuous, rich color. The beautiful actors add to the appeal, but other reviewers have made slightly too much of their attractiveness. I could go to my local shopping mall on a busy night and find five young adults as physically fit and attractive as the main actors in "Chacun sa nuit." The difference is in the U.S. - with its current of quirky religious extremism, its tendency towards irrational hysteria, and its servile pandering to pressure groups - it would be extremely difficult to craft a movie as honest and authentic as "Chacun sa nuit." (It is worth noting that this film is based on real events.) Let's just say the French are often very forthright in depicting the physical beauty that is the special province of young adulthood, and they reveal it without censorship or hand-wringing. All the nudity is positive in tone.

Because of our strong vein of Puritanical dualism, Americans often make films that pit the soul and body (or two characters representing soul and body) in a battle against each other. Have you ever noticed how many U.S. films feature a pitched showdown between an impossibly good character and an impossibly bad character? French films, on the other hand, often feature the soul and body complementing and informing each other - in effect going off to explore together. This often makes it easier for French film-makers to celebrate and savor life in their movies - including accepting the sexual aspects of living. Also, there is no aversion to sorrow.

The relationships here are not Disney-fied, rather they are intense and intimate. Pierre and Lucie as brother and sister are devoted to each other; they stop a millimeter short of full-blown incest. Some of the dialog between the two comes perilously close to being pretentious. But everything is incredibly poignant to the point where you almost feel you could reach out to the screen and touch them.

But all is not rainbows, poetry and love-making in provincial France. Someone hustles for money on the side and there is a murder - seediness and iniquity thereby enter in. The solution to the murder implies what may be an unanswerable series of questions:

1) Does untrammeled freedom lead to the total evaporation of morals?

2) Is there an extreme Puritan inside all of us demanding that we "punish" ourselves and others for celebrating freedom, welcoming sexual joy, and savoring life?

3) Could an overzealous desire for freedom and an internalized pious tyrant be toxic co-conspirators paving the way to ruin?

"Chacun sa nuit" is a film to indulge in - like a bottle of Bordeaux with a sirloin roast.

And Now For the Kitchen Sink

[antrolodus · 1/10 · 19 June 2023]

Like so many screenwrites that minimize a functional plot and are based on jarring juxtapositions of elements truly extraneous to the story, (if you can find one in this film), one is left bored but befuddled. Quite a feat of genius--and then, let's throw in a kitchen sink (or two) and melodramatize the melodrama a bit further with all the kitchen sinks having sexual problems. And, as though any elegance might be wasted on the philistine masses anticipated to watch this thing, let's give the characters a good dowsing with Eau de Banal: let's say they are all in a band, and make them act so miraculously casual when confronted by each other's conceits that it seems the writer was trying hard to force accessible in ludicrous loads down watchers' throats. Doltish performances, mishandled script dynamics, and the shaky pursuit of post-modernist neo-realism all packs up together and forms a very cheesy fromage that no normal person could possibly suspend disbelief for in order to receive and swallow, and swallow, and swallow.

A sexual relationship between a Sister and Her Brother is quite disturbing, shocking and provocative.

[saadgkhan · 6/10 · 1 August 2010]

CHACUN SA NUIT (ONE TO ANOTHER) - CATCH IT ( B ) Chacun Sa Nuit is about One girl having sexual relationships with her 3 friends and Brother. A sexual relationship between a Sister and Her Brother is quite disturbing, shocking and provocative. According to the director the movie is based upon the true events occur in France, now how much reality in that is no one knows. After watching this movie I realize that French people are quite bold and provocative then I've expected. The movie is good though it rolls back & forth between Present time and Flashbacks, which takes time to understand. The movie touches various taboo topics like Sister and Brother sexual relation, Bisexuality, gay sex, guys having sex for money & girl seducing people to get out the facts about who killed here Brother. The Whole setup of the movie is quite artistic though when you are totally engage in the story and nakedness of the movie, the ending is quite Awful & for the Director to say that Adolescent let you do crimes like killing other person without any general motive is unbelievable. Who know what happened in real life but for cinema it's just not acceptable. The stars of movie are young and beautiful; apparently they are naked and soak under Sun naked most of the time. Lizzie Brochere looks quite beautiful & she isn't shy in being naked on screen. All the other guys, Arthur Dupont (Pierre), Guillaume Bache (Nicolas), Pierre Perrier (Sebastien) and Nicolas Nollet (Baptiste) are good looking young boys. My final verdict is, watch it for the Skin & Sex in the movie, who doesn't like beautiful people laying naked all the time? But if you're looking for a master piece with satisfying suspenseful ending it disappoints a little.

