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COPYRIGHT 2002 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
The French stage actor Aurelien Recoing, who plays Vincent, the fortyish hero of Laurent Cantet's extraordinary "Time Out," is a blandly presentable fellow, not quite handsome but reassuringly large, with a quick smile and a friendly, attentive manner. He seems a decent and plausible man, but once you get past Recoing's welcoming smile you enter a realm of mystery -- the oddities lodged in the hollows of Vincent's good will. Vincent drives his car through the French suburbs and countryside near the Swiss border, calling his wife on a cell phone and promising to be home for dinner, and then calling back with regrets -- he's stuck, he has meetings to attend, he has to stay over in a hotel. But he has no meetings, and he spends the night sleeping in the car. With a slight grin, he tilts the driver's seat back and slumps down in comfort, only to repeat the same promises and regrets the next day. After a while, we realize that Vincent has been canned from a high-level consulting position and doesn't have the courage to tell his family. When he does get home, he hints that he has taken a new job. Like a corporate Willy Loman, he talks wanly to his wife and parents of his "enthusiasm." But he's...
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