Maxime arrives in Paris. He's an innocent, a clairvoyant, and a bit of a lunatic: operating solely on instinct and impulse, he is, in fact, a modern Candide, or perhaps d'Artagnan. He's looking for…
Being Light
Running time: N/A
Northern California Premiere Maxime arrives in Paris. He's an innocent, a clairvoyant, and a bit of a lunatic: operating solely on instinct and impulse, he is, in fact, a modern Candide, or perhaps d'Artagnan. He's looking for Justine, the woman he loved when he was in India. Instead, he finds Jack, an American businessman and his total opposite. Through unlikely circumstances, Maxime and Jack become fast friends, and when Maxime leaves for India to find Justine, Jack decides to drop everything and go along with him. Both, however, are in for a big surprise. In the third of Barr and Pascal Arnold's utopian "Freetrilogy" - following Lovers, on the freedom to love regardless of national boundaries, and Too Much Flesh (both shown in Cinequest, 2001), on the freedom of sexual love, regardless of societal strictures - Being Light focuses on the attainment of spiritual love in today's world and, as in both the earlier films, features Elodie Bouchez as the female presence. Filmed "on the fly," without even Indian working visas, and using only a small digital video camera, the filmmakers have produced a film that exemplifies the lightness of being in all its aspects. Reviewed by Charlie Cockey