Madeleine is the kind of girl who puts a whole fish in a blender, then gulps down the concoction as if it were a tasty chocolate shake. Arnaud is the type of guy who rescues a baby ferret from certain death, then builds it a nice home. These singular characters create a funny dynamic in “Love at First Fight,” an engaging but frustrating dramedy that took home the best first feature César Award for director and co-writer Thomas Cailley.
He wasn’t the only one who scored a prize at the French equivalent of the Academy Awards — so did the leads, Adèle Haenel for best actress and Kévin Azaïs for most promising actor.
Haenel’s Madeleine is intense and aggressive. She spends her days training — swimming the lengths of her parents’ pool wearing a weighted backpack — so she can join the military.
She first meets Arnaud (Azaïs) when the two are paired up for a self-defense exercise put on by Army recruiters visiting their small coastal town.
Arnaud is good-natured but adrift. While Arnaud is building a pavilion for Madeleine’s family, the pair strikes up a friendship, although he clearly wants more. They’re an odd duo, mostly because they don’t fit neatly into gendered stereotypes. When Arnaud rescues the ferret from Madeleine’s pool, he offers it to her, but she responds with a horrified look.
This sets the stage for a finale that feels dishearteningly like the same old damsel-in-distress routine.
Despite that letdown, both actors show in cred ible range, especially Haenel, whose fragility must rise to the surface and fleetingly burst through her tough-girl persona.
The actors make the movie’s memorable characters are all the more indelible, even when “Love at First Fight” loses its sense of originality.
