Il gioco delle coppie

An easy going movie, with nothing special, nothing to be attracted, just for a good time in a summer cinema

"Nonfiction" (2018 release from France; 108 min.; original title "Doubles Vies" or "Double Lives") brings the story of a group of friends and assorted professional acquaintances. As the movie opens, we get to know Leonard, a writer, and Alan, his publisher. Leonard as finished a manuscript of a new book, but Alain is not really impressed with this latest effort, another work of "auto-fiction" in which Leonard talks about his affairs. Meanwhile Alain meets with Laure, who has been hired to shake things up at the publishing house to ready it for the digital age. Later on that day back home, Alain and his wife are hosting a group of friends for drinks and dinner, and the conversation flows freely from e-books to politicians... At this point we are less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film from writer-director Olivier Assayas, who recently gave us the excellent "Personal Shopper" and "Clouds of Sils Maria". In this movie, Assayas brings us a look at the lives of a group of "elites" (writers, publishers, actors, etc.) who are dealing with every day issues just like you and me: professional challenges and personal issues. From the get-go, the movie charges at 100 mi/hr. and the talking is fast and furious. Close your eyes for 30 seconds and you've missed an entire chapter, so to speak. The movie benefits enormously from an outstanding all-star ensemble cast, led by Juliette Binoche as Selena, Guillaume Canet (Frane's equivalent of Ryan Gosling) as Alain, Vincent Macaigne as Leonard, Christa Theret as Laure, and Nora Hamzawi (France's equivalent of Lisa Kudrow) as Valerie (Leonard's wife). Beware: this is a talkie, meaning no action scenes to speak of (the one exception being when Juliette Binoche's character is filming a scene from her TV cop show). But what is lacking (?) in action is more than made up in the sharp, at times witty, at times deep, conversation between the characters. I absolutely loved it. I have no idea why the US release has been retitled "Nonfiction", whereas the original French title "Double Lives" is far more adequate.

"Nonfiction" premiered at last year's Venice film festival, and finally made it to my art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend. I couldn't wait to see it. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (8 people in total, including myself), which is a darn shame, although I can certainly appreciate that this movie isn't for everybody. Hopefully this can find a larger US audience as it is released on other platforms. If you are in the mood for a French talkie featuring a top notch ensemble cast, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Doubles vies (2018) (literally Double Lives) is a French film that was shown in the U.S. with the title Non-Fiction. The movie was written and directed by Olivier Assayas.

Guillaume Canet as publisher Alain Danielson, who is married to the TV actress Slena (Juliette Binoche). They are friends with another couple, author Léonard Spiegel (Vincent Macaigne) and political consultant Valerie, portrayed Nora Hamzawi. Into the mix comes Laure d'Angerville played by Christa Théret. She works for Alain as "Head of Digital Transition."

Because this is a French film, everyone sleeps with everyone else, and everyone gathers in groups of four, six, or eight to talk, talk, and talk. (They also gather in cafes to talk.)

Nothing is going quite right for any of them, and they are all dissatisfied with their lives. This is despite the fact that they are beautiful, successful, relatively wealthy people. (Remember this is a French film.)

On the positive side is that the acting is excellent, the plot moves forward steadily, if slowly, and the movie embodies everything I know about French intellectuals. OK--it's true that all I know about French intellectuals is what I've seen in movies about French intellectuals. Even so, by that criterion it looks right.

If you like dialog films, with great French actors, this film is for you. If you like movies with more action and less talk, then Non-Fiction isn't for you.

We saw on the large screen at Rochester's great Little Theatre. It will work well enough on the small screen.

I think it's worth seeing, but I'm somewhat prejudiced, because I have wanted to see La Binoche act ever since "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" in 1988.

I have, of late, become quite a fan of the films of Olivier Assayas, though I was put off this, his last to show in London, by some very iffy reviews. It is, however, fine. I enjoyed it and if there is not much story to relate there is pleasure enough, for me anyway, listening to the various conversations. Conversations about the writing and reading of books and each others wives. The French title is Doubles Vies which translates directly as Double Lives and is perfect, so much so that it amazes me that it was ever changed for the US/UK market. Surprisingly devoid of politics, which is a surprise considering some of the director's previous films. The only real reference is to a disgraced would be leader and comments made suggesting people go into politics to satisfy their own ego rather than to effect change and perhaps this is Assayas' justified snide political comment.

As a fan of European films with an intellectual spark and some witty humor, I was expecting to enjoy this. Despite a slow start, I kept hoping for an eventual improvement, but the film just dragged on and on, repeating the same idea in many different settings, to the point of exhaustion, for 108 tedious minutes.

While there were a couple of funny moments, they were too few and far apart. As far as the story went, there was not much beyond the initial concept. As a character-driven film, I found most characters to be flat and unrelatable, particularly the protagonist and his romantic interests. The minor development at the end felt forced and out of place.

Since I saw this at the Toronto Film Festival, a Q&A followed at the end. Unlike other public screenings that I've attended so far, most questions this time came from people in the film industry, who themselves mentioned that they could probably better relate to the book publishing industry, thus this film, than most. Since I'm not of the industry nor a French speaker, I could only hope that some of its charm lost in translation.