C'est la vie: Prendila come viene

Max has been a caterer for 30 years: he has successfully organized hundreds of parties but now he's a bit at the end of his rope. Well today, what luck! he finds himself in charge of a sublime wedding party in the most sumptuous setting, a 17th century castle. But, for various reasons, disaster threatens at any time...

This is not the first film about a wedding that goes sour ("A Wedding" by Altman being the ultimate prototype) but this one, signed by the serviceable Nakache and Toledano ("Those Happy Days", "The Intouchables ") is one of the most successful. Not content to be written with finesse and skillfully directed (despite all the difficulties presented by the genre of choral film) "Le Sens de la fête" can boast of functioning on several levels, which raises it well above a simple comedy. It is both documentary (the functioning of a whole brigade under the direction of a caterer) and social (the vicissitudes of a small business, the working conditions of its employees in the face of these wealthy people who treat themselves to a 200 hundred-cover banquet in a manor), psychological (a whole range of individuals are studied under a magnifying glass) and sociological (the problem of immigration, already addressed in "Samba", illustrated here by the fate of Tamil employees); all this without any of these dimensions getting in the way of funny situations and dialogues. A bit of suspense (how will Max and his team cope when disasters pile up?), a hint of poetry (the bridegroom and the balloon in the night) and a great collective interpretation, led by a Jean-Pierre Bacri, grumpy as expected but also overflowing with humanity. Let yourself be tempted by this tasty cocktail with the perfect mix of fun, emotion, and gravity. You won't regret it.

Let's face it: the film has a slow start and the pace is leisurely. But the psychological portraits are finely chiseled, and this microcosm of a catering outfit is endearing. Many of the foibles (& strengths) of French society are painted with a light touch, up to and including the marriage customs of up and coming -but not quite upper class- wealthy patrons. Some of the characters appear a bit exaggerated, but after all they may well have been painted from real-life models.

I can understand why critics on both sides of the Pond have snubbed this movie; but I believe it to be quite watchable, with many episodes which are funny or touching. My vote is 7/10.

Enjoyable enough French film that made me laugh out loud numerous times. It also gave me something resembling borderline PTSD flashbacks to my former hospitality and events career.

The characters are all rather unique and funny in their own ways, without all being truly memorable. I mainly just remember the names of the groom (Pierre) and the pervy photographer (Guy). The man character delivered a great performance - though it was the supporting cast that provided the majority of laughs.

Beautiful setting in that French chateau. Some excellent scenes towards the end involving some fireworks and "aerial" display. The movie itself is fast paced, with rapid fire dialogue throughout. Perhaps slightly too long in length.

The bloke in the hybrid pyjamas was the best part. Will forever make me smile.

This is really excellent, funny, intelligent, simple, hard, elegant as life can be sometimes and so french. The music by the great bassist and composer Avishaï Cohen give a magnificient, wonderful feel...Awsome..

Directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano had already come up with a masterpiece in 2011: LES INTOUCHABLES, brimming with joie de vivre despite the physical and social limitations of the two main characters, brilliantly played by François Cluzet and Omar Sy.

That same zest for life is present in LE SENS DE LA FÊTE, and certainly the acting is of the highest order once again. Were this an American film, and Jean-Pierre Bacri would certainly have received an Oscar nomination. His control over his party function team, his business sense, his perceptiveness of his troop members' moods, and even his occasionally deadpan moments render his performance sublime, possibly the most complete, subtle, and perceptive I watched in 2017.

There are many other performers in this film but that never detracts from the film's focus and all of them do an excellent job of raising this film to the highest levels of comedy, including two Indians from the Punjab who have some of the peachiest small parts I have watched in the recent past.

From the above, it is easy to conclude that dialogue is sharp and funny, as characters find themselves in all manner of laughable, embarrassing, sexy, unprofessional, and other situations. Perhaps the screenplay's greatest merit is that it keeps subtly misleading the viewer into believing that the outcome of a given sequence will be this or that - to be sure, you never get the pat solution!

Photography is excellent, especially the night shots and the sequence involving a balloon in flight. Soundtrack is very appropriate, never interfering, but always helping to give substance to the film.

Finally - please forgive me if I repeat my introduction - what a great job of directing!

This is one of the best, subtlest and most sublime comedies I have ever had the privilege to watch. I was really sorry to see the credits roll up at the end. and that's not what I feel about many movies these days.

Masterpiece - 10/10