Paul & Paulette Take a Bath
A morbid anti-romcom, Paul & Paulette Take a Bath is a road trip through the banality of evil that forgets its characters along the way
Jethro Massey's debut is a polarising battle of the quirkiest between the titular heroes, a French flâneuse (Marie Benati) drawn to all things ancient and dead, and an American photographer (Jérémie Galiana) who tags along for the ride. Inspired by Lee Miller's stunning shot in Adolf Hitler's Munich bathtub, Paul & Paulette Take a Bath explores the pair's fascination with terrible historical events. Their city tours encourage a reflection on how to consciously inhabit places with a past (and present) of violence and marginalisation, and where to draw the line between curiosity and voyeurism.
The only movie boasting an imaginary guillotine meet-cute, this Paris-set anti-romcom conjures up dreamy, magnetic visuals, yet fails to capture the characters' truths. Both protagonists are underwritten, their inner worlds relayed in voiceover, clichéd exchanges, and Tumblr-worthy tableaux from decades past. The film rarely goes beyond a surface-level back-and-forth between the leads. Paulette's characterisation is particularly frustrating, despite Benati's riveting performance. Although Paulette begs Paul not to idealise her, it's his fantasy of her we see, much like the movie's Paris is Massey's own version of the French capital, one that sweeps its modern idiosyncrasies under a rug of carefully woven, decadent beauty.
Borrowing from Nouvelle Vague and 1990s analogue romances like Before Sunset, Paul & Paulette Take a Bath lacks those staples' sharp dialogue to sustain its uneventfulness. A hybrid romance of collective responsibility, it ultimately buries a compelling discourse on evil permeating our spaces within empty layers of a relationship that should've ended at 'hello'.
Released 5 Sep by CONIC; certificate 15