fabibi

How do you create a follow up to the two masterpieces that were "Comment je me suis disputé" and "Ester Kahn" (we won't talk about the dull "Léo... en jouant Dans la compagnie des hommes") ? You just listen to what your heart has to say, however hard and difficult it might be, and make no compromises. You don't fear to be misunderstood. You care about the audience but do not let them influence your work. You're a genius but you still have doubts, and these doubts make your art even better. "Rois et Reine" ("Kings and Queen"), Arnaud Desplechin's latest film, lasts 2h40mn and, in spite of its length and its harsh contents, is utterly entertaining, fascinating, moving and even funny. It does not fear to be (often) irritating and boring : the burlesque moments, for instance, are quite annoying, but then again, that's a personal point of view. The thing is, the storyline about Nora's relationship with her father and her ex boyfriend and her son, and then again Ismael's relationship with Nora's son and with his family are so powerful, they don't need more. Unfortunately, Desplechin is often reluctant to cut deep in his movie and as a result, "Rois et Reine" sometimes looks like a long, long ride. Add to that some unfortunate flash backs burdened by bad acting (the character of Pierre) and boy does the movie sound dull at times. Emmanuelle Devos and Mathieu Amalric, finding here the roles of a lifetime, are absolutely fascinating. When in the end, Nora discovers the secret pages of her father's diary, or when Ismael spends an afternoon with Nora's son, it's devastating. I've rarely seen a movie that translates human emotions so beautifully. Just for that, "Rois et reine" is a must see.

After seeing this awful thriller, the first question that comes to mind is : why did Julianne Moore agree to star in this junk ? Just like Nicole Kidman ("The Others"), Naomi Watts ("The Ring"), Halle Berry("Gothika") or Sarah Michelle Gellar ("The Grudge") and before Jennifer Connelly ("Dark Water"), Kate Hudson ("Skeleton Key") and Naomi Watts again ("The Ring Two"), Julianne Moore was certainly looking for the supernatural thriller / box office smash that was lacking in her filmography. Supernatural thrillers are for actresses what Die Hard / Lethal Weapon movies are for actors : a great way to lead a movie with a character that does not require to flash her boobs and is more than the hero's girlfriend. Sometimes it works ("The Others", "The Ring", "The Grudge"), sometimes it doesn't ("Gothika"). Never, however, has it failed like "The Forgotten" does. It's a shame, for Julianne Moore is certainly one of the best actresses working today. There are two overwhelming problems in "The Forgotten". The first is the screenplay, that is such a rip off of a bad "X-Files" episode that Mulder and Scully are probably rolling in their graves. The second problem is Joseph Ruben's direction, who's managed to make Julianne Moore act like a b-movie starlett. Plus, the movie is visually ugly : after "The Others" and "The Ring", two movies that were both scary and visually stunning, the bar has been raised. In the end, "The Forgotten" is often unintentionnally laughable, ridiculous, and frankly, one wishes the director could disappear in the sky (just like many characters in the movie do) and be replaced by Hideo Nakata instead.

God did I laugh all the way through this movie ! I just loved, loved, loved it. I agree it is not as profound as a Woody Allen feature, nor will it be remembered as a masterpiece in sociological studies, but this enchanting comedy manages to be funny and heartwarming without taking the audience for granted. I bet anyone over 30 will recognize something about him/her self in the characters.

Raphael (Edouard Baer, France's answer to Hugh Grant) is in his mid thirties. He's writing famous people's autobiographies -- and obviously his name never appears on the book's sleeve. And he's fine with that. His girlfriend, Muriel (Marie-José Croze, a character actress with girl-next-door appeal) doesn't understand his reluctance to publish his own works under his name : what is he hiding from and what exactly is he scared of ? One day, Raphael's boss assigns him to write the biography of a dumb, ultra famous football player, Kevin (Clovis Cornillac, hilarious). When Raphael realizes that Kevin's girlfriend is his former college flame, Claire (Alice Taglioni, playing the high powered bitch you can't help falling for), things go reaaaaaally ugly... and incredibly funny. Add to that Raphael's two buddies, neo hippie Jeff (Eric Berger) and yuppie Max (Jean-Michel Lahmi), and you've got a movie that's really hilarious in its depiction of french thirtysomethings searching for the true meaning of their lives.

The film has already been despised by some movie critics and intellectuals who wrote in their columns that the situations are so exaggerated that they build an unbreakable wall between the movie and the audience. But that's the point of a farce, actually. And when deep within the farce and the absurdity of the comic situations you can still be moved and you still recognize yourself, then the director's won the game. And I totally surrender to Laurent Tirard (the director)'s talent : the movie's a knock-out, albeit a funny one.