Les Combattants (Love at First Fight)

A twist on the battle between the sexes and the romance which blooms after the dust has settled, Les Combattants pitches the reticent Arnaud into the path of the intimidating Madelaine. While the outcome is never in doubt, true love is only achieved after navigating a few bumps in the road, most of which result from Madelaine’s feelings that she and the world in general are at war with each other.

The fitting title Les Combattants is a neat pun. Not only are Arnaud and Madelaine at loggerheads, they actually begin training for the army, apparently France’s second-biggest employer after McDonald’s. Potentially, they are also combatants in the military sense of the word: Love at First Fight, the Anglophone title of director Thomas Cailley’s first feature, misses the word play.

Along France’s south-west coast, brothers Arnaud (Kévin Azaïs) and Manu (Antoine Laurent) are dealing with the recent death of their father. Disliking the coffins they are offered, they decide to make their own in the carpentry workshop of the family business. The older Manu is concerned that the business should continue while Arnaud is unsure what he wants. Their mother tries to steer him.

Then, at a beachfront army recruitment stand, Arnaud encounters antagonistic Madelaine (Adèle Haenel). Convinced the known world is coming to an end, she decides to join a tough army training course. He follows her. It’s quickly apparent that the course is not for her: she goes on the lam and, again, he follows her. For a time, they live in the wild (pictured above right) where they’re drawn to each other (without the usual fireworks) and become lovers.

There is a social satire element to the film as well as black humour, but the points made are as lightweight as the comedy is unfunny. The army has rigid rules which cannot accommodate Madelaine’s personality – but that's what an army is. Environmental change and respect for the surrounding world are issues of great concern, but it’s hardly a surprise that few people care about the bad times which may be coming. When the duo become ad hoc survivalists, they are found to be ill prepared: Madelaine falls ill and Arnaud doesn’t have the means to deal with it: it’s no revelation that life in the wild has its dangers. All these underwhelming thematic ingredients are overshadowed by one element which is glaringly awol: the reason for Madelaine’s apocalyptic outlook.

Les Combattants is on firmer ground with its cast and settings. As Madelaine, Haenel carries the film: her strong façade is revealed to have cracks, while her loneliness becomes more and more evident. Although not as impactful as her appearances in Céline Sciamma’s Water Lilies and Katell Quillévéré's Suzanne, this is a notable characterisation. Azaïs’ Arnaud is more subtle and, from the beginning, clearly a young man looking for something after the death of his father: a gap is there to be plugged. Cailley’s rendering of the desiccated townscapes of south-west France is striking, as are his wide-screen depictions of the region’s landscapes (pictured above left) and the event that ends the couple’s time in the wild.

Overall, Les Combattants is a slim film. Nonetheless, it picked up a fistful of honours in France last year, both at Cannes and the César Awards. Cailley, his cast and crew are no doubt pleased with this but British viewers will be mystified as to why. Les Combattants is diverting enough, but it is not exceptional.

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Overleaf: watch the trailer for Les Combattants (Love at First First)

Watch the trailer for Les Combattants (Love at First First)