Peindre ou faire l'amour

This is a very good little film that starts off enigmatically (I thought I was watching something by Rohmer from his Green Ray period) and gets better and better as it goes along. Daniel Auteuil and Sabine Azéma play very well together (their first pairing; I hope there will be more) and Sergi Lopez and Amira Casar are also good as the couple who make swinging look so easy. William and Madeleine are mid-50s, their daughter is getting married in a couple of months so they are facing an empty nest with a little trepidation. Adam and Eva enter their lives and quickly establish an emotional dependency on the other couple's part. It is this dependency and not the sex that becomes decisive for William and Madeleine.

This is the first feature by the Larrieu brothers that I have seen; it is very promising. They know how to create an emotional atmosphere without camera tricks or an annoying sound track. I advise men with heart problems to skip the scene with Hélène de Saint-Père: when she takes her dress off she reveals a truly astounding body.

There are films one loves to hate. This one is so awful, so contrived, so inane, so pretentious, so ludicrous at times ( particularly the dialogue ) that I wonder how well-known actors like Azema and Auteuil condescended to be part of such an abysmal opus. That it was well-received in France and Belgium is a sad reflection on some people's critical faculties, and also on the topics that we deem worthy of attention ( or rather on our treatment of them ). I understand that the directors, the Larrieu brothers, until their disastrous foray into serious film-making, had made documentaries about insects, quite a worthy enterprise ( one has only to think of the superb BBC productions ). Perhaps their intimacy with these tiny creatures have deprived them of any savoir-faire when dealing with human beings and their problems, since their stilted direction and clumsy camera work make the spectator wonder:" am I missing something? Is there some hidden intention in such lack of talent ?" I am relieved to note that there is a reviewer in Germany who shares my opinion that this film is unadulterated faeces.

I went to see it unexpectedly yesterday evening. It's absolutely amazing. For all of us 30, 40, 50 somethings out there, it's a real breath of fresh air. Sabine Azema never looked so stunning (to say the least!). The appearance of Philippe Katerine at the end as well as scores from Jacques Brel (an incredible echo at the moment when they play "Les Marquises" made me cry straight away). Even Daniel Auteuil whom I really don't like most of the time plays well here, as well as all the other actors. I would advise all of you to go and see it if you'd like to follow Borges' advice :"wash your eyes between each looks". It's what this movie will allow you to do, no more, no less.

I watched this movie accidentally and I wish I had saved my Euros. You see very good-looking people, enjoying their lives fully, stereotypically named (Adam & Eva), a newly remodeled house that looks like it had been in use for months at least... The problems in this movie are no real problems, everything is easy and at the end we choose between some paradisiacal island and an idyllic home. This movie looked like one of those 'Better living at home' magazines to me. Everything is sooo very pleasant and tasteful.

Daniel Auteuil seems to be the only one who realizes he is totally out of place, but he can't find a way out from the set. Don't watch this, unless you need some ideas for how to decorate your home or where to go for vacation.

As long as you don't take this film seriously it is charming to engage in the sensuousness of the setting and the encouragement for new adventures in the autumn of ones years.