¿Cuánto me amas?

I love French cinema, but I was rather disappointed by this movie. The most positive thing about this movie is beautiful and erotic Bellucci taking her clothes off but the plot is so poor I can't understand Gerard Depardieu playing such a one-dimensional person.

The dialogs are sometimes ridiculous, maybe unintentionally because of the bad German synchronization I watched. It is not enough to play classical opera music instead of creating a convincing dramaturgy and script.

But to mention some positive aspects as well, there are plenty of breathtaking stills like Bellucci sitting in the window of the bar in Pigalle or "Francois" and "Daniela" at the beach, so the movie offers, as French cinema often does, excellent aesthetic quality. Accepting that this is cinema showing totally artificial characters, you might have a good time watching this movie.

I've watched the Depardieu-Blier films all the way back to VALSEUSES and enjoyed them so I came at this one believing all the knocking comment must be wrong.

Well it's certainly not a dead loss. Campan registers in a tricky role acquiring Pigalle poule de luxe Bellucci and taking her back to his office worker flat, despite his shaky health and down at heel associates and this part plays quite well.

Surprisingly, it's when an aged Depardieu doing "vieux jeu con" shows up that things become strained. Well with a record like this, these guys are entitled to one screw up.

The film is by no means a write-off with the changes of light, background and costume within scenes getting attention until you realize that, if they have any meaning, Blier is not going to share it with us. The opera score has oddity value and the small parts are striking. Farida Rahouadj's turn as the Northern neighbour is particularly attention getting.

It's a pity to find this one getting international showing on the strength of its star power, in place of more imposing product.

There's hardly a Monica Bellucci movie where the main storyline does not involve her incredibly seductive body.. it is just absolutely, totally impossible to ignore. She is a woman most any man (and lots of women) would find physically addictive. Whatever the scene you just cannot take your eyes off her.. what she says holds little interest, and it's not that she does a bad job acting.. it's just not the main reason she is on screen (you don't watch her films for the story). Partial or full nudity is the linchpin of her acting experience. She was amazing in this film ten years ago.. she is now at 50yo, still amazing today, and will be the same in another decade. It's almost as if women like her are somewhat immune to the aging process. "The world's biggest power is... the beauty of a woman"... and Monica is a nuclear weapon.

In Paris, after winning the lottery, the clerk François (Bernard Campan) goes to a bar in Pigalle and offers one hundred thousand Euros per month to the prostitute Daniela (Monica Bellucci) to live with him until the end of his money. François is a lonely man, with heart problems and Daniela stays with him for eight days. Then, she decides to come back to her man, the mobster Charly (Gérard Depardieu), but she misses François and returns to his place. But once a whore, always a whore.

The promising "Combien Tu m'Aimes?" is a great deception: having Monica Bellucci, Gérard Depardieu and Bernard Campan in the cast, and directed by Bertrand Blier, this "dramatic romantic comedy" has a weird development and a confused and disappointing open conclusion. I honestly did not understand the last quarter of this movie, which is simply awful. The screenplay wastes a good and original idea, and the character of Gérard Depardieu is absolutely dull and ridiculous. The beauty of Monica Bellucci, even with forty-one years, is the best this mislead movie can offer. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Por Amor ou Por Dinheiro?" ("For Love or For Money?")

Yes, I confess that my approach to this movie was not so enthusiastic, Mrs. Bellucci is not my favorite actress. But the director (Blier) and Gerard Depardieu are a warranty, in my opinion. The movie is a "divertissment" played around a man, who try to buy the love of a magnificent whore(Bellucci), stating he win the price at the lottery,and so offering her a 100 thousand euros per month salary. So, could this indecent proposal buy her love? and what's about the pimp(Depardieu)? The plot has the capacity to stay light, the music helps a lot to accept the events as a play, the life is surprisingly wonderful, love is the mystery. And Monica Bellucci is a full joy, a daydream for all the middle aged, insignificant men searching for a reason to dream.