Anne is discreet. Secretive. She is a mystery to herself. Anne does without love. She feels no emotions. It suits her fine. Anne has been through an ordeal, not lost her mind. She has put herself in quarantine. Anne is making her way back upstream, retracing the journey, taking things one at a time. Let us wait for her joy to come back.
Reviews
The Independent
Anthony Quinn
“Caumon's camera stays close to his star, looking for clues in her seldom-changing expression and almost wincing at the way she rebuffs every opportunity to connect.”
17/08/2012
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Total Film
Tom Dawson
“Taking its title from the pigeon that nestles behind the wall of Anne’s apartment, this thoughtful film is modest in scope, but remains quietly moving in its portrayal of both nature and the transience of human feelings.”
06/08/2012
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The Observer
Philip French
“When Anne goes for a big weep at the cinema, she has the good taste to see Mizoguchi's The Life of Oharu, one of the greatest films about a woman suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in silence.”
19/08/2012
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Time Out
Cath Clarke
“Anne, it emerges, is numbed by grief, and Kiberlain’s subtle performance is poignant: when the worst thing you can imagine happens, how do you go on living? It’s plausibly handled, except for the bird of the title – a pigeon Anne takes care of after it flaps into her flat. Surely a more realistic response would be to reach for a heavy-duty broom handle.”
15/08/2012
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The Times
Wendy Ide
“The sort of film that rests entirely on one performance. And when that performance is as internalised and subdued as this it can add up to quite a challenging viewing experience. But although it requires an investment by the viewer, there is a subtle sensitivity to the storytelling that is quietly affecting.”
17/08/2012
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Empire Magazine
David Parkinson
“Sometimes calculatingly low-key, but a deceptive wit compensates.”
13/08/2012
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“Caumon cleverly suggests an ambiguity: is the bird a symbol of life and hope – or its opposite, merely the disquieting sign of verminous decay and deterioriation, as Anne's life gradually becomes a ruin? Caumon allows the film to unspool calmly, gently and unexpectedly hopefully to its conclusion.”
16/08/2012
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The Financial Times
Leo Robson
“Sandrine Kiberlain, who appears in all but one scene, has deep sad eyes, but the film is less interested in expressiveness than atmospherics, especially the atmosphere offered by drift and quiet. Writer-director Yves Caumon isn’t the first to show that trying to follow the Eric Rohmer recipe is no good if you lack the secret ingredient. Call it grace.”
16/08/2012
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The Daily Telegraph
Tim Robey
“The habitual impassivity of leading lady Sandrine Kiberlain is ploddingly apt in her role as an aloof restaurant worker, while director Yves Caumon takes a striptease approach to explaining her damage. ”
16/08/2012
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The Sunday Times
Cosmo Landesman
“It avoids being boring, but for all its French bleakness, it’s a touch corny.”
19/08/2012
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