Confession of a Child of the Century Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Confession of a Child of the Century Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 2, 2016

The tempestuous affair between George Sand and Alfred de Musset provided copious bodice heaving drama in 1999’s Children of the Century, a film which was exhibited out of contention at that year’s Cannes Festival and was also further distinguished as having been co-written and directed by a woman. A decade and a half or so later, history more or less repeated itself when Confessions of a Child of the Century, based on de Musset’s fictionalized memoir of his passionate romantic fling, appeared at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Also like Children of the Century, Confessions of a Child of the Century was written and helmed by a female, though despite these surface and “backstage” similarities, the two films exhibit rather disparate styles and treatments of their supposedly same subject. Children of the Century, bolstered by the marquee name of Juliette Binoche, took a fairly lavish and opulent look at the affair in what was, despite some post-modern trappings, a rather traditionally sumptuous historical romance. Confessions of a Child of the Century wants to go the proto-indie route, with a famous musician taking the part of de Musset (here called Octave in a prescient pun) and an actress with a storied lineage (including music) taking the part of Sand (here called Brigitte). Those two performers would be Pete Doherty, otherwise known as the sometimes (very) bad boy frontman of The Libertines and sometimes squeeze of Kate Moss, and Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. Doherty’s film debut in this outing isn’t exactly the stuff of (present or future) legend, and even the typically reliable Gainsbourg (Melancholia , Nymphomaniac: Volume I, 3 Hearts) seems to be struggling to find her character in this rambling ode to indecision. What’s so odd about all of this is de Musset is regularly credited with having sparked the French Romantic movement, an artistic development which tended to exploit emotion, especially emotion of a hyperbolic variety. Confession of a Child of the Century is a curiously bloodless film in any case, but the fact that it’s based on source material (and a source) which cry out for more pronounced highs and lows seems to suggest some kind of tonal disconnect between de Musset and this film’s writer and director Sylvie Verheyde.

Octave is not just the putative hero of Confession of a Child of the Century, he’s the film’s narrator as well, and his voice overs offer some insight into the supposedly Romantic (capital R) as well as romantic (small r) proclivities of the character. As the film opens, Octave is despondent after having discovered his girlfriend “cheating” on him—if you count letting your next door neighbor at a banquet table play footsie with you cheating. It’s a ridiculous scene not handled especially well by either Verheyde or Doherty, with the actor on all fours under the table (what’s he doing down there, anyway?) in a state of ostensible shock at seeing two legs entwined around each other. The completely over the top reaction to the situation, as detailed in a rather bizarre series of vignettes (some of which might be hallucinations on the part of Octave), at least gives the film some appropriately overheated emotion, something that the main storyline is sadly lacking most of the time.

The first part of Confession of a Child of the Century details Octave’s supposed descent into debauchery, sequences which Verheyde seems to want to hint at rather than overtly depict, another kind of odd choice given this otherwise very post-modern take on the subject matter (down to the relentless use of handheld cameras with their attendant jiggly effect). By the time Octave finally meets cute (over a baby goat—is that some kind of pagan fertility symbol?) with widow Brigitte, his character is already less than likable and in fact probably more than a little annoying. The audience has already had to suffer through frankly insufferable whining by Octave that he’ll never be able to love again, and so when he does fall for Brigitte, many will probably be asking, “What did we just go through all that for?”

The bulk of the film unfortunately doesn’t do much to dispel the feeling of annoyance, and in fact it’s probably only exacerbated by Brigitte’s hemming and hawing. The “romance” between Brigitte and Octave is a recurring example of “the timing’s just not right”, with the two would be lovers on an emotional seesaw of sorts where they simply don’t line up in terms of expectations or desires, at least until an expected third act romp or two in the sheets which then leads to more angsty pronouncements on the part of both of them.

While often quite handsome from a production design standpoint (even given the off putting jiggly cam presentation), Confession of a Child of the Century simply wanders through its scenes like a half drunk character not quite sure of where he is or where he’s going. Audiences evidently didn’t exactly flock to the film, if this actually kind of funny total from Box Office Mojo is to be believed. That old adage “the book was better” could probably find no better example than this oddly conceived and haphazardly realized adaptation.

Confession of a Child of the Century Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Confession of a Child of the Century is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Shot digitally with Arri Alexa cameras, this is a somewhat underwhelming presentation, one not helped by Verheyde's tendency to push brightness and/or shoot into effulgent light sources which bathe the frame in detail robbing milky whites (shown in several screenshots accompanying this review). When not falling victim to a pretty ubiquitous "jiggly cam" approach, and when lighting and contrast are at normal levels, detail pops quite well and the palette looks at least relatively natural. Overall, though, this is a surprisingly soft looking presentation for such a recent film. The milky contrast also tends to make some of the more dimly lit interior scenes suffer from murkiness and a lack of shadow definition. There's nothing horrible here by any stretch, but those expecting a razor sharp and impeccably detailed presentation may be at least partially let down.

Confession of a Child of the Century Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Confession of a Child of the Century features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which supports the film's anachronistic indie-ish score, as well as providing at least occasional immersion with elements like panning effects as horse drawn carriages move across the frame. Some of the supposed debauchery scenes also have quite a bit of sonic information ping ponging around the surround channels, but on the whole this is a pretty tamped down mix that offers Doherty's voice overs and smaller, intimate dialogue scenes between Doherty and Gainsbourg, moments where there's obviously not as much opportunity for overwhelming surround activity. Fidelity remains strong throughout the presentation, and there are no problems of any kind.

Confession of a Child of the Century Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:58)


• "Confession" of a French Literature Fanatic (1080p; 15:06) is an interesting assessment featuring Dr. Eric Gans, who was a French professor at UCLA for 45 years.

Confession of a Child of the Century Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's never a good sign when I end up wondering things like "Didn't they have barbers in the 19th century?" as I'm watching a historical romance. (That particular query may be more understandable if you take a peek at Doherty's hairstyle in some of the screenshots accompanying this review.) De Musset's novel would seem to be ripe for cinematic adaptation, even with the post-modernist spin Verheyde attempts to slather onto it, but something (actually, quite a few things) just doesn't work in this version. Technical merits are generally very good for those considering a purchase.