U.S. Go Home is showing in the "CineSalon: Beyond the Ingenue" film festival presented by the French Institute/Alliance Francaise on Tuesday, October 11, 2016. Tickets for the New York City venue are available here.
This short but sweet film set in 1965 was made for French television. We follow the yearning of Martine (Alice Houri) to lose her virginity and have sexual intercourse. Her best friend Marlene (Jessica Tharaud) has already done so and is happy to make her look seductive.
Meanwhile, her energetic brother Alain (Gregoire Colin) dances up a storm in his bedroom listening to pop music. Asked to watch over Martine, he joins her at a private dance party and spends the whole evening pursuing his own pleasures.
Instead of getting caught up in the rush of adventure, Martine wanders around the house, gets groped by a young man who can't keep his hands off her, and at last falls into the arms of Alain who senses her disappointment with the evening and decides to walk home with her. When she gets cold and he goes home alone, she is picked up by an American solider (Vincent Gallo) who is stationed at a nearby air base.
Claire Denis (Chocolat, Beau Travail, Friday Night) is a talented French director who makes the most out of the drama's exploration of erotic yearning and the often impossible expectations we set for the exhilarations of sex. Denis also shows how close dances are the kissing cousins of intercourse. Many in the audience will appreciate the rock songs and ballads from the 1960s.