Hideaway

By: Amos Lassen

"Hideaway" ("Le refuge")
Changes
Amos Lassen
Lovers Louis (Melvil PouPaud) and Mousse (Isabel Carre) seem to have everything. They are young and rich and very much in love but they become involved with . Overdose and Louis died leaving Mousse pregnant and alone. Needing to escape, Mousse moves to the French countryside to have her child and to find peace. Louis's family wants her to have an abortion but Mousse wants the child. Paul, Louis's gay brother (Louis-Ronan Choisy), comes to visit and the things become to move in a new direction in this drama directed by Francois Ozon who gives us one of his strangest films and I am still not sure what this movie is really about. Is it about the danger of , the importance and influence of family, pregnancy etc? Whatever it is it makes no difference because what we see on the screen are incredible actors giving wonderful performances.
Paul and Mousse quickly become friends when they discover how much their lives are similar and this is so good for her as she is finally able to have closure after Louis's death and he expresses a desire to be father to her child.
I wrestled with the idea that this film is about pregnancy but after second viewing I came to see that it is really about the connection between people and this is a connection that can be dictated by circumstances. Our characters are indeed fallible people, representations of humanity and while we cannot ignore Mousse's pregnancy, it simply serves as the catalyst to bring people together. Ozon is known for employing family in his drama again shows us two kinds of family-that of Louis which is concerned with reputation and materialism and the new family of Mousse and Paul, brought together out of mutual need.