«After», before and after passion

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

«You and I can never be just friends.»

Tessa is cute and sweet. She's always listened to her mom and her boyfriend Noah. Because he's cute and nice too. What's more, he gives her lots of good advice; he only wants what's best for her. And she needs advice for her new beginning. Tessa is leaving her small town to go to college in Atlanta. But the change isn't just geographical, it's radical. New school, new life. And new encounters. Including Hardin, a bad boy dressed all in black, after resistance, will make her head spin, make her lose her cool. He's her ride! But it's not all that simple: passion has its reasons that reason ignores.

Cucul la praline

A beautiful picture of romance cucul la praline, right? That's right! But there's nothing to get worked up about. There's plenty to laugh about. After manages to bring together all - or almost all - the caricatures of the teen romance film. At least we know what we're getting into. No lies. No false subversions. The audience is warned. They can see that this sweet young girl is going to leave everything for love. It's all very well for her mother to say in a dejected tone: «This boy will break your heart», but she's going straight ahead.

Of course there will be arguments. Of course there will be a breakup. And get this: not just any breakup, but an AOC romance breakup! It's evening; it's raining. After one wrong word, she leaves the premises. But not like anyone else, who leaves, in a car or on public transport, her face dark with bitterness. No, she runs in a little sweater outside the ad, a sky whose sadness is unleashed. What emotions! Especially as Hardin chases after her, only a few yards, until he stops, watching his beautiful girl walk away. His tears merge with the rain, and he puts his hands in his hair. Too bad he didn't also fall to his knees. That would have been the total package. 

Of course, if the two have been drawn together like magnets, it's because they've both had a tough life. So they each go into their own story, beginning with a tremor in their voices: «My father left when I was ten...» Honestly, my heart aches for her, but I can't help laughing in the room. Discomfort. Anyway, moving on. And of course, they have a little secret corner that Hardin has unearthed. And it's not a nice, quiet bench where you can snog each other. No, it's actually a small lake with a charming wooden pontoon for diving, if you please.

His passion

Here's a selection of some of the film's many caricatures. And yet, it's not all bad. Some shots offer an elegant view of love. The sex scenes, though repetitive, have the merit of playing up suggestion with close-ups of Hardin's hand sliding along Tessa's body. She's discovering love. Her skin trembles and tenses with excitement. Or the shot of the two faces coming together, framed, with a luminous space between their foreheads. A space of freedom opening up to the sky? Perhaps. In any case, the shot in question leads us to reflect on the place of freedom in this passion for love. 

«- I still don't believe it.

- What don't you believe in?

-That you're mine.»

She becomes his possession. He becomes her passion. Tessa and Hardin catch and bind. They chain themselves. It's a safe bet that this kind of relationship can't last. What basis is there for love, if not the flash of an encounter that turns into union? When it comes to pedagogy, there's nothing worse to offer young and old alike. There's nothing between the two but attraction; there's no choice. Pure sentiment, without reason. 

And the whole flaw in my review lies in this precise element. How can you criticize the lack of reason in a film that tells the story of two lives changing? after passion? In fact, any reasonable discourse I can muster is practically useless. It's because’After, as stupid as it may be, sells dreams. For teenagers, and a little for me too. All right, not every girl dreams of a bad boy. Granted, not every boy dreams of a sexy nerd who resists and opposes. But still! Tessa is to die for. 

It sounds silly and pitiful, I know, but deep down, I'd like to be a Hardin sometimes. So do so many others, even if they won't admit it. Girls, when they're playing the unattainable princess, wish they were a bit like Tessa. Simply because the passion proposed in the film is a return to the youth of youths, with its instinctive, carefree character. 

Ridiculous, beast, not very fute-fute and caricatured to the max: it's totally After. But the film, as it says, sells dreams. Of a passion that sees a young girl's gaze plunge into yours. A passion that sees a man's T-shirt rippled by a woman's fresh, new breasts. Passion that makes you unhappy. Passion that's doomed to failure. A passion that means there's a before and an after in life. After.

Write to the author: loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com