Ulysses & Mona (Sébastien Betbeder, 2018): France

Reviewed by William Geare. Viewed at the 2019 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Ulysses & Mona, writer/director Sébastien Betbeder’s tale of a blossoming friendship between a young, enthusiastic art student and a jaded artist sulking in his retirement, can best be described as confused. It can’t quite decide what it wants to be. One minute the film is a philosophical musing on the relationship of an artist’s work to their life, the next it’s a cute story about an unlikely friendship reminiscent of Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, the next it’s a meandering, familial themed road movie not unlike Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers. These separate ideas all feel true to the characters, but create a muddy narrative with no real punch.

But while the film’s plot is clearly derivative of other such tragicomedies, Betbeder’s style often makes the story an enjoyable experience in spite of its familiarity. The vibrant color palette and whimsical synth score is juxtaposed nicely with the darkly funny and at times downright depressing moments. There is an undeniable chemistry between the two leads (Manal Issa and Eric Cortona) that sells the film’s conflicting tones, and enough colorful side characters to serve as a balance to Cortona’s character’s gloominess.

However, the striking visual style and strong performances are not enough to distract from the inescapable feeling that the film lacks a solid identity. It wants to be so many things, and therefore fails to become any of them. As a result, the film is unable to completely dive into any of the ideas it brings up, creating a noticeable lack of conflict that does the film no favors.

Ulysses and Mona is not a bad film. There is a unique charm to its characters and an abundance of genuinely touching moments throughout. So though the film lacks focus, there is certainly enough to love in order to warrant a recommendation.