A chance encounter sparks a compulsive obsessive attraction between two strangers. At times eerie, goofy and sentimental, “Wild Grass” is a middle-aged man’s fantasy.

When a nice looking 50ish man – with a questionable past—finds a woman’s wallet he is drawn to her pilot’s license photograph and imagined details of her life. They meet after he returns her wallet to a police precinct, and from that point on, Georges Palet (Andre Dussollier) and Marguerite Muir (Sabine Azema) thrill in an unexplainable cat and mouse game of chasing and rejecting each other.

And only in a French film would the gorgeous wife (Anne Consigny) be totally accepting of “another” woman calling in the middle of the night for her husband, let alone invite her in for tea and warm chat. With dream-like quality, slow motion sections underscore significant plot points while the camera traces objects in the background that add personality to a house or neighborhood. Images are repeated like exclamation points: a stolen saffron bag flying in the air, a woman’s face surrounded by soapy water and a wristwatch. Both want something they don’t really need, and both share a love of flying---freedom from earth’s gravitational pull and demands. In quirky twists, first George becomes a stalker only to be matched and topped by Marguerite. In true nightmare fashion, Marguerite—a dentist—becomes so unhinged by George’s snubs, she assumes the persona of a “demon” dentist.

Like much of the film, plot lines and character’s back stories lack detail and instead get broad brush strokes of sensation, ending with the main characters piling into Marguerite’s plane, for a ride to, who knows where?
New York Film Festival Opening Night Film.
By C.Ipiotis