Se souvenir des belles choses

Saw this together with my wife. After 40 minutes, wife wanted to walk out. No, I said, it must get better. It didn't. By the end, you just want to stick your head in the oven. It's so depressing. No doubt dementia and amnesia are horrible things, but that's exactly why making a movie around them is a zero on the entertainment scale.

The cases of Alzheimer disease in senior people are quite known (we have the famous film "Still Alice with Julianne Moore), but in this film Claire Poussin, a quite young feels the first symptomes of this terrible disease and we shall follow her in her life. A brilliant film, a touching story. The performances of Isabelle Carré and Bernard Campan are really excellent. Thank you very much, Zabou Breitman for this very touching story.

Se Souvenir des Belles Choses: i can only even begin to describe the greatness of this movie and the impact it has made in mind. After months of anticipation, i saw this film in Richmond, Virginia, as a part of the 11th annual VCU French Film Festival at the Byrd Theatre. Warning: i cried for a good 45 minutes.

This is not to say the film was depressing. It was simply so moving.

With Isabelle Carré portraying the lead in brilliant form, Se Souvenir des Belles Choses (lit.: To Remember Beautiful Things) offers a truly amazing view into the world of mental hospitals, specifically dealing with memory loss and Alzheimer's patients. Two of these patients share a heartbreaking love story when symptoms worsen and improve.

Technically speaking, the film is a masterpiece. Do your best to see this one.

This is, no contest, one of the finest movies to come out of France in the last five years and it would have been a grave miscarriage of justice if Isabelle Carre had not won a Best Actress Cesar for this role. I had seen Carre in several movies and found her competent but nothing special then, all at once the right career-defining role turns up and she shows what she can do. I can pay her no higher compliment than to compare her performance here to that of namesake Isabelle Huppert (the finest French actress bar none) in 'La Dentelliere' (The Lacemaker) with the proviso that Huppert was approximately 10 years younger than Carre when turning in her prize-winning performance. Carre is luminous and for virtually the whole of the running time she gives the impression of a real victim of Alzheimer's so that we feel we are watching a documentary rather than a film that has been scripted, shot and acted. The actors throughout are first rate, not least Bernand Campan as Carre's lover and protector. I saw the movie in an art-house in Balard last year (it's still playing there albeit only one or two screenings per week) and in September of this year I found it on DVD and can play it whenever I like. Out of ten stars it has to rate fifteen. One word description? Can't be done. Lyrical? In spades. Enthralling? And the rest. Magnifique? Doesn't come close. Thank you, Isabelle, Zabou, Campan, thank you for some unforgettable memories.

You can of course prefer STILL ALICE, satrring Julianne Moore, concerning Alzheimer disease. It is better done, more powerful, more in every domain, every element, but that doesn't diminish the quality of this cute and sensitive French drama, where Isabelle Carré does her very best, and is convincing too. So, please don't despise it. You can watch or re watch STILL ALICE again and them compare, I am surre you will appreciate both. Don't worry. It is sad of course, but also beautiful, moving, pulled by excellent performances. One of best Isabelle Carré's roles, especially the best of her early career.