Critics reviews

Narratively, Borleteau's film is pleasingly ambiguous without being difficult or abstruse. Rather than a linear narrative, it presents a wealth of intriguing incidents and atmospheres, loosely linked together by Alice's experiences. Both the physical environment of the boat and the interaction of the men on board are portrayed in a manner at once straightforward and poetic, calling to mind another female director's film about work, jealousy and male company: Claire Denis's Beau travail (1999).

Director Lucie Borleteau and cinematographer Simon Beaufils, don't come up with a way of imbuing this space with any real atmosphere or character... It's all very middle brow, with much of the dialogue skewing away from naturalism in order to force direct discussions on the film's broad themes.

Lucie Borleteau, making her feature debut as writer-director, presents the intense sexual relationship graphically yet perceptively; this is that rare movie in which the characters' lovemaking actually reveals things about them. Borleteau is no less astute in depicting the work aboard an ocean freighter; the movie has as much to say about life in the globalized economy as it does about eroticism.

Far from a conventional love triangle, Fidelio: Alice's Journey is a daring exploration of monogamy and long-distance relationships. A sailor with a man in every port, Alice takes an odyssey that is thrilling, erotic, thoughtful, and exquisitely photographed.

In her debut feature, Borleteau is both ambitious in her handling of an ensemble cast and adept at getting the viewer to fully inhabit the Fidelio's clanking, haunted old hulk. Overall, Alice is an engrossing combination of ghost story, workplace drama, and young woman's amorous journey, with a pleasingly self-contained performance at its heart, for which Labed deservedly won the Best Actress prize.

Fidelio, Odyssey puts at its heart a compelling reversal: that it is a woman who sails the high seas, with a guy in every port, or at least in every cabin.

This is the sort of plausibility-challenging film where the captain of the ship just so happens to be Alice's ex-lover; she's able to breezily sift through her deceased predecessor's possessions undisturbed; and this apparently strong woman in control of her sexuality appears oddly pleased at getting promoted for fucking the captain.