Un Crabe dans la Tête

A-

Directed by André Turpin

Québécois filmmakers are some of the very best in the world at capturing the emotional complexities of relationships amongst adults. Directors like Denys Arcand and Ricardo Trogi all paint accurate portraits of adults grappling with their own set of relational issues that reflect the state of Québécois society in a frank and honest way while at the same time holding an undeniably universal appeal in their characterizations of adults struggling to let go of their youth.
Alex, the main chracter of Turpin's "Un Crabe dans la Tête," is an emotionally stunted but kindhearted underwater photographer who, upon his return to Montreal after a diving accident, sets of a chain of emotionally damaging events that are in all cases caused by his desire to please everyone around him. You see, Alex is something of a casanova but one without malice, meaning only to love and be loved without breaking hearts or ruining friendships. Of course, as we all learned from watching "Alfie," the man who seeks to hurt no one often instead hurts everyone and this is exactly what happens with Alex, forcing him to reconsider his own attitudes and choices as he is faced with the stark realization of his own character flaws and personal failures.

"Un Crabe dans la Tête" succeeds in showing us Alex for who he really is, namely a dangerous man who is emotionally manipulative without appearing to be or even realizing it himself, without demonizing him or otherwise wagging a disapproving finger in his face. Instead, Alex is painted as a figure whose own naiveté in regards to his actions and emotional immaturity is in the end as destructive for him as it is for others. Although Alex's character is so effortlessly and completely developed by Turpin that he could practically jump through the screen at the end of the movie, a major drawback of Turpin's film is that many of the charatcers around Alex, most notably his "girlfriend" Marie, played by the wonderful Isabelle Blais, are woefully underdeveloped and are left as semi-three dimensional, instantly forgettable chacracters.

Turpin directed music videos and commericals before getting into feature films which is apparent when watching "Un Crabe dans la Tête,"as the camera moves around the actors and their environment at a dizzying speed, choosing to rely more on extreme closeups than panoramic shots of the action. Although this technique is not always a winner and can often lead to extreme annoyance and/or epileptic fits, it serves Turpin's film well and gives it an exciting punch.