‘To Have (or Not)’ Glows With Warmth

Young people in French films always seem so much more serious and reflective than their American counterparts, and that can be quite beguiling, as in the case of Laetitia Masson’s low-key, pitch-perfect first feature, “To Have (or Not),” the second offering in the Grande 4-Plex’s “Le Cinema Francais” series.

It’s a small, intimate film, and Masson, who has been a camera assistant to Jacques Rivette on “La Belle Noiseuse,” displays an easy, assured style and a flawless sense of proportion. She’s gotten everything just right; you feel she has a sense of humor, although her film is not a comedy. “To Have (or Not)” also has a subtle glow that should come as no surprise, for her cinematographer Caroline Champetier also shot Jean-Luc Godard’s beautiful “Helas pour Moi,” filling it with natural light.

The centerpiece of her film is Alice, played by a striking new actress named Sandrine Kiberlain, who is tall, long-necked and has a strong profile. At one point, Alice, feeling weary, remarks that she looks “like a tired giraffe.” Yet Kiberlain is as attractive as she is distinctive looking and has a vibrant presence, radiating strength but also vulnerability.

To top it off, she is an actress of depth and concentration. (In 1995, when this film was released in France, Kiberlain won a Cesar as the most promising young actress of the year.)

When we meet Alice, she is just getting laid off from her fish-cannery job in a northern French town. Facing difficulty finding new work and bored with the bleak locale, she breaks off with her boyfriend and decides to try her luck in Lyon with the idea of figuring out how to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. Meanwhile, we also meet Bruno (Arnaud Giovaninetti, also a gifted actor), a darkly handsome, sensitive construction worker deeply hurt in the wake of a broken romance.

Inevitably but not immediately, Alice and Bruno cross paths at a small hotel managed by Bruno’s pal Joseph (Roschdy Zem) where they are both staying temporarily. Masson shrewdly has allowed us to get to know them before they get to know each other. They are both most likable and intelligent young people aware of their limited opportunities, yet Alice has developed an ambitiousness that Bruno lacks. He, in fact, represents a blue-collar existence from which he has become determined to try to flee.

Alice’s and Bruno’s destinies unfold amid a big-city’s workaday world, which Masson views with much warmth and compassion. “To Have (or Not)” is inviting and graceful, has a bracing dash or reality and leaves us eager to see what Masson and her actors do next.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: The film is suitable for youngsters in what it depicts on the screen, but its themes are adult.

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‘To Have (or Not)’

(‘En Avoir (Ou Pas)’)

Sandrine Kiberlain: Alice

Arnaud Giovaninetti: Bruno

Roschdy Zem: Joseph

A Cinema Parallel release of a CLP/Dacia Films production. Writer-director Laetitia Masson. Producer Francois Cuel (CLP) and Georges Benayoun (Dacia Film). Cinematographer Caroline Champetier. Editor Yann Dedet. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Grande 4-Plex for one week, 345 S. Figueroa St., downtown Los Angeles, (213) 617-0268.