Prête-moi ta main

I love love. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies and as of late, I've been on a foreign film binge. Enter stage left: I Do. While undeniably predictable, the film has its charms and throws in some obstacles I didn't expect and found myself smiling as I watched it unfold.

However, my main concern was the lack of chemistry between Luis and Emma. There were no looks of intrigue, scarcely any playful banter between the two - for the most part, their interaction seemed to be simply what Luis intended it to be - a business interaction. Perhaps I'm terribly picky, but I found the leap between the conspirers' platonic relationship to romance to be a sudden leap rather than one with a bit of a build up. In that case alone, I was mildly disappointed.

But with that aspect aside, the actors do do a good job with the script they're given. Luis's family, although somewhat irritating, are simultaneously charming and overbearing and I warmed up to them in the end. I really think the men need a bit more screen time as they were hardly in it and my favorite scene (the scene with the M6) happened to be one of their few. The wedding comes too quickly for my taste, but with a few more scenes to build character relationships, this film would've been a knock out. So not bad, but not exactly the best film either.

Behold the mighty off-screen presence of singer-actor Luis Mariano, the emerging patron saint of French comedy: Jaco van Dormael's touching "The Eighth Day" came first, then Djamel Bensalah's hilarious "Homeboys at the Beach", and now "How to Get Married". This one is more predictable than the other two, but it will keep lovers of happy endings satisfied without too much of a guilty conscience. If you are, however, like me and think romantic comedy is essentially a cuss word, this old-school vaudeville piece may be your one chance at reconciliation. Charlotte Gainsbourg, super-charming as usual, and Alain Chabat click as comedians and also make a very handsome couple. Oh, and *do* watch out for Virginie Bordes as Annick, the spicy waitress.

In Paris, the forty-three year-old Luis "Pipou" Costa (Alain Chabat) is a immature bachelor and successful creator of perfumes and does not have any intention to get married. However, his oppressive family that is ruled by six women - his mother Geneviève Costa (Bernadette Lafont) and his sisters Catherine (Véronique Barrault), Axelle (Marie-Armelle Deguy), Carole (Katia Lewkowicz), Maxine (Louise Monot)and Marie (Luce Mouchel) decide that Luis shall get married and they try to find a wife for him among their friends.

When Luis is having lunch with his best friend Pierre-Yves (Grégoire Oestermann), he learns that his regular waitress is depressed and not working because her fiancé left her a couple of days before their wedding. Luis plots a scheme to hire a woman to pose as his fiancée and to leave him on the day of their marriage in order that his family does not bother him anymore. He hires Pierre's sister Emmanuelle "Emma" (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who is trying to adopt a child from Brazil, to be his bride-to-be and to leave him at the altar on the day of their wedding. However his plan fails since his family loves Emma and when she does not show up to marry him, his mother has to go to the hospital and his sisters blame him. Now Luis hires Emma again to act like a bitch to make his family hate her. Meanwhile Luis falls in love with Emma and when his plan works and Emma leaves him, he misses her. Would it be too late for him to declare his love for Emma?

"Prête-moi ta main" is a delightful romantic comedy with an entertaining story, funny situations and very well acted. The charming, elegant and beautiful Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of my favorite actresses and I loved to see her in a light movie after several Lars von Triers features. The characters are interesting and we can see the stingy guy, the family that likes to snoop and interfere in the life of the members and an independent woman that is the opposite of the other women. In the end, "Prête-moi ta main" is a French comedy that will make your day (or night) better. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Noiva Perfeita" ("The Perfect Bride")

There wasn't a dry eye amongst the audience yesterday afternoon after I left the cinema, having seen this gem of a film in a sold-out house as part of this year's Hamburg Film Festival. And the tears shed were all of laughter. This film was hilarious, there's no other way of saying this. There wasn't one boring bit in it, I laughed right through it and with me everyone else of us three hundred lovers of French cinéma.

Alain Chabat was absolutely terrific. A great clown if needs be and serious if the situation calls for it. The performance was of course completely over the top, but this was exactly what the story needed and what made it work so well. Equally great was Charlotte Gainsbourg who I love to see a lot, and the mother was also a very strong performance. The sisters could have been a bit more detailed in character script-wise, but apart from that there is nothing to moan about. I had a great afternoon seeing this film while Hamburg was drowning in rain outside, and I wish films like this from France would get a regular release in Germany. But the distributors is this country don't seem to understand that the French make good films. I at least can't wait to find a DVD which offers subtitles (Hello Australia? Please?) because that film I need at home to watch several more times!

First this movie (with its ending) is a formula comedy romance but well done. European movies often take a standard American fare (Doris Day Phone Game or Emails) and add 15 IQ points and stretch it out in a way that leaves you guessing a little---which over all is a much more satisfying experience. Europeans are also a little more cynical and the Hollywood moral nanny= never can a bad guy get away is not a wall they won't cross.

The ending seals this as stock kitsch/comedy but getting there had a lot of twists and good writer(s). I didn't find the main actor so great as the other reviewers did---he is too clownish rather repelling looking. One of my great puzzlements is why the French for less than handsome actors?? If you speak French the shocking bad language of the female actor makes it especially funny.

It so much the luck of the draw--I have Netflix streaming and they don't have most of the famous or popular titles...it is always a gamble. This one paid off.

If you want another good comedy try Mid August Lunch. It is totally unique and much better---or The Big Picture (in US) by this same director which is much better than this film. Well much higher production values and thriller story I like.

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