Zwischen den Zeilen

"Nonfiction" (2018 release from France; 108 min.; original title "Doubles Vies" or "Double Lives") brings the story of a group of friends and assorted professional acquaintances. As the movie opens, we get to know Leonard, a writer, and Alan, his publisher. Leonard as finished a manuscript of a new book, but Alain is not really impressed with this latest effort, another work of "auto-fiction" in which Leonard talks about his affairs. Meanwhile Alain meets with Laure, who has been hired to shake things up at the publishing house to ready it for the digital age. Later on that day back home, Alain and his wife are hosting a group of friends for drinks and dinner, and the conversation flows freely from e-books to politicians... At this point we are less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film from writer-director Olivier Assayas, who recently gave us the excellent "Personal Shopper" and "Clouds of Sils Maria". In this movie, Assayas brings us a look at the lives of a group of "elites" (writers, publishers, actors, etc.) who are dealing with every day issues just like you and me: professional challenges and personal issues. From the get-go, the movie charges at 100 mi/hr. and the talking is fast and furious. Close your eyes for 30 seconds and you've missed an entire chapter, so to speak. The movie benefits enormously from an outstanding all-star ensemble cast, led by Juliette Binoche as Selena, Guillaume Canet (Frane's equivalent of Ryan Gosling) as Alain, Vincent Macaigne as Leonard, Christa Theret as Laure, and Nora Hamzawi (France's equivalent of Lisa Kudrow) as Valerie (Leonard's wife). Beware: this is a talkie, meaning no action scenes to speak of (the one exception being when Juliette Binoche's character is filming a scene from her TV cop show). But what is lacking (?) in action is more than made up in the sharp, at times witty, at times deep, conversation between the characters. I absolutely loved it. I have no idea why the US release has been retitled "Nonfiction", whereas the original French title "Double Lives" is far more adequate.

"Nonfiction" premiered at last year's Venice film festival, and finally made it to my art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend. I couldn't wait to see it. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (8 people in total, including myself), which is a darn shame, although I can certainly appreciate that this movie isn't for everybody. Hopefully this can find a larger US audience as it is released on other platforms. If you are in the mood for a French talkie featuring a top notch ensemble cast, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Very disappointing film from a good director. First of all after twenty minutes you notice that all the discussions about the effects of internet on publishing industry is passé, characters conversations about ebooks versus paper books are repetitious and boring. All main characters are one dimensional and we don't learn anything about them expect that they all have affairs and husbands infidelities are surprisingly acceptable by their wives. There is no drama or plot to follow except affairs and talks about ebooks !!

"Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators." Stephen Fry

If you like things French such as conversation, books, love, infidelity, bourgeoise comforts, Eric Rohmer, and Juliette Binoche, then go right to Olivier Assayas' Non-Fiction. Here's a fiction film about incessant arguing over books vs. e-books, roman a clef, and the politics of publishing in a world where the Internet is shaping even the way talented authors structure their dramas.

Books and the Internet, along with the shape of e-books, informs almost every heated discussion of the fetching comedy with a bit of darkness to make it oh-so French interesting. Publisher Alain (Guillaume Canet) refuses to publish long-time writer and client Leonard's (Vincent Macaigne) newest novel possibly because Leonard has a habit of disguising well know people in his characters, this time may be Selena, wife of Alain, and lover of Leonard. After six years of this tomfoolery, do you think Alain might know?

While Assayas has a good old time with this old-time French drawing room stuff, all get togethers evolve into arguments about the viability of hard-bound books versus digital newcomers. No conclusion is made, except for the viewer who delights in the robust shenanigans that disguise the obsession writers and publishers now have over the mortality of books, hard or soft.

Regardless, the middle-aged literati are disguising their own fear of extinction in the face of Tweeted emotions in so many words and young folk who may not read anymore anyway. Even promotion of a book must attend to the right navigation on social media.

It's all heady words for this word lover who is delighted by such clever screwball setups and the idea, like any debate about the existence of God, that because we talk about books, they will endure. This comedy is not so much raucous as it is profound with a whole bunch of French sensibility and sex. I vote for that to endure right along with books.

"Lovers of print are simply confusing the plate for the food." Douglas Adams

Doubles vies (2018) (literally Double Lives) is a French film that was shown in the U.S. with the title Non-Fiction. The movie was written and directed by Olivier Assayas.

Guillaume Canet as publisher Alain Danielson, who is married to the TV actress Slena (Juliette Binoche). They are friends with another couple, author Léonard Spiegel (Vincent Macaigne) and political consultant Valerie, portrayed Nora Hamzawi. Into the mix comes Laure d'Angerville played by Christa Théret. She works for Alain as "Head of Digital Transition."

Because this is a French film, everyone sleeps with everyone else, and everyone gathers in groups of four, six, or eight to talk, talk, and talk. (They also gather in cafes to talk.)

Nothing is going quite right for any of them, and they are all dissatisfied with their lives. This is despite the fact that they are beautiful, successful, relatively wealthy people. (Remember this is a French film.)

On the positive side is that the acting is excellent, the plot moves forward steadily, if slowly, and the movie embodies everything I know about French intellectuals. OK--it's true that all I know about French intellectuals is what I've seen in movies about French intellectuals. Even so, by that criterion it looks right.

If you like dialog films, with great French actors, this film is for you. If you like movies with more action and less talk, then Non-Fiction isn't for you.

We saw on the large screen at Rochester's great Little Theatre. It will work well enough on the small screen.

I think it's worth seeing, but I'm somewhat prejudiced, because I have wanted to see La Binoche act ever since "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" in 1988.

As a fan of European films with an intellectual spark and some witty humor, I was expecting to enjoy this. Despite a slow start, I kept hoping for an eventual improvement, but the film just dragged on and on, repeating the same idea in many different settings, to the point of exhaustion, for 108 tedious minutes.

While there were a couple of funny moments, they were too few and far apart. As far as the story went, there was not much beyond the initial concept. As a character-driven film, I found most characters to be flat and unrelatable, particularly the protagonist and his romantic interests. The minor development at the end felt forced and out of place.

Since I saw this at the Toronto Film Festival, a Q&A followed at the end. Unlike other public screenings that I've attended so far, most questions this time came from people in the film industry, who themselves mentioned that they could probably better relate to the book publishing industry, thus this film, than most. Since I'm not of the industry nor a French speaker, I could only hope that some of its charm lost in translation.