Diane is 28 years old; she didn’t finish college, lives with her mother, and has a very troubled relationship with men. When, following yet another dramatic outburst, she is taken to jail for one night, her mother, exasperated by her behaviour, confesses that she was raped when she was nineteen. This shocking news triggers conflicting emotions in Diane, and when her mother tells her that the man who raped her is dead and that she wants to put it all behind her, Diane decides to do exactly the opposite. The consequences will be surprising.
Un détour par Diane is the third film by the duo Raphaël Balboni and Ann Sirot
He is French; she is Belgian. Their previous film, Le Syndrome des amours passées, was in competition at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes in 2023. A highly intellectual comedy that reflects on the condition of couples in contemporary culture and society, Le Syndrome was not a completely fulfilling film; it was rather unbalanced in its screenplay and weighed down by an excess of symbolism.
Evidently, however, Balboni and Sirot possess the rare ability to critically evaluate their work, analyse it, and understand where and how to improve it. The story of Diane, her highly dysfunctional family, and her relationship with men is, in contrast, very well executed. The two directors do not abandon their ideas; they simply refine them.
The Western Dadaism with which they tip their hats—in the literal sense of the word—to contemporary machismo and the protagonist’s inconclusive ultra-feminism is a delightful touch, unobtrusive and intelligently utilised for narrative purposes. The portrayal of sex as an art form—an idea already present in their previous work—is far more effective here, especially when love gives way to the act, thus shifting from a geometric functionalism to a sensual study of bodies reminiscent of Mapplethorpe’s work.
The most pleasantly surprising aspect of Un détour par Diane is the scriptwriting
Essential, fluid, with excellently constructed and delineated characters and a narrative progression that is organic and never forced. The genres overlap; the film remains a comedy but handles those necessary dramatic moments with delicacy, while at the same time taking the time for an objective reflection on the excesses and damage caused by the escalation of “woke” culture in recent years. There’s also a nod to the cinema of Chantal Akerman, as Diane’s mother resembles a Jeanne Dielman who hasn’t let herself be overwhelmed by life’s tragedies.
Un détour par Diane is a very free-spirited work, even in its style, characterised by handheld camerawork and an extreme use of jump cuts, which, on the one hand, offers the actors—all of whom are excellent—the opportunity to let loose and delve even deeper into their characters, and on the other, gives the film a syncopated, very jazz-like rhythm.
A lovely surprise, deservedly selected for the 83rd Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti section—a perfect fit for two directors who have something important to say about the drift of emotions in this world that is both falling apart and undergoing transformation. Whether for better or for worse, we’ll find out. Perhaps by making love on a beach in the Ardennes.