Les soeurs fâchées

Well I have not seen the movie yet and will have to wait 10 hours for this to happen. My point to come here is to talk about the lack of thinking behind the tittling in English. "My sister and I" is not even search able for this film and returns an Italian film. I had to look at Isabelle Huppert's credit to find it and had to be or at least understand french to get the right movie. I wish original tittles were also given in reviews. I will not suggest a more appropriate tittle although i could think of a couple and have to admit that literal translation does not work too well here. I did like what other have written about it and am looking forward for a spicy time tonight :) and will come back to put my five cents of thoughts on it. MB

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June 2008!I'm not permitted to make another entry so I added this here. I'm quite surprised on two counts, 1) My 2004 comment came up with the main page! and 2) There are so few entries for this tittle, it really deserves better. "Me and My Sister" (In French "the sisters crossed with each others")was screened on our Sydney TV last Sunday. I had an idea I saw it before! But decided to watch it again. I can't remember exactly my feelings about it when I first saw it at the cinema (that I was supposed to report on!). However I did enjoy very much the second viewing. The contrast of these two characters is so well exposed and acted out. The provincial sister is actually quite thick and although the Parisian resort to extreme nastiness you can't help to feel for her who lives so much in such a superficial world, yes she's only a facade of success. She's pitiful but fits well this superficial world. But she's not naive or stupid and so get much hurt from her "Simple Simone" sister oozing with goodness and who turns into a high achiever. I thought it was an interesting ride and not boring in the least. The ending tries to tell you that blood is thicker than high emotions - So be it. Thank you for some much better written entries I read a while ago and to which I can well associate with and would have like to write myself as an ex Parisian but who spent more time in rural regions I have experienced a little of both "status"!- Even during my military service, and here obviously talking about men, the Parisian snobbery was still apparent and sometimes subject of "down to earth" reactions! But here no such a thing, yet it's riveting at times. MM

The film "Les Soeurs fachees" is very moving. It really comes alive because of the two extraordinary lead actresses. Especially the wonderful Isabelle Huppert. She is amazing the way she can express emotions, during the movie, without saying a word. You can read it all in her beautiful face. During the movie you get to know, nearly in every scene, how different these sisters are. The cold, unhappy Martine and the nice and friendly Louise. It proofs how important are goals for you life, and it's never to late to change something,to become happy. A wonderful true french film, refreshing, charming, sad, might make you laugh and cry. Loved it. I would definitely recommend it to everyone who loves great cinema with talented actors, and dislikes Hollywood Studio Movies.

Despite occasional overacting, this movie contains some interesting psychological and sociological insights. Most of the situations are plausible, even when they contain stereotypes. Although Martine's character could be construed as vicious and riddled with over-the-top intolerance, in the end she arouses more pity than contempt. Her younger sister Louise, fresh from the provinces and utterly devoid of sophistication and savoir-faire, in the end turns up trumps, a modern version of Andersen's ugly duckling. All the minor characters appear credible, as they witness with patient puzzlement the increasingly hysterical outbursts of the Parisian sister. A subtle touch is provided by Martine's unprepossessing little boy, who should be, but isn't, the logical comfort to his mother's depressive condition. If there is a moral to this fast-paced middle-class comedy, it is that no intelligent woman should sentence herself to merely being a wife and mother. Louise, on the other hand, has twigged this, and triumphs in the end.

Fantastic acting, very entertaining. Though the things which happen in the movie are not always nice, it has been long since I have followed a movie with so much enjoyment from the first to its last minute. Not having read anything about the movie before, I was open to let the action surprise me. I recommend anyone not to read to much about the storyline before watching it, but just go and watch. To answer one of the comments above, yes, the movie is also interesting for people not familiar with the Paris-Countryside clinch (such as me). I think it is because the feelings/situations transported in it, though set in a French framework, are universal. There have been situations in my life when I have felt more like the one or like the other sister. Different as they are, the reactions of all characters are completely understandable. The movie does the trick to combine affectionate caricature and merciless realism. This is why the movie is catching and moving, while at the same time you are observing and enjoying from a kind of layd-back perspective. I just realize that might be the reason why the action never made me feel embarrassed, and allowed me to watch at times with some voyeuristic indulgence. Yes, the movie does not condemn any character, but brings affection for human imperfection. If you like the taste of film food which is a quite perfect dish of different flavours, go watch.

This comedy of manners depicts too opposite sisters in a satire that is too crude and clichéd to be really moving. The Paris/province (rest of France)divide is a source of inspiration for many French comedies but the rotten humor and the engaging characters cannot make up for the very predictable plot.

Some moments are really funny though, there is a kind of tenderness in the caricatured portrait of each sister so all in all it's not such a bad try for a first film.

Eventually it's more a duel of two styles of acting, an encounter of 2 different actress with their own class. Not exactly a good film but a pleasant shot.