"Friday Night is an evocation of one woman's uncertainties, flights of fancy and elusive joys." - Ed Gonzalez

Playing with small flights of fantasy alongside an emotional drama, this emphasises for me just how diverse and interesting Claire Denis is as a director. However its a shame that this one, despite being under 90 minutes, drags immensely in the last act.

It's appealing aesthetically, but as far as the plot and themes go I'm genuinely unsure what to make of this film. Is it just an empty piece of wish-fulfillment, is it trying to subvert those wishes, is it trying to show Laure's fear of commitment? The mood jumps around so much it's hard to get a grip on it. It doesn't help the situation that the events of the film - which have been called romantic - seemed to me unromantic and kind of unpleasant, or that Jean is a very bland character.

By a remarkable coincidence I saw this movie the day after watching "Before Sunrise," which is thematically (on the surface at least) almost identical. In fact they are very different films, having in common, nevertheless, the fact that they are over-praised. Both films strive for a significance which they fail to achieve. "Before Sunrise" makes the attempt through the use of poorly-scripted dialogue; this film through the absence of dialogue.