Le Refuge (The Refuge)

In many ways, Francois Ozon's Le Refuge (The Refuge) is an unusual film. I had some doubts when the actress Isabelle Carre, playing the role of Mousse, first appeared with what looked like the bulging belly of a pregnant woman. My doubts were allayed only when she lifted up her dress for Paul (played by Claire Vernet) to feel the baby inside that bulge. Perhaps this may be the first time that the heroine of a film is played by a "really pregnant" woman! It is an unusual film in other ways too.

When the film opened, we see Louis (played by Louis-Ronan Choisy) playing certain notes on his electric guitar. He was calling a friend to come. He came and gave him some heroin which he instantly heated and injected. He had trouble finding a vein. So had his girl friend Mousse, the vein at the inner bend of her arm having too many holes already. He injected hers at a vein around her ankle and he himself at a vein at the side of his neck. Soon, his body was found lying on the floor of his mother's Paris apartment when she brought along an estate agent and an intended tenant to inspect it. He was lying face down, with white foam dribbling at the corner of his mouth, his eyes in a blank stare. Mousse too was lying in bed, unconscious. When she opened her eyes, she was told that she has been unconscious for nearly 2 days and that she was already 2 month pregnant and was asked if she wanted to keep the baby.  She said she would think about it. At the funeral, she was taken aside by Louis's mother who told her that she preferred that she did not keep the baby but she would not force her.

In the next scene, we find her living alone in a small house in southern France, behind some trees and near to a beautiful beach. Someone was delivering her groceries. She was seen taking something from a small dark bottle in her bathroom chest behind its mirror door. Then one day, she heard a knock on the door. She went out. It was Paul, Louis's brother. He said he was concerned what was happening to her but that her mother did not know about the visit. We learned that in fact the liquid from the little black bottle was methadone. She said that it was if she did not take it, she might lose the baby. At first, she was rather cool towards Paul and told him he should not expect a lot if he decided to stay. He said it was not important.

One sunny morning, Paul wanted to go to the beach and asked her if she would like to join him. She did not. And in the evening, Paul stayed up late outside and she went to bed before he came back. The next morning, she found 4 pairs of legs at the end of his bed when she opened his room's door. Another young man soon emerged from his room to have breakfast. It was a local boy. She knew then that he was gay but said she did not mind.

Another day, they were chatting about Louis. She said it was really strange that both of them took the drugs but only one died and that one of the reasons she wanted to keep the baby was that she was curious what kind of eyes and what kind of nose the baby would have, hers or his. He said that Louis always loved the guitar but he not so much but he knew a little piano.  Since Mousse had a piano in her house.  Out of boredom, she asked Paul to play a song for her. He played a .song which he learned when he was small. He played tolerably. He sang the folk tune as he played. Not a great voice but it was alright. Then she remarked that the two brothers seemed so different. Then he confessed a secret to Mousse. Louis was not his real brother. He was adopted. Her mother had wanted a child but could not get one owing to some reasons. So she disappeared from Paris for 9 months and when she returned, she had Louis with him. Paul showed himself to be a caring person and would often offered to help Mousse whenever he saw her doing some chores involving bending her body but Mousse said she did not need help. Then he asked her if she wanted to go to a party with him and his lover. As she had nothing better to do, she agreed. She danced and had a good time. Then she felt unwell. But after a drink or two at the bar table, she was fine. When she went out to take some air, she saw Paul kissing his lover in the terrace. She did not disturb them. But somehow, she felt a tiny pang of jealousy.

The following day, she asked Paul to take her to the beach. He did so, gladly. At the beach, Paul was sunbathing. She looked at his back. His skin appeared so smooth and his muscles so taut and his shape so tall and slim. She asked if he could help her put on some sun lotion. He did. He was so gentle. She went into the water to frolic a bit. He accompanied her, just in case. She allowed him to hold her as the waves lashed in. She felt more comfortable with him. He said she felt comfortable staying there. The house belonged to the father of a very very close friend and that it might be a good idea to buy the house because it probably wouldn't cost that much. 

In the next scene, when Mousse was sipping a drink a table at the beach, she was stared at by a man. The man approached her and asked if she minded that he sit at her table and said he was very fond of pregnant women whom he found most attractive and that he found her one of the most attractive mothers he had seen. He said he had noticed him with Paul at the beach and asked if he was the baby's father. She said he wasn't. She told him the baby's father was already dead. He said she is a very beautiful mother. She asked him if he was trying to "drague" her.He said he had got a house nearby with a magnificent view of the sea. We next see her in his house with the "magnificent" view. He kissed her and touched her belly and wanted to go further. But she said all he was allowed to do is to gently rock her from behind.

Then it was time for giving birth. She had an uneventful birth. The baby was resting in a plastic box beside her. Paul came to visit her, with a beautiful bunch of flowers. She said she wanted so much to smoke a cigarette but was not allowed to do so in her room. So she asked Paul if he minded to take care of the baby because she was so desperate for a cigarette. He told her to go. The baby was crying. He picked him up and gently rocked him. The baby stopped crying. In the meantime, she was smoking down stairs, thinking He waited, nursing the baby.

In the next scene, we see the rapidly changing scenery outside of a train. Mousse was inside that train. She left Paul a note in the baby's crate that she was not yet ready to be a mother and since he seemed to be so fond of his brother and was such a caring person, she had full confidence that he would look after the baby. The film ends. It was a surprise ending. A girl who seemed so strong during pregnancy suddenly got cold feet when the baby was born whilst a man who was not supposed to like other women was saddled with the job of raising his half brother's son!

In this film, Ozon appears to want to explore the unpredictability of a woman's whims. Mousse had wanted to keep the baby when all "normal" conventional wisdom would dictate against it: she was a drug addict, so was the child's father, now dead and the father's family was against it. We are not so sure about the attitude of Mousse's own family to her keeping the child. Certainly during her stay at the small seaside town, no one from her side of the family went to see her. Neither are we sure whether or not she would fall in love with Paul. We do not know how she would act until it has actually happened. Ozon is a good story teller. He knows how to create ambivalent situations to keep us guessing. And like Roald Dahl or for that matter, Alfred Hitchkok, he always has a surprise ending. Isabelle Carre is stunningly beautiful as a pregnant mother. She has a girl next door look which is very winsome and her eyes always shine with a bit of mystery and is perfectly suited to her role in the film. Vernet too is excellent as the quiet and gentle brother of his fiery half brother and the ambivalent relative of Mousse.