Boris Vian’s L’Écume des jours perfectly embodied absurdist literature: psychologically simple characters, a disconnect from individuality and selfhood; and magical settings that underpinned the existential tenants of the genre. Post-World War II alienation and a sense of meaninglessness added a universal sense of tragedy to the whimsy-fuelled nonsensical romances. All of which should have been the reasons Michel Gondry’s adaptation was expected to work; and are all the reasons why it doesn’t.
Colin and Chloe (Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou) exist in a world of Gatsby-like parties where the laws of physics and reason do not apply. Drinks are mixed by pianos, dog-like shoes run away from their owners, priests officiate wedding ceremonies from space shuttles and clouds held up by cranes can take you on rides around Paris. It’s the perfect place to fall in love with anyone: and they do. Not because they have a connection, or personalities, or any depth; but because just as Rubix Cubes become calendars, beautiful people can too become pretty placeholders for real emotion.
Gondry’s delightfully inventive, DIY-style design roams wildly via stop-motion animation, digital effects, tone-based palettes and mechanical tricks. But as a La Boheme-style tragedy befalls the young couple, it becomes painfully clear that the fanciful visuals can’t compensate for the lack of real characters, or emotions. Tautou and Duris are reduced to dull, squeaky tropes, unaware that their relationship evokes the fallacies of love. They’ve chosen the idealistic principle of an epic romance over any genuine connection, and their director has chosen the idea of a totalising romance over any semblance of real feeling.