Cinema surveillance images are loading at the bottom of the page

Emporte-moi (Set me free)

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

1963 will be the year that changes the life of 13-year-old Hanna (Karine Vanasse). It's in a darkened movie theatre in Montréal's Mile End that she first discovers Nana (Anna Karina) in Jean -Luc Godard's Vivre sa vie. Fascinated by this character, Hanna finds a certain similarity between Nana and one of her teachers (Nancy Huston) with whom she hopes to develop a special relationship.

Also starring Alexandre Mérineau as Paul, Miki Manojlovic as Hanna's father, Pascale Bussières as Hanna's mother and Monique Mercure as Hanna's grandmother. Directed by Léa Pool.

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

The wrong film.

Emporte-moi could be a biography where questions don't always get answers and answers don't always have questions. It would then be the filmmaker releasing her inner demons and wouldn't have to make much sense. Plot and structure are free to fly out the window because it is a psychological work not a narrative one. As there is no mention of auto-biographical content anywhere in the production notes or in the film itself, psycho-cinema is not an option.

Emporte-moi could be a rite of passage flick about two adolescents overcoming the burdens imposed on them by their parents to become useful and productive members of society (or not). It could be about the bonds that are forged between people who suffer cruel and unusual punishment together. It could be about the scars that bad parenting leaves on children. It could be about the realisation of self through independence. It ain't.

Emporte-moi could be about Paul, a troubled youth rebelling against any form of authority, finding expression in music and rhythm, disappearing into the night with frightening regularity to do who knows what. given that Paul is played by Alexandre Mérineau, one of the most talented actors I have ever seen, that is one film I would like to see.

Unfortunately, Emporte-moi is about a girl caught between a tyranical father, a martyred mother and a fantasy world created by the character of Nana. From the beginning of the film to the end her father remains a tyrant, her mother a martyr and Nana a dream. The lack of change in the central character (haircuts aside) turns this film into a directionless meander through someone's childhood and that's about all there is to it. If it weren't for Alexandre there wouldn't even be that much.