Pas Douce - Passing Shot

French film directed by Jeanne Waltz.

Passing Shot is a surprisingly complex emotional drama of a woman who, in a failed attempt to kill herself, ends up shooting an innocent teenage boy. The protagonist, Frederique, in an ironic twist of fate ends up having to nurse the boy back to health at her hospital. As the movie progresses, the reluctant and enraged boy begins to develop a soft spot for Frederique; the sentiment is reciprocated by Frederique as she gradually overcomes her inability to be near the boy without fainting.

What made this movie particularly engaging for me was the psychological complexity of the characters. Frederique is a nurse who is eerily unafraid of the dead; she also happens to be a champion marksman. From the beginning of the movie she is portrayed as a character that is emotionally distant. She has a broken relationship with her father, the person who taught her how to shoot; and her boyfriend tells her that he has found another woman, which is what prompts her to attempt to take her own life. The audience never really gets a complete picture of her emotional state before she shoots Marco, but we do get a sense of how her relationship with Marco brings her to the point where she willingly admits to the police that she was the shooter.

Marco is an emotionally sensitive teenager whose mother moved from France to Portugal to start a career of her own; when she finds out about her son’s condition, she rushes back to be by his side. However, Marco outwardly rejects his mother’s love and affection. He lashes out at Frederique and all the other nurses that attempt to take care of him. Despite his attempts, Frederique eventually manages to get through to him and earn his trust and affection.

The plot seems extremely staged in the sense that the same woman who randomly shoots a boy in the forest ends up being the nurse that has to take care of him. However, the strength of the movie lies primarily on a relationship that is borne out of seemingly unrealistic chain of events. The uncertainty as to whether or not Frederique’s secret will be found out becomes the driving force of the plot. This uncertainty is what gives depth to her relationship with Marco. Throughout the movie the audience is wondering to what degree Frederique’s guilt influences her relationship with the boy Marco.

The movie has a number of exceptionally well acted scenes. One scene that I found particularly moving was the scene right before Frederique goes to confess to her crime. Marco has already found out about her secret and angrily tells her to get out of his room as soon as she tries to enter. She walks over to his bed, with Marco in bed and his friend by his side, and begins to apologize and explain her actions. At the moment when Frederique says that she was attempting to shoot herself, Marco’s face changes from one of anger to one of compassion. Tears fall from her eyes as she realizes it was her luck that Marco took the bullet instead of her, because she did not want to die. At that point she goes to leave and Marco tells her that no one is forcing her to confess. She acknowledges that and she walks over to hold his hand; the moment seems to last forever and it is in that moment that we understand that Marco has forgiven Frederique and that she has accepted.