Grand Central (2013)

Directed by: Rebecca Zlotowski
Country: France / Austria

Movie Review: Rebecca Zlotowski’s sophomore feature, “Grand Central”, is certainly not referred to the Grand Central Station but to a nuclear power plant in the suburbs of France, where Gary Manda (Tahar Rahim), an outcast even in his own family, finds the love of his life, Karole (Léa Seydoux). The problem is that Karole is the future wife of Toni (Denis Ménochet), one of the leaders of the plant, and a dangerous love triangle will be formed. The situation is aggravated when Karole gets pregnant, knowing that Toni is unable to have children according to his medical report. Divided and confused, she seems truly in love with Gary but at the same time keeps some kind of ‘loyalty’ to Toni, to whom she says she wants to marry. Apart from this ‘radioactive’ romance, French helmer Zlotowski, who co-wrote the script with Gaelle Macé (“Bélle Epine” was their first collaboration), plays with a series of dangerous accidents in the plant that puts everyone’s lives in danger. Some anxiety is drawn by these fatalist situations, while the romance frequently feels dry as the Sahara desert, even considering the accomplished performances by Rahim and Seydoux. In spite of the soft approach, the scenarios and characters felt real, and the idea showed potentiality, but never attaining sufficiently deep proportions and a solid development. In the end, I remembered to have thought: ‘and then what?’ I believe that “Grand Central”, similarly to its neglectful protagonist Gary, didn’t show enough qualifications to be a reference.