Waiting for Bojangles | From love to madness ★★★

Synopsis: Camille and Georges are the parents of little Gary. They lead a bohemian life, but reality catches up with them when Camille’s mental health becomes fragile.

Emilie Cote
The Press

Bojanglesis the title of a song by Nina Simone, the favorite of the couple starring in Régis Roinsard’s film based on Olivier Bourdeaut’s book.

A sweet retro scent coats the opening sequence shot as Georges (Romain Duris) arrives like an impostor on a terrace on the shores of the Mediterranean in a tight social evening.

He poses as a Romanian and a descendant of Dracula before falling in love with a free-spirited woman, Camille (Virginie Efira), who dances alone.

Duris then adopts an annoying false Romanian accent while his way of wooing the character of Camille is in confrontation and theatricality. The whole thing rings false, as well as the scene in the car which follows by the seaside. As if the filming had taken place in the studio and not outside.

Following a torrid night, Georges declares his love for Camille. After a nine-month time jump and they became the parents of little Gary (in homage to Gary Cooper), we slowly begin to adopt the whimsical tone ofWaiting for Bojangles. After all, it’s at the heart of the film’s purpose to put a little madness into our orderly and predictable lives.

Gary lives with parents in love as in the first day and carefree (they never open their mail and are riddled with debts). Night after night, it’s a house party and Gary can dress up as a pirate and weave his way between the guests.

At school, Gary is accused of being a liar with his out-of-the-ordinary stories. “It’s not my fault if you lack imagination,” he says to a classmate who intimidates him.

Beneath her appearance as an eternal optimist who flees reality – to the point of withdrawing her son from school and considering work as a waste of time –, Camille however hides a fragile mental health…

Virginie Efira admirably embodies her role as a loving and playful mother, aware that her mind is getting confused, and Romain Duris brilliantly plays his character as a father who is both worried and protective.

If we adopt its whimsical tone (before its dramatic finale), Waiting for Bojangles makes us think about big questions, namely what it means to succeed in life, but above all to protect those we love.

Fantasy drama

Waiting for Bojangles

Régis Roinsard (from the book by Olivier Bourdeaut)

With Romain Duris, Virginie Efira and Grégory Gadebois

2:04 a.m.

★★★

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