3 Mulligans

Whenever a film combines mismatched elements – seriousness and humor, graphic scenes and vague ideas, unsettling images and comforting ones – I feel obligated to enjoy it. Léolo was bound to succeed on this level, until halfway through when it sank to one side and left me feeling only one thing – depressed. What started off looking like The Return Of Amelie, turned into Breaking The Waves II. Even so, I recommend seeing it, just not with my usual level of enthusiasm.

It was easy relating to Léolo’s back story, in which a pre-teen boy fantasizes about growing up in an environment much different from his own. What makes this story unique, however, is that the boy doesn’t just start with the present and go forward, he goes back to the very beginning – how he was conceived – in order to reinvent himself in a more thorough manner. This represents the movie’s funniest and most memorable scenes. Then, he addresses the issue of his name. Instead of settling on the French-Canadian Leo Lozeau, he insists on being called Léolo Luzone because it reflects the country with which he’d rather be associated, Italy. As Leo examines each member of his family, the reasoning behind his obsessive fantasies becomes clear; his situation is bleak and he desperately needs an escape.

Some of the fictional scenes were hard to watch, but only because I knew they weren’t real. Whenever Leo is pictured in a simple, normal setting, that ideal image was bound to disappear and give way to reality. The picnic scene is the best example and it left me hoping that at least one vision came from a pleasant memory.  I kept looking for proof that it actually happened, but it didn’t. As the movie progressed, Leo’s condition became increasingly serious and Léolo concludes with a tragic and powerful ending.

I enjoy having my emotions twisted into knots and pulled in several directions and by that definition, Léolo worked very well. But even with its odd mix of traits, its only lasting impression on me was that of feeling sad about its outcome.