Parisian-born actress and screenwriter of Miss and the Doctors, 42 year-old Axelle Ropert, began her career as a film critic. Having failed the notoriously difficult entrance exam to La Femis, the French State Film School, Ropert honed her screenwriting skills through collaboration with Serge Bozon, French film director (who plays the part of Charles). Miss and the Doctors is Ropert’s second feature film (she was the screenwriter for Tip Top MIFF 2013).
The film’s sibling doctors work in tandem, consulting with patients side-by-side at their shared desk and conducting home visits together. Not only do the two bachelors work together, their apartments are in such close proximity that they can communicate with each other through facing windows. Unsurprisingly, the doctors are often referred to as a conjoined entity (‘the doctors’; ‘Pizarnik 1 and Pizarnik 2’) and sometimes, less affectionately, as the ‘Pizarnerds’.
The doctors are well known in their local area and there is the sense of a small community, despite the film being set in the cosmopolitan city of Paris. Boris (‘the gruff one’) is solidly portrayed by Cédric Kahn. Dimitri (‘the shy one’) and the more introverted, complex character of the two, is captured sensitively by Laurent Stocker.
Boris and Dimitri tend to take a problem-solving approach with both their patients and their external relationships, at one point being accused to seeing people purely as ‘cases to be solved’. Ironically, when it comes to dealing with the financial crisis facing their practice, the most obvious solution – consulting separately and seeing double the number of patients – does not occur to them.
Boris and Dimitri each have their own demons and throughout the film we have glimpses into what has led the brothers to their symbiotic relationship.
The prospective love interest, Judith Durance (played by the luminescent Louise Borgoin) first appears on screen wearing a striking red coat amid a sea of grey. The brothers are each in turn captivated by her red hair, red gloves and fingernails and her delicate beauty.
The film meanders gently along at a fairly slow pace, and there is not a lot of action. There are some laugh-out-loud comedic moments, and also some gritty, yet poignant scenes, particularly around Dimitri’s personal struggles. Unfortunately, the choice of music in the film is heavy-handed and distracting at times, which tends to take the viewer out of the moment.
The original French title of the film is Tirez la Langue Mademoiselle. This translates to Pull the Tongue Miss. Clearly a direct translation to English wasn’t going to cut the mustard, but Miss and the Doctors seems a fairly banal final choice.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Miss and the Doctors (Tirez la Langue Mademoiselle)
Writer/director: Axelle Ropert
Producers: Philippe Martin and David Thion
Cinematographer: Celine Bozon
Editor: Francois Quiquere
Cast: Cedric Kahn, Laurent Stocker, Louise Bourgoin, Paula Denis, Serge Bozon, Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus, Camille Cayol, Jean-Pierre Petit, Alexandre Wu
Distributors: Pyramide Distribution
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitles
Music: Benjamin Esdraffo
Rating: R+
Melbourne International Film Festival
www.miff.com.au
31 July – 17 August
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