Romuald & Juliette

I don't know how I came across this film, but I think it was because of Daniel Auteuil, an actor I had not encountered before I first saw this film in the early 90s. I've since bought the video and have watched it many times. The sweet story of a myopic French executive and his black office cleaning lady is not at all racist as someone previously posted here. And it's refreshing to see a love story starring a woman with a Junoesque figure. Fermine Richard is a splendid, sexy presence, and the scene where her son is let out of prison and her greeting to him is hilarious. Daniel Auteuil, as the clueless executive whose eyes are finally opened is a sensational actor and he's actually handsome in this film. Usually he's submerged in some character, and you forget that he can be an effortless leading man. The children--his and hers--are delightful, as is Romuald's ex-wife and bumbling underlings who seek to oust Romuald from his position as the CEO of a successful yogurt company, play their absurd parts with winks and nods.

Again it is the masterly hand of Coline Sereau who lets this warm comedy unfold with grace and sweetness that make for a delightful time. I had heard the film was optioned for an American version with Richard Dreyfus in the part of Romauld. Sounds awful. Watch the masterly original instead!

This is a very sweet film. While it has its humorous moments, I wouldn't really bill it as a comedy, but perhaps it's funnier if you're French. But I really loved the characters and the story. Firmine Richard is a real beauty (I'm going to look up more of her films), and I too fell in love with Juliette. I saw "Le Placard" last week, which was my first exposure to Daniel Auteuil; I didn't know he was in this film until I started watching it. There are a lot of great French actors that Americans are too unaware of. Expand your horizons folks -- watch foreign films. There are some real gems out there. Go to your library and check out a few.

Now, this 10-line-minimum rule is really starting to get annoying. I think my comment above is quite adequate, but the system still won't allow me to submit it. You folks really need to change that.

I would not compare it to Le Placard, which IMHO had more comic moments, but Romuald & Juliette while being a slow starter certainly kept your attention going throughout the film, nicely paced and reaching a heart warming conclusion :) There were many marvellous comedic moments, some brilliant pathos and realistic situation acting by all actors.

It was a typically French film, in which while confronting prejudices and phobias, which in turn the made the viewer confront his own shortcomings! I am certainly pleased to have this in my library, and will no doubt watch it time and time again, which to me is a mark of a great film.

This movie is a hard-to-find gem! It is the story of Juliette, a perfectly ordinary cleaning woman who works in the large corporate office of a yogurt company, and Romuald, the president of same. He takes no notice of her, he takes no notice of anyone until several plots to wrest his company away from him all hit at the same time. He is lost, no one to turn to and no one to trust when he discovers Juliette. As the cleaning woman, no one pays any attention to her, so they say and do incriminating things in front of her that she is smart enough to catch on to and use to help her helpless and hapless boss. The complications are wild, she is not so ordinary as she seems with five children from five different ex-husbands who are all still madly in love with her, and he is not so shrewd as he thinks he is. This movie doesn't follow a predictable path and that's what keeps you watching. The acting is superb and there are some very moving moments along the way as well. The working class displays more savvy than those above them, almost in the same way "Gosford Park" showed the upper crust is not all it's cracked up to be mentally. I recommend this movie very much. See it! 9/10

i was glad that this movie did without all the supposed depth of all too many pseudo-serious interracial movies. race was one issue, yes, but so was class...and loyalty...and honesty, etc.

i also loved the idea that the love affair wasn't couched solely in the 'decorative' aspects of either character's appearance. aren't our divorce courts (on both sides of the Atlantic, i daresay!) filled now with enough couples who thought 'looking good. together.' is all it takes to make a solid marriage? in any case, the tenderness and sensuality of both characters was thick enough to cut in love scenes that would have brought a rainbow to any dreary day! in other words, a light-hearted movie that's by no means a light-weight!