Trop belle pour toi

I saw this film at least twice in the theaters and then again a few years later on DVD and loved it each time. To me, the reason it works so well might also be why some viewers might find it off-putting: much of what is presented on-screen is that of a subjective and unreliable narrator (Gerard Depardieu's character). Thus, scenes will often play out twice; first from the perspective of what he imagines, and then from a (possibly) more factual viewpoint. This applies to the other main characters as well, both his stunning wife and rather average secretary.

Each character in their own way sees themselves at the center of the story, though the film mostly follows the path of Depardieu. We are left to wonder why he'd embark on this affair in the first place, and though I can think of a few plausible answers, it might just be: sometimes people make choices that they themselves could not explain, but they do it anyway. As viewers, we are just there for the ride.

There is also plenty of humor throughout, both poking a little fun at the whole love triangle concept, and a range of upper middle-class conceits in addition. It's by no means a critique or polemic though; it's just that a lot of life really CAN be sort of silly if you take a few steps back. To me, the way the film is told and shot indicates that the director feels empathy for each of the three characters, and no one is entirely hero or villain. At the same time the movie might well be a commentary on the tendency of the way people go running in circles, chasing their own tale in the name of happiness. Either way, it ably straddles both the dramatic and comedic in a manner that French cinema often does better than any other.

I have just finished watching this film, and it is probably too soon to write a review. However, the music is swirling through my head, and the beautiful photography and scenes are fresh in my mind. The glossy elegant wife and the warm but ordinary woman who is the temp at the husband's car retail outlet are both extraordinary women. The wife for her killer intelligence and frankness (now that's a wedding speech that is unusual)and the outrageously warm,sexy woman who falls for and, I suppose, seduces her husband. Yes, it does jump about a bit, and one is never sure with the conversations if that is normal behaviour (in which case, they all have issues). Gerard Depardieu could melt the paint off the walls with his eyes, and his acting has depth indeed. A thought-provoking film, and an absorbing one. Recommended if you like more than a chick flick.

"To Beautiful For You" tells of a French car dealer (Depardieu) who is married to a beautiful women (Boquet) but falls in lust with his less than beautiful temp (Balasko). What follows is an affair and much discourse about same between husband and wife, wife and temp, temp and husband, and all permutations thereof as they ponder the meaning of love. The film is not for want of a good cast or production talent and earned respectable marks from critics and public alike. However, is suffers from obvious histrionics and didactics and an off-puting uneven flow which make for a less than immersing experience. TBFY has little nudity or sex but some very explicit language. Only for those into esoteric French films. (B)

Bertrand Blier's story of love at first sight between a successful auto salesman and his older, unglamorous secretary does more than simply dispel the skin-deep myth of physical beauty. Gérard Depardieu describes his new lover as "not beautiful, but nice", but his aristocratic young wife dismisses her for being 'common', setting up a conflict not between age and beauty but between opposing social classes, with a proletarian lug who married into the upper crust becoming justifiably mushy over someone less pretentious than his wife. It sounds like fun, but anyone expecting a lightweight romantic farce will be disappointed to find something closer to an intellectual exercise in style, designed around an exaggerated sense of melodrama and several odd, operatic gestures: characters thinking out loud in public or engaging in third-person soliloquies, and so forth. Not to mention, in an obscure ongoing joke, a few outspoken criticisms of the music of Franz Schubert.

The few reviews here indicate that this is a film which provokes in some boredom and confusion, while other will find it provocative and daring in its originality. Maltin gives it a two-star rating and says "after a bright beginning, it goes absolutely nowhere." I was prepared to abandon the film after 15 minutes or so, but the absolutely gorgeous Schubert melodies that pervade the score and tie it all together....they kept me going with the film, and the fantastic photography, acting, and plot twists sustained my interest to the end.

Yes, the approach is surreal and the story-telling non-linear. Much of the dialog is brilliant, but it soon became obvious (to me, anyway) that these people are not actually saying these things to one another ... and what an interesting world it would be if we could say aloud all the things that we deeply feel! I cannot pretend to have understood it all, but the film had an intellectual appeal and, to repeat an earlier point, a ravishing score of Schubert pieces which adorn the film like precious jewels.