Je crois que je l'aime

This new film by director Pierre Jolivet,who gained my attention 10 years ago with his dark and sociologically precise "Fred", is a little gem.Yes, it is a typical romantic comedy ,so the happy end is obvious and never beyond questions;but the way to this is more realistic than in most other rom-CMOS.The film is a kind of comedic meditation about the possibility of love in a time so decisively dominated by annoying communication technology.It shows how in a capitalistic world the economic sphere infiltrates the private life of people and how difficult it gets to separate them.All those technical gimmicks remind me of old Tati films.The dialogs are lively and the performances top-notch.Bonnaire, one of my favorite actresses since I saw "Sans toit ni loi" for the first time, is as beautiful and compelling as ever,beyond that she displays a comical talent,that directors should use more often.Lindon is convincing as a control freak as well as an inept lover.For sure there are some weaknesses: Not all of the twists in the plot are useful and make sense, for example the episode with the sumo ringer is only ridiculous, and the slapstick humour is sometimes a little childish.The final conclusion,that love has something to do with risk of jumping into the unknown, of course is not new,but in our time, in which so many people want to obtain security in all areas of life, it is nice to be mentioned one more time.

Pierre Jolivet is an interesting director, able direct any kind of movie, whatever its genre is : autobiographical drama ("Strictement Personel"), social movie ("Fred"), low budged fantastic ("simple mortel") or SF ("The last combat", with Luc Besson), or medieval action feature ("Le fils du guerrier"). And, as all this movies were made with the same serious, you know that, when he makes a romantic comedy like "Could this be love" - sorry, but because of my previous french movies enumeration, and for french is considered as "spelling mistakes" by IMDb, I have to tittle the movies in English...- , it will be nicely done (by that, I mean that it certainly will bellow to the genre that François Truffaut called, with irony, "cinema de qualité française"). And like his other movies, it is. But like his other movies, it also unfortunately doesn't really archive to be absolutely interesting and great. Once again, this movie is the proof that french contemporary romantic comedies, like this one or the latest Christian Vincent or Pierre Salvadori, will never reach their American models (and by that I mean movies from the 40's to the 60's, for it's definitely better than than an American garbage like "The Hollyday").

The movie deals with a rich enterprise boss (Vincent Lindon) who falls in love with an independent woman (Sandrine Bonnaire), who was hire by him as an artist in order to create a ceramic painting for his enterprise. But, for he's a paranoiac control freak, who's unable to trust a woman since a bad experience (his ex wife worked for a adverse enterprise and spied him for years), he asks the firm's chief of security (François Berléand in a perfect role) to watch her. And as he goes a little to far in his role, this situation will create incontrollable and huge problems. The script is the perfect pretext to explore, in a comical and funny way, what Jolivet called "the fear of love", witch is the ability we all have, in front of love, to find ways to avoid it, only guided by the fear to suffer (for a more ample and a little pretentious explanation of this concept, you can read the interview of Pierre Jolivet in the french cinema revue : Positif 552, who also praises the movie).

The situations are generally quite funny and credible, certainly thanks to the commitment of the actors to their characters. But the characters might really be the problem here : if Lindon's is very rich and eccentric (therefor interesting), Sandrine Bonnaire's one is a little too... hum, let's say normal. It's not really the actress' fault, for, except for showing a brightly smile, she doesn't have anything much to do, and seems really boring in front of her masculine partner. If he's exuberant, paranoiac, maniac, depressive, self centered and yet moving, she is..., well, allergic to cat, and that's about it.

And, in order to have a good romantic comedy, the two protagonists have to be equally interesting (ie : Carry Grant AND Catherine Heptburn), and give the impression to really match with one another. And if only one of the two characters works, only half the movie is really enjoyable.

Treading in the footsteps of "Mr Brooks" and "Sleuth", "Could This Be Love?" is this year's second movie about both ceramic glazing and universal remote controls. Like Kevin Costner's character in "Mr Brooks", Elsa (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a strong-willed type with a passion for pottery. Like Michael Caine's character in "Sleuth", Lucas (Vincent Lindon) tries and fails to shield himself from the world with the help of remote-controlled gadgetry. It's not at all clear what they see in each other, but what the hack. Elsa is a bit too sure of herself for a struggling artist, but her sumo wrestler friend Yakeshi (Brian Bigg) adds a refreshing, if goofy touch of the surreal. Newcomer Clémentine Poidatz is pretty cute in the part of Elsa's cousin Marina. Guest appearance by Venantino Venantini in the part of the Della Ponte, the pope of pottery.

Directed by Pierre Jolivet, Could This Be Love contains all the trappings that would making Hollywood come knocking on its doors for the rights to a remake. You have your romantic leads, a rich industrialist and a talented artist, start off with being loggerheads, before the pursuit begins over conversation and comedy. There's the myriad of supporting characters like the secretary, driver and family, but the one which stood out in the film, was an inhouse investigator.

When it comes to business, Lucas (Vincent Lindon) is unparalleled in his acumen, though he defers to his investigator Roland (Francois Berleand) to dig up any dirt on the competition or partners, or even his own staff, to have a second informed and unbiased opinion. Being estranged from his wife, he has no luck with women, especially when they're sent by competitors to fish for information. Hence the paranoia and fear with members of the opposite sex that he fancies. Elsa (Sandrine Bonnaire) is the artist commissioned for a project at his office lobby, and while he takes an almost instant liking to her, she's one tough nut to crack, so meanwhile, he sends Roland on his usual behind the scenes work.

I guess nobody would like to be spied upon, especially not by someone whom you just come to know trivially. It tells you something, that there isn't a bedrock of trust to begin with, the very foundations that a relationship would be built upon. On one hand you fancy somebody, and on the other you'd come to appreciate if you could get the lowdown and having some honest beans spilled – if bad, then walk away, otherwise the pursuit could continue until such time some degree of dirt get dug out, then all bets are off.

For the most parts this movie played out like your standard romantic comedy, and my, the comedic moments were funny given the timing of Vincent Lindon. I especially enjoyed the extended scene of anticipation, dread and regret, when he gets invited back to Elsa's apartment which is rigged by surveillance devices, when he just couldn't respond the come hither opportunities, knowing that his employee would or could be watching. And it were moments such as these – running afoul of his own mitigation of fear, or having his excuses to take some time off from work for his romantic escapades, that blow up in his face.

The chemistry between Sandrine Bonnaire and Vincent Lindon worked perfectly, that you'll have no qualms to have this couple charm you into sitting through what is essentially formula, where boy meets, pursues, loses the girl of his dreams. It doesn't however bore you with too many saccharine sweet moments, but what it does accurately, was perhaps to paint the culture of fear amongst those who dare not take that leap of faith, which probably is required by anyone wanting to get into a romantic life with someone else.