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Wild Grass
User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 2 out of 11

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  1. SecretAgentGal
    Sep 19, 2010
    9
    With a surrealist spin on romantic comedy, Alain Resnais' Wild Grass features fully realized characters wrapped up in life's sublime silliness. It's a playful film that tantalizes us as mystery deepens. If Georges Palet (Andre Dussollier) is caught up in imagination, Marguerite (Sabine Azema) is drawn in by empathy for her benevolent stalker, a man in his sixties with memory loss who yearns for some genuine adventure in life. Marguerite, a 50-ish dentist weary of inflicting pain, falls in love with the idea of Georges falling in love with her. It all begins when she has her purse snatched one day by a rollerblader in a Paris shopping mall. Her bright yellow bag floats through the air, fashionable and fanciful. Marguerite's red wallet (which matches her shock of red hair), shows up empty of cash but intact near Georges' car. By the time Georges returns her wallet to the police, he is already enamored with the woman he's never met. After all, she has a pilot's license! The possibilities are endless. Marguerite calls Georges to thank him. When they finally meet, he deadpans, "You love me, then." The fact that Georges is married to a young wife Suzanne (Anne Consigny) is almost irrelevant. As the balance of power shifts and Marguerite pursues Georges, she befriends Suzanne and inserts herself as a friend of the family. With many asides and allusions, Wild Grass is worth seeing twice to savor its complexity. It doesn’t come across as a heavy film though with its flights of imagination, action and color. Wild Grass' characters are loveable, and their adventures treat us to an idealistic palette of "what if." Marguerite returns to her vintage World War II Spitfire after a long absence. Especially charming is a scene where the flight crew arrives to serenade her as she sleeps in the bosom of the cockpit. Finally as Marguerite soars over a patchwork of farmland, Resnais conjures a kooky kaleidoscope aimed at life. Eric Gautier's cinematography is sensual and mind-bending. Wild Grass' ending will upset many, but can be seen as transcendent. Is the unlived life worth living?… Expand
  2. Fanshawe
    Sep 18, 2010
    9
    If you're a filmgoer who needs neat, tidy plot lines and a tightly wrapped ending, do not go see this movie. If you're a fan of being provoked and/or incited by a director (think Von Trier or Haneke), you'll love it. It's one long meditation on our expectations as well-trained, Pavlovian, Hollywood-fed viewers. It's fantastic.
  3. DiegoSanRobles
    Dec 16, 2011
    10
    It’s been a year since I saw Wild Grass and yet it’s as salient as the film’s neon glow in my memory of it. I want to rewatch the film against Mulholland Dr. because the two films might be cinematic cousins. Alain Resnais’s obsession with artificiality is better articulated here than his last two more-theatrical endeavors. His trickery in this film is on a bungee cord, over the top yet restrained.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
65 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 26
  3. Negative: 4 out of 26
  1. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    Dec 14, 2010
    100
    It's a cocktail-party movie with a Molotov-cocktail finish: a tribute to the 88-year-old auteur's artistry - and his con artistry as well.
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  2. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    50
    Who, exactly, is stalking whom, and for what reason? I'm still not entirely sure, but Resnais' funky, frothy bonbon of a film is nevertheless a breathtaking sight to see.
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  3. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    88
    Although it alludes to romantic conventions, with overt references to Hollywood history and an overemphatic jazz soundtrack, Wild Grass is neither poignant nor zany. It's an exercise in artifice, not unlike David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" set in the City of Lights. I'm sure the French have a word for it, but je ne sais quoi it is.
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