Juntos, Nada Más

Ensemble, c'est tout is an enjoyable romantic movie. The basic premise is of romantic comedy, but the treatment is different. There are lot of dramatic elements thrown in and the characters are given a long time to establish themselves in their given roles.

Audrey Tautou is one of my favorite actresses and she has done a wonderful job as always. But her performance is very similar to what she has done in other films and frankly I am getting a little bit tired of it. I mean it is wonderful but I would like to see her do something else too. She has been doing the Amelie act for a long time now.

Nothing is really new in the movie but execution is different, which kept me hooked. All in all, a very enjoyable movie.

What a pleasant surprise this film turned out to be! After about 25 mins, i was totally hooked into this quartet of terrific, subtly drawn characters. What could have been a fairly stock- standard, 'everyone-comes-together-in-Paris' type of comedy-drama, is elevated by great performances (the always gorgeous Audrey Tautou and the impressive Guilliame Canet in particular), considered production design & a script that doesn't take the easy way out and continually defies your expectations.

Wholly charming, this is a great romantic fable, hugely fun, and should appeal to anyone who wants a thoughtful yet enjoyable trip to the cinema.

'Ensemble, c'est tout' (2007) is the last film that Claude Berri wrote (based on a novel by Anna Gavalda) and directed to the end. His filmography ends with another film ('Trésor'), which he was unable to finish and see released, the film being completed by another director. 'Ensemble, c'est tout' can therefore be considered as a beautiful end to his career, a 'feel-good' film, having at its center a love story as it happens with many of his successful films. The title, oddly enough, fits the story. It was strangely translated in the English distribution as 'Hunting and Gathering' (!).

The film has four main characters, and at the beginning of the story none of them seems too happy. Paulette, an old woman who lives alone in her house, surrounded by her beloved cats and parrots falls, fractures her hip and has to be hospitalized for surgery and a long recovery. Her grandson, Franck, the only one who takes care of her, is exhausted from his work as a chef in a restaurant and also takes care of his grandmother (and her cats). Franck lives in a huge apartment with Philibert, a young man from an aristocratic family, a rich boy, unhappy as well because he aspires to become a stand-up actor despite an obvious stutter. In the same Parisian building lives Camille, a pretty and modest girl, a talented portretist, who works hard as a cleaning woman for a living. The four loners will grow closer and turn their relationships into friendships and more than that.

The recipe for this kind of films can be found in the American comedies of the 40s and 50s of the last century. The role of young Camille is played by Audrey Tautou, an actress I adore, part of a series of roles of her that seem to be inspired by those played by the other Audrey - Hepburn - in American films. How is it that this formula, where the characters get better and better with little obstacles, and which seemed outdated even in the original films, works so well here? One of the secrets is, I think, the fact that the characters are believable and many of the situations described are part of real life experiences. Guillaume Canet and Françoise Bertin play their roles excellently, but next to the incomparable Tautou I would mention Laurent Stocker, an actor with a special comic talent in a delicious role. 'Ensemble, c'est tout' is an elegant farewell film that Claude Berri left us at the end of his career.

I liked this film. The French formula for romantic comedy doesn't depend on the characters being rich, young and handsome, an opulent setting , and no old people (except for very minor characters). French directors find romance in the humbler areas of Paris as well as the flashier parts. Camille (Audrey Tautou), an art school dropout, works as a cleaner, or "surface engineer" as she likes to be called. She lives in a garret in the same old apartment building as Philibert (Laurent Stocker), who is young and good-looking, but is the French equivalent of a dim gentleman. Philibert sells postcards for a living. Notwithstanding a stutter, he aspires to a career on the stage. He shares his rather grand but dowdy apartment, his grandmother's former home, with the gruff Franck (Guillaume Canet), a womanizing chef. Franck is pre-occupied with looking after his elderly grandmother Paulette (Francoise Bertin), who is hospitalized after a fall. When Camille falls ill Philibert invites Camille to convalesce at his place. Soon she is striking sparks off grumpy old Franck.

Philibert isn't gay; it's just that his romantic interests lie elsewhere. It is Pauline who draws Franck and Camille together. The French title "Ensemble C'est Tout" ("Together, That's All") says it all, really. (I haven't a clue what this film has to do with hunting and gathering).

Audrey Tautou has just about got the market for sexy French waifs sewn up. I've seen her in several other films and her performances are similar. Guillaume Canet lets us see his gruff chef's soft side and Francoise Bertin also evokes sympathy for someone made tiresome by old age. The part of Philibert's love interest Aurelia is severely truncated (the result of putting a 600 page novel into 100 minutes of film). This also tends to sideline Philibert later in the film.

I very much liked Jean de Floriet and Manon des Sources, directed by Claude Berri 20 years ago (two other literary adaptations). He is a very conservative, straightforward director, but he can produce some very vivid work. One very touching scene here is when Philibert goes to a speech therapist to cure his stutter. The therapist, Phillipe van Eeckhout, is one in real life and treated Berri after a recent stroke damaged his speaking ability.

So, we have no glamorous stars (though Audrey Tautou is big in France) and no shimmering background. But it's a warm-hearted story with some real emotion and, dare I say it, a happy ending. And here's something for the nit-pickers. Franck would never have got to London from the Gare du Lyon (except via the connecting suburban RER line). Paris - London trains leave from the magnificent Gare du Nord. But who cares?

In a nutshell, this film mainly reflects a love story between two ordinary people, who at first were both agonized by the realities they faced. There are many interwined little episodes that are also worth savoring. What is amazing about this film is that the depiction of several common people with their own life problems can emit such positivity as to encourage us to have a less bleak view of our own destiny.