Grégoire Moulin contre l'humanité

I'll make this short: it was excellent and I haven't laughed so hard in a while. As one reviewer wrote: it's a French 'After Hours' only better and is whimsically hysterical start to finish. While it's at it, it has some sweet poignancy mixed in - something only the French are able to accomplish without kitsch. I loved it. Make a point of looking for this one. Every single performance is stellar and never over the top yet totally over the top. I don't know but it just works.

The plot: a shy guy who works a dull job observes a ballet teacher across the street for weeks. Since he can't muster up enough courage to ask her out, he manages to steal her wallet which he intends to return to her - as the hero who found her purse. They arrange to meet on the night of a big football game in a café. While Odile (the woman) waits, she reads Madame Bovary. Like i said, After Hours with a sprinkle of Amelie mixed in.

Gregoire Moulin contre L'Humanité.

I caught this film by accident during a bout of insomnia and thought it side-splittingly funny. Reminded ever so slightly of "After Hours", a Martin Scorsese black comedy where a young man goes out one night and endures a series of misadventures before turning up in a full body cast at his office next morning. This, however, is lighter, funnier and definitely more entertaining as Gregoire gets into some far fetched but equally dangerous situations when everyone around him seems to be on drugs, armed and dangerous. These include a taxi driver whose German Shepherd takes the wheel. A few of the incidents could happen and have happened to all of us, such as the attempt to get photo copies or a call for telephone information form a coin operated call box.

It's a comedy and, well, it is funny !!! I mean, really funny ! It's one of the fastest French comedies I've seen this year. The story is not very important - the struggle of a shy french guy to get to his date, braving all sorts of "bad" people, catastrophies and accidents - but the treatment is. Great, great actors, a never-ending stream of gags, a very naive love story... I just loved it. Imagine an "After Hours", written by the Monty Python. Great !

I would recommend this movie to anyone who knows even just a little about modern France or French language. (I believe this movie is not subtitled.) I myself can read but not speak (much) of that wonderful language but there is enough visual storytelling and jokes to allow you to make with the ha-ha. Best scene for me: the inconsolable fans in the bar at the unhappy conclusion of the football game. The movie even has stylish ending credits where the hero finds himself in a Baroque or possibly Rococo French line dance during a masquerade ball. Artus de Penguern does a superb job as writer/director and as Gregoire, ever hopeful, but stymied lover of would-be Madame Bovary played by Pascale Arbillot.

First of all this is the first french movie that i've ever seen. Personally I didn't know what to expect from. I even didn't know what was the movie about. Gregoire a single adult male, goes against practically everything to get what he deserves, a happy life with a girlfriend like him. All in all this is a great comedy that show us the mean of reaching our goals -no matter how small may they seem to other people- and how could they cost to us. There are some movies that show us this meaning by heart touching stories. Gregoire isn't one of these. Instead, this message is sent to us through a surrealistic experiences in which everything occurs to poor Gregoire. The man in fact is not the only starr in the movie, only the main guy. Certainly the great performances by the whole cast, the good score and also the very well done definition of the characters gave this movie a very particular touch. I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to have a good time and a good story.

Overall big laughs and 10/10.

P.S. I just bought the DVD.