Wild Camp: Not So Wild or Campy

Reviewer: Craig Phillips
Rating (out of 5): ***

Set in a lakeside campground in the hot, still air of summer, Wild Camp was supposedly based on a true story, for what that's worth, and if the film's plot - an odd mix of creepy horror and romance seems fairly straightforward and predictable, it does a better job of creating the atmosphere of pending doom under the surface while leading up to a fairly shocking resolution.

Denis Lavant (Lovers on the Bridge, Very Long Engagement), who looks like a French Robert Davi, with a face that's been around the block - or smack into it - a few times, or as more than one critic noted, with a little Billy Bob Thornton mixed in, plays an ex-con trying to start a new life as a sailing instructor. He quickly falls under the spell of Isild Le Besco's Camille, a sultry, sulky teen bored by her surroundings and troubled by her family in ways the film never attempts to fully explain.

But Wild Camp is mostly worth seeing for Le Besco's turn as the libidinous Lolita - emotional, moody, dangerous and seductive while miraculously remaining empathetic. If we don't fully understand her character, we can't take our eyes away from the actress playing her.

Lavant's Blaise is a little easier to understand, cruelly mistreated and disrespected by many of the campers, you can understand why he might fall for the alluring young femme - poor guy, he never stood a chance. It's almost like watching a French version of Body Heat, with a much younger woman in Kathleen Turner's place, hypnotizing a hopeless male into conspiring with her.

Christophe Ali and Nicolas Boinilauri's film moves along at a breezy clip - if anything, it's a little too expeditious, with little time to develop character relationships in any deep fashion, and thus, never fully engages. But the ending will stay with you, in particular a fantastic, striking shot near the end, of Lavant face down in the sand.

The lovely, appropriately hypnotic score is by Nicolas Baby and Dan Levy.

In short: Wild Camp is not as engrossing or gripping as it should have been, but it's highly watchable, occasionally intriguing, with a young actress you can't take your eyes off.

Extras: None to speak of.

Further reading: interview with Isild Le Besco regarding her newest film, Backstage.