La belle époque

Nicolas Bedos' La Belle Époque has distinctive French flavor and is somewhat old-fashioned.

The film is really light-hearted and is all about love.

And yet it is fascinating and can easily bring you to tears.

Many viewers may recognize Nicolas Bedos in the movies like Love Is in the Air (Amour et turbulences) or Love Lasts Three Years (L'Amour dure trois ans). Still, he is first and foremost a writer and a director, and he is as good at those crafts as in the romantic films being an actor.

His new film combines drama and comedy, restraint and passion, romance and real life.

The main characters of the film are Victor, an illustrator, and Marianne, a psychologist. Both of them are not young, but have completely different outlooks. Victor is stuck somewhere in the distant past, whereas his wife Marianne still wants to take more from life.

The film constantly maintains a fast emotional pace. The tension becomes palpable. The relationships of the couple are on the verge of collapse. They are drifting apart being constantly annoyed. It seems that they just do not want to be close any more, but they might as well not realize how much they really want to be together. Nobody wants to concede and they have to decide whether they are moving on together or separately.

Perhaps, when everything goes wrong it is worth recalling how it used to be. What were you like, what were you both like? In such a way you might revive some stimulating ideas, your love or just find yourself. The only thing you need is a small push.

Victor has got a chance to check it out. His son gave him a present - an incredible journey into the past. He can choose any era and the team of professionals will transfer him to the chosen place and time.

The puppeteer of the business which aims at bringing hope is Antoine (Guillaume Canet). He is a sheer perfectionist who creates authentic historical installations where you can meet Napoleon, Maupassant, or even your own deceased father.

Such an expert would surely have been welcomed in the Ridley Scott's crew when filming Gladiator or Quentin Tarantino's crew when making Inglourious Basterds. However, taken into account Antoine's temper, they would probably have not got along. Just like Antoine's team can hardly stand his annoying behavior.

Antoine is ready to fulfill any of Victor's whim. The latter has chosen to travel back in time into his own past, namely the day he met the love of his life. It was the time when he was breathing freely; he was drawing and was the person he wanted to be.

Someone might find such choice a bit weird. Nevertheless, the main hero has made a decision to live his life again, to make up for the lost time. And the big game starts.

At first, Victor is amused by small inaccuracies of what is going on around him. However, in some time he becomes engrossed into this fictitious world. A completely innocent, at first glance, the game grows into something much bigger.

Victor changes. A fire lights up in his eyes again. He starts a struggle with himself without being fully conscious of that.

Leading this fight you need to stop in time and understand that whiskey is not as tasty as it could be because instead of it you are drinking water. Love is present not only in that one specific day, but it is also inside us.

In La Belle Époque, the characters quarrel and reconcile, love and hate, admire and despise. Despite that, love is prevalent in the given chain of emotions. It is the key even if you need to create the whole new world to save or find it.

I'd thought of writing a long, involved review of this one, concentrating on the plot antecedents, but what's the use? It's so much fun watching this comedy with dramatic touches that my critical sense is forgotten. Daniel Auteuil is splendid as Victor, and he makes the comic transitions from scene to scene very well. Fanny Ardant changes from sourly critical to warmly emotional as needed--haven't seen her as good at comedy since 8 Women. That's all; I hope to see it again on video.

Just saw this film at the VIFF. The opening scene is worth the price of admission and the fast-paced dialogue had me engaged throughout the film. Lots of witty lines and funny gags had the audience laughing. The acting was superb, especially Margot, who had to play her real life role as the director's girl friend and her acting role as Victor's wife in the past. Victor also was excellent playing the down and out jilted husband seeking connection to his past. Overall the tight script and flawless acting makes it one of my favourite movies of the year.

My own personal 'Belle Époque' would have been my student days in the late 60s, most especially '69, when I fell amazingly in love, so I was 5 years ahead of Victor, but I can so much identify with the nostalgia, and the desire to go back. Indeed, I often visit those days in my dreams, with the sort of distortion of events that only dreams can do. So if I could pay to be magically transformed completely to 1969, to live its fabulous intensity all over again, only my bank balance would hold me back. To return to relive a time when the world lay ahead of me, everything seemed possible, and I was not old and cynical, now wouldn't that be marvellous? It is so refreshing to watch a movie that involves genuine acting, and Daniel Auteuil is magnificent, as always, his eyes alone capable of expressing so much emotion. And it sets 21st century and possibly futuristic technology against a backdrop of 1974, when life really was all so much simpler. The movie does at times become dream-like in its depiction of Victor's recreation of his youthful journey, and most certainly surreal, definitely bewildering in places for him, and the whole story is cleverly handled with wit and elegance. Well worth seeing, and I will give it a faultless 10/10

This film results in a story about love and nostalgia.

The story of this film captures you completely, the plot is very emotional and shows us how true love endures even if there are ups and downs along the way. The story is very beautiful, you manage to empathize with the protagonist from the beginning, it has a very effective balance between comedy and drama, there is a good development of why things happen, it exposes that changes in our life are inevitable but we will always be faithful to those who we are, and what we love, the production design is good, the cinematography is beautiful, and the character development is good. But there is a character who does not have any development just as there is another character who ends up being despicable and gives a very bad example of what it means to love someone.

The story is entertaining and emotional, it talks about the fact that the love we have for another person endures and will not cease to exist despite the difficulties along the way, it is a quality film that definitely made me believe in love.