LA PETITE LILI (France / 2003)

Claude Millers La Petite Lili is the latest and rather loose adaptation of Anton Chekhovs famous play "The Seagull." Chekhovs play dealt with the trials and tribulations faced by 19th century theatrical artists. Miller has set his work in the current day milieu he knows best: film world. While hes been able to carry over most of that four-act play, including many of the themes the great Russian playwright touched upon, he hasnt brought the nuances, not to mention the subtle complexity for which the characters were known for. 

The stylishly-shot opening scene certainly raises a few flags, as its more Zalman King than Chekhov: a nubile beauty/aspiring actress (Ludivine Sagnier) takes off her red summer dress to @#%$ her boyfriend/edgy young filmmaker (Robinson Stvenin). Then we're taken to a French countryside, more specifically to the estate of a successful middle-aged actress (Nicole Garcia). Her lover (Bernard Giraudeau), an established filmmaker, is also there, along with her philosophizing older brother (Jean-Pierre Marielle). There are a few supporting characters present as well (whom Millers intertextual screenplay incorporates), and they include a doctor (Yves Jacques) who is having an affair with a local handymans wife (Anne Le Ny), whose daughter (Julie Depardieu) is also secretly in love. 

So, this supposedly sets us up for some intriguing sexual and emotional politics, along with the differing ideologies of the filmmakers, but Millers screenplay is overdetermined and thus not particularly compelling. One thing which hes certainly done well here -- and who wouldnt have -- is to properly capture the beautiful vacation spot, Iles aux Moines, in all of its glory with his lightweight DV. When we leave the countryside and end up in Paris, this is where Miller tries to bring in elements of Day for Night (1973), which belongs to his mentor, Franois Truffaut. Unfortunately, he is not very ambitious in this case either, so a morose and lonely actress and a few on-set trials is as far as he goes. 

La Petite Lili is exactly the kind of film Miller surprisingly criticized through one of his characters early on: its pretentious and is more or less made with an eye toward the bottom line. Only the old geezers, Marielle and the great Michel Piccoli, who plays the former in the film within the film, seem to be having any fun. Perhaps they recognize that this is mostly hogwash.

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*Available on DVD in the U.S. (First Run Features).