Continuer

Like "l'année polaire" , "continuer " takes us far away from the feel good French cinema and far from the unmpteeth children/parents reunion,some bourgeois who did their way of life but always complain .

Filmed in the wild plains of Kirghizistan, in a world where there are no computers,no bathrooms ,and where sometimes you have to use a gun , in this modern "western ".Both principals' enemy is themselves yet ,as they ride on their saddles across magnificent landscapes.

In the first scenes ,Sam calls Sybil by her first name and we believe they are a couple whose marriage is on the rocks; Sybil speaks Russian and Sam does not ;he feels humiliated and during the frugal meal in the modest home in the middle of nowhere ,he shows his contempt for those peasant people .A violent verbal quarrel follows and one feels how immature Samuel is :a grown-up kid.

The only interest they share is their love for horses: for it is a horse trek ,which means they may need blacksmiths ; vet surgeons are absent.But without science ,these people "have their way with horses ; they are sacred animals for them" However, Sam 'most precious piece of luggage is his ipod,his only connection with what he calls civilization :when he loses it,his despair knows no bounds ;he's afraid to sleep alone in his tent because there may be a lizard (or is -it a snake?) in it.And he shouts when his mom does not want to use her mobile.

Hadn't it been for Sybil ,he would never set out upon this challenging trek ;the only moment when he shows himself an adult is when he gets rid of the horses thieves ,but he does it at the point of a gun.(a gift from the natives)

Sybil has something to be guilty of too: she thinks she's never been a good mother : her self-confidence ,her ability to speak a foreign language in this Asian country which covers a large deserted area where her son is like a little child : a wonderful sequence shows the boy in the distance ,no bigger than a pinhead ,listening to funk music which seems exotic in these faraway plains.Her strength cuts both ways : he may feel like a sissy.

But when they break into Pierre Perret's warm song which goes like this :" don't worry ,my pet, don't cry,c'est la vie", something has begun :both reassure each other.

Life is worth living ,and we've got to carry on.