Jean, an
18-year-old boy in 1960’s Paris, is called in to the police because his name
popped up in the address book of someone. When he is about to leave the police
station, he stumbles acrossa girl whom he then awaits in a nearby café. She,
too, has been interrogated and additionally, she is in need of a place to stay
for the night. He takes her home, or what is left of his home since his father
went away and he is taken care of by one of his father’s friends. The next
morning, they walk around Paris, where she has some business to do at different
places. This is also where he gets to know two suspicious men for whom they
deliver a message. The day after, they both have vanished and again the police
contact and warn him of his acquaintances. Can he trust the beautiful girl at
his side?
Again
Modiano sets his story in the 1960s of the French capital, and - also again - we have a young woman fleeing
from her life, vanishing in the city’s night life, fascinating the men around
her. And we have the young man, observant to the life around him, searching for
an aim in his own life, strolling around without knowing where to go.
Modiano
like no other manages to convey the feeling of a generation which was lost
somehow, searching for a reason to live. The way they roam the city, entering
one café after another, having brief encounters here and there without lasting effects
– perfect symbols of young men and women confused and forlorn.
