Many of us at one time or another have experienced "love sickness" or what psychologist Dorothy Tennov calls "limerence." A person becomes the object of our desire and we cannot get him/her out of our thoughts. The intensity of feeling for this person leaves everything else behind. We desperately want him/her to respond positively to us and acknowledge what makes us special. Limerence is intensified by adversity; we persist in our passionate desire for connection even in the face of possible rejection. This state is seen by many as the source of the greatest happiness and the greatest despair.

Alain Resnais, now 87, remains one of France's most treasured filmmakers. Wild Grass has been adapted for the screen from Christian Gailly's novel, and it offers a delightful probe on love sickness. Like his last film, Private Fears in Public Places, it relies on the acting skills of Resnais's regular troupe of actors.

Marguerite (Sabine Azema), a dentist, is out shopping for a new pair of shoes when a thief snatches her purse and runs away, leaving her without her wallet filled with money, credit cards, and identification papers. This event draws her into the orbit of a mysterious man who becomes obsessed with her. Georges (Andre Dussollier) finds Marguerite's wallet in a suburban parking garage. He's a middle-aged man married to Suzanne (Anne Consigny), and they have two children. But there is something about this stranger whose wallet he's found that draws out Georges's desire, and he can't get her picture out of his mind. Perhaps the strong connection lies in the fact that Marguerite has a pilot's license and he always wanted to get one himself. Maybe it is her wild and unruly crop of red hair. Who knows? Certainly, his sexual attraction to her also comes into play. After a period of indecisiveness about calling her on the phone, Georges takes the wallet to the police station where a friendly officer (Mathieu Amalric) takes charge of things.

When Georges finally reaches Marguerite on the phone, she thanks him for finding her wallet but has absolutely no interest in his proposal that they meet. He is enchanted by her voice but hurt and then angered by her lack of response to him. But eventually Marguerite caves in to her own curiosity about this strange man who seems to relentless in his pursuit of her. Maybe this turnaround in her attitude has to do with her irritation at her dental patients who seem to regard her as a monster running a house of pain. When Georges and Marguerite do meet at last it is on a street outside a Paris cinema, something clicks as their eyes lock.

When asked in an interview why he chose the title Wild Grass, Resnais responded: "To me, this title seemed to correspond to these characters who follow totally unreasonable impulses, like those seeds that make the most of cracks in the asphalt in the city or in a stone wall in the country and grow where they are least expected to." This unusual French film circles around the themes of middle-aged malaise, limerence, chance, and the impulsive risks some people are willing to take in order to explore their wildest desires.


Screened at the 47th New York Film Festival, September 2009