It wasn’t too long ago that we were presented with a drama to come out of France focusing on the relationship between a labouring doctor and an emotionally volatile patient, in Philippe Claudel’s Before the Winter Chill. Now, Axelle Ropert’s sophomore feature film Miss and the Doctors delves into similar territory, and though bearing a somewhat less celebrated cast and crew, is the more accomplished piece; nuanced, less ambiguous – and all the better for it.
Brothers Boris (Cédric Kahn) and Dmitri (Laurent Stocker) are two doctors almost tied at the hip, working together in unison as popular paediatricians. A regular patient of theirs is the young Alice (Paula Denis), who suffers from diabetes – however it’s her mother Judith (Louise Bourgoin) they soon start visiting, as both doctors fall desperately in love with the single parent. While Judith’s affections seem to lie more with Boris over the hapless Dmitri, this tumultuous love triangle threatens to infiltrate this otherwise sacred, brotherly bond.
Ropert offers a pragmatic, intriguing look into the livelihood of a doctor, in how those with such high pressured jobs manage to balance their work with their personal life – and how the two aspects inevitably permeate the other. We move so seamlessly between the mundane and the dramatic, as one moment they’re enjoying lunch, and the next their caring for a sick patient – and the tone changes accordingly throughout, shadowing that of the siblings’ volatile vocation. The more profound elements prove to be effective, as while a romance story at its core, the picture is grounded and humanised with an underlying poignancy, complimenting the crux of the narrative triumphantly.
Miss and the Doctors does present a somewhat complex romance however, with a lot to get your head around. We have three leads, each with their own unique issues to overcome, and individual, palpable character arcs – and the film suffers without having that sole protagonist; someone to shoulder the vast majority of the emotional aspects in the piece. It’s a shame that the majority of the focus isn’t aimed in the direction of Dmitri, who is the most fascinating character of the three, and the most difficult to read – and yet his own tale is compromised in order to save time for the fledging romance between Boris and Judith.
Though regrettably a film that’s somewhat forgettable to say the least, it remains a great source of intrigue to delve into the relationship between two middle-aged brothers, both in love with the same woman, making for rather rare cinematic territory. It’s just a shame a more indelible piece of filmmaking wasn’t able to match the unique premise at hand.
[Rating:3/5]
