L'Amour ouf

Gilles Lellouche's near 3-hour epic crime romance adventure is quite ambitious. For Lelouche to explore some interesting themes about crime, angsty, love, and the extremely energetic tone, it's an accomplishment of French cinema in this current times.

Lellouche does offer some great aspects about it's concept. The strong performances, beautiful colorful production, tone, and camerawork really helps establish the environment, tone and setting. Unfortunately, what prevents it from being an epic masterpiece is the writing and structure. Oftentimes, Lellouche applies too much into the narrative. It's clear what the story is wanting to express and there are some pretty good aspects about it. But with a narrative that feels unnecessary stretched out and having characters that don't feel too emotionally connectable doesn't do much service to what Lellouche would have wanted.

I do appreciate some of the ambitious take Lellouche does. The fact he was able to capture the time period perfectly and have a good pacing does show the passion. But it's style over substance moments ends up over staying it's welcome. Realistically, this movie didn't have to be near 3-hours.

The film is very long and pretty uneven between its first part when the characters are teenagers and the second part, ten years later.

The acting is really good. The young actors are fresh and genuine. Adele and François are top. Alain Chabat is a big teddy bear and as usual, you want to punch Benoit Poolvoorde.

The musical background really sets the 80's tone in small industrial French town. Mostly British and American songs but so grounded in the era.

You end the film with a smile on your face.

It is not the best film of the year but a beautiful crazy passionate love story. Despite being uneven, you follow Clotaire and Jackie all the way.

Or something along those lines - so no pun intended. The bad boy syndrome ... you have it here too. And you have to suspend your disbelief for a few things so the movie can work in its entirety. The old he isn't that bad - I can save him route - is our character right this time? There are some indications early on where this might lead - question is if love can move anything and if so ... how much that would be.

This tells us the story in three different timelines and we are having a bit of a back and forth. That said, it not a frantic back and forth. Also get your mind out of the gutter - this is a love story ... with some violence in a different area ... if no one believes in an individual ... well he won't believe in himself either.

It is often on the verge of cliche, but never really falls off or flat. It works quite nicely - and the actors are the ones that make it work. You will always disappoint some people with the way your resolve or "end" things, but I think this chose the best way to go ... in all ways imaginable that is. A movie for almost everyone - drama baby, baby drama.

The first part, with the kids, is pretty good. The film should have ended there for the sake of audience. And Gilles Lellouche would have directed one of the best French teenage romances of the decade.

The rest of the movie, the second act, is horrible. The actors François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos lack chemistry together, their acting in this movie are bland and without compromise. I suspect both actors should start rethinking their own careers in French cinema once the two newcomers Mallory Wanecque and Malik Frikah outshine them and steal the show in this confusing mediocre movie.

At first it seems the movie strikes as a modern take of The Count of Monte Cristo .. I mean the old story of the wronged young rebel guy who returns for revenge and the search for his loved one. However it falls out with exaggerated and caricatured toxic masculinity. A stylized and tacky male gaze. And in the half and end of second act the plot ends up losing credibility.

The problem, beyond the burden of everything, is the strange determination that the film shows in claiming originality in each shot it offers without achieving it even once. Every time it comes to deciding,it always opt for the most formal, the most obvious. What we have already seen. And so, it repeats, for three hours of the closest thing to a French blockbuster, with a good marketing and PR behind it, it is that the French audiences are going to see this year.

This movie is all style, no substance. It's an over-stylized, visually creative crime romance that somehow manages to be both emotionless and painfully cliché. Sure, there are some striking scenes that momentarily wowed me, but as soon as the movie ended, I forgot all of them. Why? Because for visuals to stick, they need to be tied to strong characters and meaningful story beats. They also need some level of consistency and repetition instead of just being random one-off moments scattered throughout the film. That said, these creative visuals do keep the movie from being boring, even as it drowns in clichés.

François Civil, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and their younger counterparts, Malik Frikah and Mallory Wanecque, all give solid performances, but I couldn't bring myself to care about their characters or their love story. They're just walking stereotypes-defined by a few traits, but not fully realized as people. Clotaire claims he ended up the way he did because of his rough upbringing, but the film never really backs that up. Jacqueline (Jackie) starts off clever, but her intelligence is quickly forgotten and never plays a role in the story. Her father, supposedly a kind and wise figure, never really impacts her life in any way. I guess he's just there to contrast Clotaire's unloving father and justify why she doesn't get involved in crime? That's it? Easily some of the worst character development I've seen in a while.

The themes are somehow even more cliché and uninspired than the characters and story. It tries to be about young love and its (in this case, meaningless) lifelong impact, but that doesn't land due to weak character work. Then, it throws in commentary on the economy, unemployment, and the bureaucracy of full-time jobs. It sprinkles in themes of female agency and family dysfunction. But none of these ideas actually resonate because they aren't built on strong storytelling or compelling characters.

At its core, this isn't a movie about themes, characters, or even the story. It's a movie about flashy visual creativity and tired genre tropes thrown in just for the sake of it. Sure, the cinematography and production design are impressive, but without the right characters and story, they don't land. I assume some of these shots will end up as shareable clips on social media, and honestly, that's where they work best. Watch it for the visuals-just don't expect anything more.