Les petits mouchoirs

Guillaume Canet does his best Arnaud Desplechin impression to mixed results. The film centers on a simple plot (a group of longtime friends going on their yearly beach vacation together) with a slight twist (they leave a member of the group in the hospital to go). Canet (who wrote and directed) crafts a character piece, delving into the lies that these people tell each other and themselves, and then slowly picks at the facade until it all comes out in the open. It's a pretty standard premise, but the actors here really make the film shine. Every one of them has at least one moment to impress and the majority of the extended cast make good use of them.

Francois Cluzet is excellent as the patriarch of the group, constantly in a state of distress over having to bury a secret that he's uncomfortable with. Benoit Magimel shines as a family man who is struggling with his sexuality. Gilles Lellouche is perfectly cast as the man-child with a heart of gold. It's no surprise that the one who shines brightest is Marion Cotillard, given the role of the woman who is caught in a state of despair, not really knowing what she wants in life. Unfortunately, Canet is incapable of creating characters with a real sense of depth to them. Even the main ones that we delve into only really have one thing that we barrel in on, and the female characters (aside from Cotillard's) are almost insultingly thin.

The film pretty much focuses on the men and Cotillard, leaving the other women as these shells of characters that Canet refuses to dig into, despite the extensive 150 minute running time. You'd think that with a running time that long, he could have created characters much more complex than the ones we received. The film all boils up to a conclusion that is a very easy and obvious attempt at trying to get some emotion out of the audience, incredibly disappointing in it's predictability. Overall, this isn't a bad film; it's entertaining to watch and the actors are able to get some fine emotional moments out of it. But really it's a case of a great cast being able to overcome the ineptitude of it's writer and director.

Look, if you are looking for an incredibly funny movie, or an incredible drama!... don't watch this, you have to see this one expecting nothing from it, and i really think you will be pleasantly surprised with it, it's a solid story, really well written, i honestly in one moment got lost in it i thought i was watching like a documental or whatever, it seemed so real, the things that happen in the movie are so real, all the story, it's a movie about redemption, with a real message, the kind of message like "there are more important things in life than money" and all that stuff, it's really good.

I have to be honest, i only watched this movie because Marion Cotillard was in it , and she is one of my favorite actresses, so, i saw it expecting nothing and i really liked it.

Give it a try, its a story about family, love, it's sad... it makes you laugh, it's really REALLY good.

In Paris, a truck runs over the biker Ludo (Jean Dujardin) while he is driving home after spending the night snorting cocaine in a night-club. His long-time friends visit him in the hospital where he is in coma. The group is ready to travel on the annual vacation to the house of the successful businessman Max Cantara (François Cluzet) nearby Bordeaux and they decide to travel anyway and return when Ludo is better.

The physiotherapist Vincent Ribaud (Benoît Magimel), who is married with a child, tells to his fifteen year-old friend and godfather of his son, Max, that he wants to talk to him in private and they have lunch together in Max's restaurant. Vincent discloses to him that he has fallen in love with him. Max reacts to his words and Vincent asks him to keep the secret and forget their conversation.

Along the days, each friend has a little secret while Max is near nervous breakdown with Vincent. Until the day that Max's friend Jean-Louis (Joël Dupuch) tells the truth about their little lies and friendship.

"Les Petits Mouchoirs" is a French movie about friends' reunion in the same style of the American "The Big Chill" by Lawrence Kasdan or the British "Peter's Friends" by Kenneth Branagh. The movie has great performances but the prolix story is too long, a corny conclusion and deserved to be better and better for such wonderful cast. I liked this movie, but many sub-plots and the conclusion should have been shortened or deleted in the edition. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Até a Eternidade" ("Until the Eternity")

This 'film choral' describes the relations in a group of friends in their 30-40s.

Like every summer, Max is inviting his friends to stay at his house by the sea. Unfortunately, a few days before the departure, Ludovic is heavily injured in a motorbike accident. This event is impacting the relations in the rest of the group...

This movie is pleasing thanks to the comedy scenes, such as the running references to the homosexual appeal of one the friend for another, which is very conservative and close-minded. Or the running gag about the love affair by SMS.

On the other hand, the emotional scenes were weak, and it was difficult to feel sympathy, sorrow or sadness. I think this is mostly due to the acting, which was not as good as required to express these very deep feelings. But it could also be a problem of film construction, as I really felt the emotional strings was overused, as a justification for the whole movie. Another point is that the large number of characters weaken the depiction of each's state of mind.

Finally, "Les Petits Mouchoirs" felt like a movie with some interesting ideas, but which were not selected and matured enough. The final cut is a too long movie, with a taste of unpolished scenario.

Trying to kill a couple of hours before bed, I decided to give this film a go even though I had not heard an awful lot about it. Having recently seen and enjoyed a couple of Canet's other films, I knew I would at least be entertained. In the next two and a half hours that followed, I can honestly say I was mesmerised by what I saw. As the film finished and the credits rolled in I was overcome with a strange feeling of sadness that the film had finished, but also a huge sense of gratitude that I had probably just seen one of the best films of my life. Coming from an actor and also a Film degree major, that is something I don't take lightly to admitting. Perhaps in time the novelty will wear off and the more times I see it, the more holes I will be able to pick in it. However, I know the film did something right as I felt compelled to sign up on here and write this review at 1am! Now I'm not going to bark on too much about all the reasons why this film is so great, because that is something you all have to make up your own minds with. The best compliment I can pay 'Little White Lies' is that it was such a genuine film in terms of content right down to the acting. Marion Cottilard in particular is absolutely fantastic, there aren't many people who can perform to that level, her performance was flawless at times. Anyhow, I've said my bit. This film deserves to be seen by everyone, I have, I hope you all do too.