Mesmerizing Work of Cinematic Art

[nturner · 8/10 · 8 November 2008]

Based upon actual events, this film is certainly not for everyone's tastes, but it is an intriguing, erotic, and fascinating watch. I'm not sure a film such as this could be made in the United States because of the nudity and overt sex that takes place amongst the young actors. It appears that here in the good old U.S.A., we know such things take place, but we don't seem to be able to admit it. Oh, it's fine to show teenagers killing each other, but heaven forbid that they take off their clothes and have so good, old steamy sex. Hopefully, these statements have sufficiently warned you that - if you view this film - you're going to see people under the legal age nude and engaging in sensuous acts. As one reviewer on this site put it, "The whole cast is beautiful, like they were born not to wear clothes." The story is of five, young friends - one girl and four boys - who enjoy life. Their relationship is symbiotic and sexual in various ways. One of the boys is the girl's brother and the alpha male of the group. He is handsome, sensual, and especially engaging - a master of social and sexual relationships. In addition to being the leader of the group's successful band, he is a high-class hustler engaging in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. He is murdered - savagely beaten to death.

Is the relationship between the girl and her brother incestuous? It is left for the viewer to determine if they ever had intercourse, but it is made clear in the film that they fully explore each other's bodies and sensual psyches. Both the girl and her brother do engage in sex with one or more of the other boys. - all of this in a very open fashion.

The action in the film is not linear which presents somewhat of a job for the viewer to piece together all of the various events and relationships in the film. Most of the film is from the girl's viewpoint as her mind jumps here and there remembering events before and after her brother's death. She is so devastated by the death that she has had a breakdown. Her mental anguish is made worse by the fact that the murderer of her brother is unknown, and that the police have exhausted most of their leads. She is obsessed with the thought of finding her brother's killer.

Unlike many French films, all is revealed in the end, and the viewer is left to consider a mesmerizing work of cinematic art highlighting excellent acting and bold depictions of the sexual lives of five young people.

To each their Night

[Thorsten_B · 8/10 · 13 April 2008]

A very french film. It stars a bunch of teenagers in some provincial town in France, living their lives and loving each other – both mentally and physically. A murderous event interrupts the lives of five very close people. Nudity and sexuality are present throughout, but they are not exploited, they rather serve as essential elements of the story that unfolds. And in a way – this probably is the most "french" element –, they are both graphic and tasteful at the same time. The physical attractions cannot be excluded from the characters' thoughts and deeds and developments, yet it is exactly the difference and/or connection between mind and body that marks a central element. Scenes jump from one point of the time line to another, yet the overall narration and presentation is quite realistic (after all, the film is based on a true story). Luckily, this is neither a moral tale nor an "investigating" look at the nightlife of the hedonistic youth of our time; it is a very "talky" movie which some inevitably will find boring while others will be mesmerized. Given it will not be shown often (which looks as if), "Chacun sa Nuit" is very likely to receive a sort of cult potential in the coming years.

Beautiful in the tradition of French film.

[phaedrav · 10/10 · 11 September 2006]

This film is worthwhile for the soundtrack alone. And just as worthwhile in every other way.

Lots of tasteful nudity and sex between uninhibited young friends. Very enjoyable for both young and old to watch. The whole cast is beautiful, like they were born not to wear clothes. Someone complained after the screening that they were too beautiful. I didn't see that as a problem.

The criminal mystery and story background is revealed piece by piece out of chronological order in a series of flashbacks. That is difficult to do well, but here it's done skillfully and adds to the story rather than making it difficult to understand.

