A college professor and a student who loves him both end up seeing the world the hard way in an acclaimed independent feature from France. Anouk (Isild Le Besco) is a student who is preparing for her college entrance exams; in her spare time, she works as a delivery girl for a pizza parlor. Anouk is in love with one of her teachers, Laurel (Emmanuel Faventines), but he finds her ardor a bit disturbing -- so much so that one day, when he sees her following him, he makes tracks for the airport and buys a ticket for the next plane out of town, which takes him to Brazil. While in Brazil, Laurel picks up a woman he meets on the street and wakes up the next day to discover she's stolen everything he owns, including his clothes and his wallet. Laurel scavenges some clothes and a pair of rollerblades and has to figure out a way to get back to Paris. Anouk misses Laurel, but she's startled when he finally returns to Paris after several months, a haggard and broken man. Having been paid quite handsomely for a large delivery, Anouk heads to the airport and hops the next flight to Mexico, hoping to recreate his journey on her own to bring them to the same page. Adieu Babylone was the first feature from director Raphael Frydman; after working as an assistant on the film For Sale, the picture's producer offered to finance a short subject to be shot in 35 mm, but Frydman instead opted to make a full-length feature for the same amount of money, shooting on Digital Video and Super 8 film equipment.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
