FROM THE BUCKET REVIEWS ARCHIVE

Review: Declaration of War

Danny Baldwin · 2012 · Inferred archive year; publication date unknown

Declaration of War opens very similarly to dozens of new-age romances – the two young, attractive leads lock eyes at a club, music blaring and drugs present. When they introduce themselves to one another, we learn that their names are Romeo (Jérémie Elkaïm) and Juliette (Valérie Donzelli), in what seems like an on-the-nose indicator that tragedy will befall them in the third act. In actuality, co-writer/director/star Donzelli is just toying with the audience’s expectations, because tragedy arrives much sooner, after relatively little bliss in the relationship. Romeo and Juliette’s fling results in a child, Adam. As unprepared for parenthood as the duo may be, they realize that Adam doesn’t seem to be developing normally – he feeds non-stop, isn’t walking by 18 months, and has a swollen face. Several doctors’ appointments later, they are told perhaps the worst thing a parent can hear: Adam has a malignant brain tumor. What ensues couldn’t be further from the theatrics of the Capulets and the Montagues.

As the fight to save Adam’s life consumes Romeo and Juliette over subsequent years—they navigate a universal healthcare system that, albeit free of charge, hardly comes across as the utopian institution painted by the American left—the film is painfully realistic. Thanks to the terrific performances by Elkaïm and Donzelli, who based the film on their real-life experiences, there is nary a moment that doesn’t feel true. Whereas a Hollywood production on the same subject matter—if it were ever green-lit, that is—might focus on the misadventures of the clueless young parents and how the challenge ultimately brings the family closer together, there is no such artifice on display here. There are a few surreal passages of stylistic flourish–scenes of anguish set to electronic music, a sequence in which the leads burst into song (yes, like in a musical), the occasionally gorgeous shot that defies the mostly realist aesthetic—but these don’t undermine the authenticity, they simply function as momentary, hyperbolic reprieve.

And yet, for as affecting and human as Declaration of War is, its appeal is rather limited. I admire the film’s deconstruction of the “new parents” sub-genre and its visceral storytelling, which resists every opportunity for easy manipulation, but I probably would not recommend it to most because it ultimately has relatively little to say about the characters and their plight – the necessary ingredient to make the horrors of the story worth enduring. In other words, authenticity is what supports a great film, but in the case of Declaration of War, authenticity is the film. Still, that Donzelli and Elkaïm are able to achieve such rawness onscreen is an accomplishment that must be recognized, even if understandably few will ever elect to experience it.

* * *

Declaration of War (2012, France). Produced by Serge Catoire, Xavier Giannoli, and Edouard Weil. Directed by Valérie Donzelli. Written for the screen by Valérie Donzelli and Jérémie Elkaïm. Starring Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm, César Desseix, Gabriel Elkaïm, Brigitte Sy, Elina Löwensohn, Michèle Moretti, Philippe Laudenbach, and Frédéric Pierrot. Distributed by IFC Films. Not rated, with a running time of 100 minutes.