Wri/Dir: Pablo Agüero | Cast: Louis Garrel, Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Sergej Onopko, Yseult, Blanche Redouloux | France Drama 98’
The French writer and poet Antoine de Saint-Exupery has always held a special place in the French collective imagination with his wartime death shrouded in mystery. Rather like the English artist Eric Ravillious, who lost his life off the coast of Iceland, the Petit Prince writer also disappeared at sea when his plane vanished during a reconnaissance mission over Corsica in July 1944 ,
Here, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the writer’s loss, the Argentine director Pablo Aguero puts a poetic spin in a reverie that recalls the time during the 1930s when Saint Ex and his childhood friend Guillaumet (Cassel) were pioneering aviators risking their lives in the line of duty to deliver mail between Europe and South America on Aéropostale, a vital service and one of the many that saw men putting their country first. Faithful to Saint-Ex himself this airborne drama evokes the same spirit and fantasy elements of his work enhancing the poignancy of a tender story of friendship and sacrifice, inspired by Saint-Exupery’s 1939 novel Terre des Hommes .
Guillaumet, whose dedicated wife Noelle is delicately brought to life by Diane Kruger when Saint-Ex attempts to rescue his colleague who also went missing, during a postal delivery. Saint-Ex is transformed from a the boyish dreamer who crafted Le Petit Prince into a Gallic hero worthy of his place in French history.
Rather than opting for a straightforward biopic about Saint-Ex and his life, Aguero brings magic realism into a whimsical tale of courage, endeavour and captivating beauty enhanced by Claire Mathon’s sumptuous images of cloud formations, sunsets and misty seascapes over Patagonia and the Andes mountains. @MeredithTaylor