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Review: Headwinds (Des vents contraires, 2011) ★★★★

<p><i>Headwinds<&sol;i>&comma; directed by Jalil Lespert&comma; is primarily a story about loss&comma; and the unforeseen difficulties of living with a loved-one’s absence&period; The story begins by showing us the dynamic between Paul &lpar;Benoit Magimel&rpar;&comma; his wife&comma; Sarah &lpar;Audrey Tautou&rpar;&comma; and their two children&comma; Clement &lpar;Hugo Fernandes&rpar; and Manon &lpar;Cassiopeia Mayance&rpar;&period; We see the tension between Paul and Sarah right from the start&period; Sarah is a doctor and provides the main source of income for the family&comma; and Paul is a writer&comma; who&comma; while having had some success earlier in his career&comma; now struggles to sell books&period; A fight breaks out when Paul wants to take a few days away from the family to write &lpar;it is implied that he has made a habit of doing this&rpar;&comma; and he feels that Sarah holds her status as the primary bread winner over his head&period; Their argument ends with Sarah storming out&comma; never to be seen again&period; The film then skips forward in time&comma; past Paul being the prime suspect in her disappearance and subsequently proven innocent&comma; without any culprit or clue found&period; Despite the passage of time&comma; Paul still struggles with the unsolved disappearance of his wife and the difficulty of being a single parent&period; He also finds that the money from book sales simply isn’t enough to support his children&comma; so Paul’s brother&comma; Alex &lpar;Antoine Dulery&rpar; gives him a job as a driving instructor&comma; which introduces Paul to a variety of characters with whom he develops relationships of varying intensities&period; Paul also starts up a friendship with the dad of one of the boys at Clement’s school&comma; despite the fact that the man appears a little unhinged&period; When the man’s son also disappears&comma; Paul once again falls under police scrutiny&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lespert’s somber rumination on a single-father’s struggle to cope with loss is surprisingly intimate and understated&period; Though there are moments in the narrative that seem a bit too coincidental&comma; the events are generally very natural and pragmatic for the sake of moving the story forward&period; Benoit Magimel’s performance is exceptional&comma; and Audrey Tautou adds her usual touch of brilliance to the film&semi; it’s just unfortunate that she has so little screen time&period; We get to see her briefly before the disappearance&comma; and then from time to time in flashbacks&comma; but obviously it would have been better if she had occupied a greater role in the film&period; Nonetheless&comma; Jalil Lespert clearly knows how to direct his actors&comma; and generally shies away from the typical sentimentalism that goes along with film’s about the loss of a loved one&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>Headwinds<&sol;i> takes special care to consider the many existential crises that accompany a situation like Paul’s&period; The possibility of Sarah still being alive serves as both a specter hanging over Paul and a glimmer of hope in his gloomy life&period; Since he does not know if his wife is living or dead&comma; he feels guilty about pursuing a new relationship&semi; however&comma; Paul still loves Sarah&comma; so even the chance of her being alive brightens his family’s spirits&period; Though Paul loves his children&comma; he struggles to meet the many demands of being a single parent&comma; and&comma; without the freedom to continue his writing&comma; Paul lacks the meaning and satisfaction that he had found in his former work&period; Thus&comma; Paul is turned into a tired shell of a person&comma; unable to lead a fulfilling life&comma; and unable to move on from his memories of Sarah&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;2&period;bp&period;blogspot&period;com&sol;-MTp-boR&lowbar;XvI&sol;T11I3pd6UDI&sol;AAAAAAAACII&sol;uiLYvT6BqtQ&sol;s1600&sol;headwinds4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"683" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Paul still loves his wife deeply&comma; but her absence weighs on him every day &lpar;Headwinds&comma; 2011&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The film also draws our attention to the frailty of human life&period; At one moment&comma; a loved one is there&comma; sharing their lives with yours&comma; and the very next&comma; they are gone&period; Ours is an existence that is both brief and fragile&period; Lives are taken without warning&comma; and in some cases&comma; without any answers as to what really happened&period; Such is the dilemma in <i>Headwinds<&sol;i>&period; It paints life as a series of barriers to contentment&semi; Paul is constantly faced with a new problem to overcome&comma; which adds to the growing weight on his shoulders&period; Although the ending is somewhat uplifting&comma; <i>Headwinds<&sol;i> is ultimately a film about how little control we have over our lives&comma; and how we should appreciate those close to us while we still can&comma; because we never know when they might leave us forever&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf;  out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>Headwinds<&sol;i> is available for purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B00828XUCW&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B00828XUCW&amp&semi;linkId&equals;5bc934b2c83f729c6490ccc788be7e2b">here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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