MOVIE REVIEWS : A FRENCH ‘RENDEZ-VOUS’ WITH LOVE AND AMBITION

Behind the opening credits for Andre Techine’s swift and somber “Rendez-vous” (Beverly Center Cineplex), we watch a train rapidly approaching Paris. In this one brief sequence Techine has set the tone for all that is to follow: His impetuous heroine Nina (Juliette Binoche, in her first major role) has fled the provinces on the stroke of her 18th birthday to pursue her dream of becoming an actress.

From the moment of her arrival in Paris she never stops her rapid progress toward her rendezvous with destiny, steadfastly fired by ambition as she is propelled from one man to another. “You can always get something out of a man,” she says matter-of-factly. But she also gets more than she bargained for.

Drenchingly romantic but beautifully controlled, “Rendez-vous” takes grand passion with a seriousness that only the French seem able to muster. While there’s little doubt most Americans would welcome some levity along the way, there’s also no denying Techine’s ability to catch you up in Nina’s fate--provided you’re willing to go along with him.

Small and dark, Binoche brings to mind Louise Brooks--in the eyes, especially--and “Rendez-vous” plays like a contemporary variation on “Pandora’s Box.” The radiant Binoche, like Brooks, projects an innocence and carnality that drives men wild. From the neat, shy young real estate agent Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak, who played the murderer in Techine’s recent “Scene of the Crime”), who does not attract her, she moves on to his moody, violent roommate Quentin (Lambert Wilson), and later to Quentin’s erstwhile mentor Scrutzler (Jean-Louis Trintignant), an important stage director for whom she is the daughter he lost.

It’s the love story of Nina and Quentin, however, that ignites the film. Quentin is relentlessly, outrageously self-destructive, a man with a tragic secret, but Wilson is handsome and vulnerable enough to make him sympathetic. The thin, hawk-profiled, high-cheekboned actor is touching in the way that James Dean was, and what Nina experiences with Quentin provides her with the emotional resources she will need if she is to develop and succeed as an actress.

There’s a quality of effortlessness to “Rendez-vous”--in its flow of succinct, beautiful images with their cool, natural hues--that complements a heroine determined to allow her emotional honesty to direct her life, regardless of the cost to herself and others. A master at depicting the plight of strong-willed women with rigor and compassion, Techine with this film (Times-rated Mature for sex, nudity, adult themes) and “Scene of the Crime” has clearly emerged as a major director after some years of uneven accomplishment. He has now in full measure that characteristically French understanding that in dealing with love and passion, a brisk, laconic style creates the greatest emotional impact.

‘RENDEZ-VOUS’

An International Spectrafilm release. Executive producer Armand Barbault. Producer Alain Terzian. Director Andre Techine. Screenplay Techine, Oliver Assayas. Camera Renato Berta. Music Philippe Sarde. Art director Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko. Costumes Christian Gasc. Film editor Martine Giordano. With Juliette Binoche, Lambert Wilson, Wadeck Stanczak, Dominique Lavanant.

Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes.

Times-rated: Mature.