Cheap My Life on Ice (DVD) (Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of My Life on Ice

Excellent ! ! ! !
My Life on Ice" (Ma vraie vie a Rouen) is excellent. Set in beautiful Normandy, Etienne, our 16 year old protaganist recieves a digital video camera as a gift from the mother of his father that he never knew. He films everything religiously, and thus the story is told without music or naration. The film is a front row seat to a boys life. The French is the street French spoken by French youth.

Living alone with his mother, he and his best friend struggle through the issues of their sexuality, Etienne finally coming to terms with his own homosexuality. This film is dramatic and an overall must see! This DVD version is excellent as well, with a variety of subtitling options.

---

Self Discovery Through A Camera
More a film about self discovery than coming out, My Life on Ice is the third film from directors/writers Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau. Like their previous film The Adventures of Felix, the main character, Etienne, is on a journey.

When he receives a video camera for his birthday, Etiennce begins relentlessly filming the people and events in his life...his mother, grandmother, best friend Ludovic, and his teacher Laurent.

What starts as a way for him to chronicle the coming year of his life (a year, he tells Ludovic, that he will find love), becomes a discovery for both the viewer and Etienne himself. We learn as much about him from the events of his life as we do about the subjects his camera lovingly captures. Is there a reason most of his subjects are men?

To try and explain the plot of this movie, if there really is one, is to not do it justice. The movie is shot entirely through the lens of Etienne's camera, but never seems gimicky, forced, or unbelievable. We are part of his life, and because of this, we take an interest in Etienne's ultimate discovery about himself.

The fact that Etienne is a figure skater (actor Jimmy Taveres is himself an accomplished skater) plays prominently in the movie. His goals for the year ahead are to win a figure skating competiton, find happiness, and find true love, although not necessarily in that order.

How, or even if, he reaches these goals is the real treat of this charming movie, filled with appealing, believable characters.

---

A rewarding journey for the patient film fan.
This leisurely paced mock documentary from France utilizes an interesting convention to explore the life of a young figure skater. The story begins as Etienne receives a video camera for his sixteenth birthday, and begins using it to chronicle the people and events in his life. The story is told entirely through the perspective of Etienne's camera lens, which sounds like a convention that could quickly grow tiresome, but actually adds a great deal to the development of the story. Tentative at first, Etienne's camerawork develops and grows more assured throughout the film, in some ways mirroring Etienne's interests and personal development. Etienne's initial subjects are random faces and scenes from his family, friends and day-to day life. Slowly, the subjects of Etienne's interests become less random, and as he begins to sharpen his focus, the path of his personal journey is made clear. An obsession with a teacher, sexually-oriented conversations with his best friend, and attempts at capturing people in various states of undress - all normal curiosities which help shed light upon Etienne's internal questioning. Some uncomfortable moments of confrontation lead to a dramatic crossroads, but the filmmaker and the audience have enough knowledge and feeling about Etienne to know that he will find the right path for himself.

This is not a film that everyone will enjoy. Those with Attention Deficit Disorder, or who lose interest in a movie if something isn't blowing up every few minutes will most likely find themselves quickly bored. Patient viewers who are willing to watch the puzzle pieces fall into place, however, will find great rewards in this satisfying slice of life exploration. Pop yourself some popcorn, turn of the phone, and let Etienne take you on a journey through his world.