Nocturne indien (1989)
Directed by Alain Corneau

Film Review

After a series of what are now regarded as classic French thrillers, including Police Python 357 (1976) and Le Choix des armes (1981), director Alain Corneau made an unexpected change of tack in the mid-1980s, and his subsequent films show a much wider diversity than anyone could have predicted.  The most striking departure was probably Nocturne indien, a curious (typically French) kind of road movie in which a young man (Jean-Hugues Anglade) goes on a search for his identity under the pretext of looking for a lost friend. The film is a faithful adaptation of the novel by Antonio Tabucchi.

To anyone familiar with Corneau's earlier films, the style of Nocturne indien is just as surprising as its subject matter.  The tone and texture of the film imbue it with a mood that is sombre, intimate and reflective, more characteristic of Eric Rohmer, Michel Deville or Jean-Luc Godard than Alain Corneau.  The dawdling pace and static, deeply sensual photography capture some of the strangeness, to a Westerner, of life in India, with its extremes of climate, natural beauty, and acute human suffering.   Whilst the film has great artistic merit, it does get a little caught up in its cleverness.  The abundance of arcane cultural references amid some complex philosophical discussions gives the film an overly intellectual feel, which to some extent dilutes the poetry and raw humanity which comes from Anglade's arresting performance and the poignant images of everyday life in India.

Film Synopsis

Arriving in Bombay with a small suitcase, a young Frenchman named Rossignol immediately sets about looking for a friend of his, Xavier, who went missing about a year ago.  His search begins with a visit to the prostitute, Vimla, who wrote to him informing him of his friends' disappearance.  It seems that before he went missing, Xavier fell ill and was treated at a hospital near to where he was staying.  Encouraged by this start, Rossignol heads over to the hospital and has it confirmed by one of the doctors that his friend was in for treatment for a while.

The young man's ardent quest then takes him on to Madras, where he meets a professor with whom Xavier was in contact and who suggests his friend might now be settled in Goa.  Half-convinced that his long search will soon be over, Rossignol continues his journey and, not long after his arrival in Goa, he meets up with an attractive French photographer, Christine, who is compiling a report on poverty in the region.  It is only then that the young man realises why he undertook this bizarre pilgrimage to India...