At the premiere at the Toronto Film Festival many people walked out of the screening. That surprised me. Sure there's a lot of nudity, but the film festival audience usually expects that and takes it in stride. The film is very French, and perhaps that could alienate Americans used to seeing only Hollywood films. The people who walked out of the film were mostly men. That surprised me too. Perhaps they were offended by the bisexual elements of the film? For anyone who likes film, especially anyone who likes French cinema, this is a must see.

Provocative, alluring and disturbing

[Buddy-51 · 8/10 · 12 August 2008]

Based on a true story, the provocative and haunting French drama, "One to Another," is a lyrical, erotically-charged tale of forbidden love set within the context of a murder mystery. The story focuses on Lucie, a beautiful young woman in her early 20s, and her highly unorthodox relationship with four men who have been her inseparable "pals" since childhood. One of those men is her own bisexual brother, Pierre, whose death under mysterious circumstances serves as the catalyst for the movie's plot. In true Gallic fashion, "One to Another" seems somehow less concerned with the killing than with the way sex defines the lives of these characters, yet when the solution to the mystery finally comes, it is both shocking and profoundly disturbing in the truths it reveals about human nature.

Probably only the French could get away with exploring sexuality from so many different angles in a single movie, and, true to form, "One to Another" plunges unflinchingly into topics that would normally never be broached in polite society. Lucie's quasi-incestuous relationship with Pierre, in particular, comes about as close to pushing the envelope as anything one is ever likely to find on screen (though Bertolucci's "The Dreamers," another popular French film from a few years back, dealt with a similar situation). And while the movie doesn't come right out and condemn the characters for their free-floating sexuality, it seems to imply that, without a clear moral compass to guide a person through life, even the most heinous of acts will finally be deemed acceptable.

One problem with the movie is that, while Lucie is a beautifully realized and compelling character (brought to exquisite life by Lizzie Brochere), the same cannot be said for the boys in the story, who look, dress and act so much alike that it often becomes hard to differentiate them one from another (though, I hasten to add that the actors are all very good in their roles). This not only leads to confusion on the part of the viewer but to an imbalance in the chemistry of the story, since Lucie is so much more intriguing than the men with whom she's having all these relationships. That sense of disorientation is further compounded in the early stages of the movie by the fact that it takes awhile for us to realize that many of the scenes we are watching are actually flashbacks to earlier events. Once we are able to get our temporal bearings, however, this ceases to be a problem and the structure actually enhances the insightfulness of the film.

"One to Another" is definitely worth checking out, provided one is not easily offended by nudity, simulated sex scenes, or the exploration of troubling themes. Moreover, because the movie is blessed with artful direction (by Pascal Arnold and Jean-Marc Barr) and gorgeous cinematography (by Barr and Chris Keohane), the alluring imagery and sensuous rhythms ultimately cast a spell over the audience. And that kicker at the end will send you reeling.

Yikes! Get Me Out Of Here!

[donwc1996 · 10/10 · 2 June 2014]

This is the kind of film that I want to get away from virtually every minute I am watching it but there is so much nudity, frontal, rear, sideways, that I remain glued to my chair anxiously awaiting the next shot of pubic hair. The story, which apparently is based on true events that occurred in France, is an absolute mess. Who can even begin to follow it? There are so many flashbacks, flash forwards and flash everything else that you just sit there enjoying all the nubile flesh in its various contortions which are quite varied and utterly shocking, frankly. I'm such a small town prude. Just can't help it. The lead, a stunning young French girl is never boring to look at but you do want to strangle her she gets on your nerves so much.

With Freedom Comes Challenge

[[e-mail] · 10/10 · 21 May 2015]

An unusual true drama, brought to the screen in muted tones by a very capable young cast. This piece challenges social mores, and may well be upsetting to those who cherish or idealise the innocence of youth. The film very candidly explores youth sexuality and notions of family, and in so doing asks questions that the viewer is expected to answer for themselves. Some viewers who are no longer in their youth themselves may be surprised and discomfited by the views and attitudes held by the youths depicted. I have been made to think about my own views and prejudices, and have not yet resettled my mind. I was, however, inexorably drawn in to explore the concepts of their world, and therefore forced to think. Part of their world has a seductive freedom, and part of it is deeply disturbing.