French director, screenwriter and film critic, Olivier Assayas has been writing and directing movies for the better part of 35 years. The son of director Raymond Assayas, (better known as Jacques Rémy, 1911–1981), Assayas was born in Paris and started in the business assisting his father. Assayas made his debut feature in 1986 (Disorder) after directing a handful of shorts and writing for the highly influential film magazine, Cahiers Du Cinema.
Heavily influenced by Robert Bresson, George Orwell and Guy DeBord, Assayas consciousness was impacted by the May Uprising of 1968 to overthrow General de Gaulle: "I was defined by the politics of May '68- for me it was an anti-totalitarian uprising.” This dissident undercurrent can be felt in many of Assayas’ films. He is at his best when he’s channelling restless youth and a distrust of authority.
An accomplished writer and director with a mature filmography, Assayas’ has written a movie directed by Roman Polanski (Based on a True Story (2017)), made at least one masterpiece (Cold Water (1994)), and is currently experiencing a kind of resurgence as a filmmaker to keep an eye on. His other projects include Winter’s Child (1989), his biggest hit to date- Irma Vep (1996), Late August, Early September (1998), Demonlover (2002), Boarding Gate (2007), Something in the Air (2012), Cloud of Sils Maria (2014), Personal Shopper (2016) and the acclaimed French TV miniseries, Carlos (2010), about terrorist- Ilich Ramirez Sanchez.
His latest offering, Non-Fiction (2018) (also titled Double Lives), is a comedy starring Guillame Canet, Vincent Macaigne, Nora Hamzawi and the incomparable Juliette Binoche. I saw the film at the Violet Crown Cinema in downtown Austin, Texas (terrific art-house movie theatre with a great bar and food selection). It’s been noted that Non-Fiction may be Assayas channeling Woody Allen. This is pretty much the case and not altogether displeasing. It’s a chamber piece of sorts involving a handful of bohemian characters discussing a handful of lofty subjects with an evident lack of moral regard. We have a bedraggled, slightly pathetic writer (Macaigne), a conflicted, somewhat brilliant editor (Canet), husbands, wives, lovers, and an unfulfilled actress (Binoche). It’s Juliette Binoche and her dependable radiance that moves Non-Fiction forward. She’s done fantastic work with Assayas before (Summer Hours (2008), the beautiful Cloud of Sils Maria, (2014)) and what she does for the director here is comical, touching and rather forlorn. Everyone in the film is a shit and the movie definitely feels a tad repetitive at times. Assayas wants the viewer to feel trapped in this literary realm with the characters and their neurotic leanings (again- Woody). Non-Fiction is an hour and 48 minutes of self-involved banter and repressed authenticities. That’s not to say Non-Fiction is bad- it isn’t. But it does lack the usual whirling electricity and fortified core this director is more than capable of. Of course, this may be the point of Non-Fiction. The characters in the film are mostly accommodating the delirium of immaturity. Sometimes people talk elusive circles around each other to dodge the possibility of self cognizance. Unethical behavior is farcical by design. Such activity can be quite funny.