Gazon maudit

Here's a film which is definitely outside the box for American audiences. French films are usually an acquired taste and this one is no exception. This is a delightful light comedy about a married couple whose life change upon the arrival of a butch lesbian to their lives. You don't have to be a genius to guess what's coming. Nevertheless, the movie is funny, it's done with great taste and sensibility, and even though the characters are not 100% belivable, they are not stereotypical. Victoria Abril is delicious, playing the wife whose disenchantment of the married life leads her to explore a lesbian affair. What I liked in particular about this comedy, is that sexual orientation never becomes the main issue in the movie, and it's really secondary to the human relationships that develop in this bizarre triangle. The script could have been a little less linear, but the characters are well developed and well played. Overall, French twist is a fun light comedy which probably wouldn't raise an eyebrow in Europe but will need a very open minded audience in the US. Unfortunately we're not ready yet.

Loli, played by Victoria Abril, has given up a promising career as a dancer to become the wife of a womanising estate agent; and though she knows of one woman he has had an affair with and has forgiven him, she knows nothing about any of the others - not even her own baby-sitter! No. Her main complaint against him is not his promiscuity but that he takes her for granted and shows her little affection. So, when a butch lesbian, played by Josiane Balasko, appears on the scene, stopping at the house to ask for water for her van's radiator, she is a ripe fruit waiting to be picked. And this kind, mature, worldly-wise lesbian is an expert in the art of seduction.

On an evening out together, the husband, played by Alain Chabat, already annoyed at the lesbian's intrusion into his home with his wife's encouragement, is driven into a blind fury when he discovers the lesbian's hand half way up his wife's thigh and sees them dancing together in a way that is very intimate. From this follow many scenes of shouting and screaming, jealousy and rage. You feel for the husband's usurpation and his humiliation at being rejected for a lesbian - though you rejoice at his come-uppance - and you feel for the wife who deserves the affection she has been so long denied, and you feel for the lesbian with a loving heart who wants only to make the wife happy - though others may condemn her for destroying a relatively happy marriage. The husband hates her so much and is so desperate to get rid of her that he is willing to do anything to get her to leave.

But despite all the passion and jealousy this is a light comedy and not a heavy drama, and you have the feeling all along that everything will work out well in the end. And it does. The moral of the story, affirmed at the end, is that the only things that matter are love, tenderness and affection and if we get those the source's sexual gender is immaterial; we are all bisexual.

This is a bright, witty and observant comedy, well-acted, particularly by Victoria Abril,

As a comedy, the film stands out as it blends in the sexuality and gender issues in. It portraits these relatively controversial issues in an explicit approach. It won Best Screenplay at the 1995 French Academy of Cinema and got nominated for Best Picturefor 1995 French Academy of Cinema and Best Foreign Language Film for 1995 Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Personally, I think this movie is a successful one in terms of the story plot. The story line is easy to follow and the editing style is just the right pace. Things do not get messed up even the relationship between the three is rather complicated. The scenes are nicely set up and every single scene contributes their importance to the whole film. Some may argue that such issue should not be shown in such explicit style, for instance, when Loli and Marijo were naked in the bath tube, at least it should not be rated "Universal" in Europe. However, we may have to refer back to the cultural context since it is rated differently in America. For European countries, it may be accepted to present controversial issues such as sexuality and lesbian relationships in a direct way compared to other countries such as the ones in Asia, where these are considered as taboos.

Overall, I think this is an entertaining film and it is worth watching. This movie is recommended to anyone who wants to know more about gender and sexuality issues, or anyone above illegal age.

very unique story with english subtitles. some titulation with the lesbian character who is attracted to loli. the pregnancy of the lesbian lover, complicates entire movie. it does still give you something to think about. the mixture of lesbian and heterosexual love and lust worked out between the three is very strange. the humor is dry and bizarre, but very entertaining. keeps your attention, dont like the addition of children involving this adult theme movie. worth renting or buying.

I know many people have a mental block about foreign-language films, but this is an excellent taster for the nervous. No portentous symbolism or moody gazes into the middle-distance - just a witty, sexy comedy of errors, where the audience's sympathies bounce back and forth between the three principal characters. Instantly accessible to monolinguists - and yet its panache and pace could only be French (yeah, I know Abril is Spanish).

Incidentally, I know we're not really supposed to respond to other comments from IMDb users, but it's interesting to note that the movie-loving community displays just as much intolerance and uptightness about sexuality as any other disparate group of people.