Até a Eternidade

Guillaume Canet creates films (Tell No One, Whatever You Say, J'peux pas dormir..., Je taim) that though they are about love, loss and life, they probe more deeply into the human condition than the glossy entertaining surface can conceal. In the end all of his films demand that the viewer connects to his concept of the flow of life and death and those aspects of living that make a difference. Les petits mouchoirs AKA Little White Lies magnifies these attributes. The story is so conversationally written that for a while it is difficult to pull together where the film is going, but by the end of the film the audience is so choked by the discoveries revealed that tears and a stunned afterburn are inevitable.

Every year, Max Cantara (François Cluzet), a successful restaurant owner, and Véronique (Valérie Bonneton), his eco-friendly wife invite a their close-knit circle of friends to their beautiful Cap Ferrat beach house near Bordeaux to celebrate the birthday of Antoine (Laurent Lafitte) and kick-start the vacation. But, this year, before they all leave Paris, their mutual friend Ludo (Jean Dujardin) is hurt in a serious motorcycle accident, ends up the ICU and as the doctors say nothing can be done to change things for at least two weeks, the friends all proceed with their plans for vacation: no one stays behind to be supportive of Ludo, not even his apparent love partner Marie (Marion Cotillard). This sets off a dramatic chain of reactions and emotional responses. The eagerly anticipated vacation leads each of the protagonists to raise the little veils that for years they have draped over what bothers and upsets them. Pretenses become increasingly hard to keep up. Until the moment when the truth finally catches up with them all: each member of the group of friends has a problem that needs the support of real friends but none of them has the ability to share personal secrets. There are many concepts that are present here - one married man Vincent (Benoît Magimel) has an inexplicable physical and emotional attraction to Max who loathes the idea of a possible gay liaison; Marie is visited by an infrequent lover Nassim (Hocine Mérabet), Eric (Gilles Lellouche) longs to be reunited with the woman who has found another, Jean Louis (Joël Dupuch) awaits messages from his emotionally distant Juliette (Anne Marivin) - and so on. Yet each of these little situations confound Antoine who cannot believe this group would not stay near their critically injured friend Ludo. The consequences are revealing and point out the importance of owning up to the truths that define a life. To reveal the ending would be a disservice to all who may see this little masterpiece.

The entire cast is of the highest caliber and Canet succeeds in getting brilliant performances from each. Though each actor is excellent, the performances by Benoît Magimel, Marion Cotillard and François Cluzet are exceptional. This is a thinking person's film but one that holds as much brilliant drama and impact as any film before us today. Grady Harp, February 13

This 'film choral' describes the relations in a group of friends in their 30-40s.

Like every summer, Max is inviting his friends to stay at his house by the sea. Unfortunately, a few days before the departure, Ludovic is heavily injured in a motorbike accident. This event is impacting the relations in the rest of the group...

This movie is pleasing thanks to the comedy scenes, such as the running references to the homosexual appeal of one the friend for another, which is very conservative and close-minded. Or the running gag about the love affair by SMS.

On the other hand, the emotional scenes were weak, and it was difficult to feel sympathy, sorrow or sadness. I think this is mostly due to the acting, which was not as good as required to express these very deep feelings. But it could also be a problem of film construction, as I really felt the emotional strings was overused, as a justification for the whole movie. Another point is that the large number of characters weaken the depiction of each's state of mind.

Finally, "Les Petits Mouchoirs" felt like a movie with some interesting ideas, but which were not selected and matured enough. The final cut is a too long movie, with a taste of unpolished scenario.

Guillaume Canet does his best Arnaud Desplechin impression to mixed results. The film centers on a simple plot (a group of longtime friends going on their yearly beach vacation together) with a slight twist (they leave a member of the group in the hospital to go). Canet (who wrote and directed) crafts a character piece, delving into the lies that these people tell each other and themselves, and then slowly picks at the facade until it all comes out in the open. It's a pretty standard premise, but the actors here really make the film shine. Every one of them has at least one moment to impress and the majority of the extended cast make good use of them.

Francois Cluzet is excellent as the patriarch of the group, constantly in a state of distress over having to bury a secret that he's uncomfortable with. Benoit Magimel shines as a family man who is struggling with his sexuality. Gilles Lellouche is perfectly cast as the man-child with a heart of gold. It's no surprise that the one who shines brightest is Marion Cotillard, given the role of the woman who is caught in a state of despair, not really knowing what she wants in life. Unfortunately, Canet is incapable of creating characters with a real sense of depth to them. Even the main ones that we delve into only really have one thing that we barrel in on, and the female characters (aside from Cotillard's) are almost insultingly thin.

The film pretty much focuses on the men and Cotillard, leaving the other women as these shells of characters that Canet refuses to dig into, despite the extensive 150 minute running time. You'd think that with a running time that long, he could have created characters much more complex than the ones we received. The film all boils up to a conclusion that is a very easy and obvious attempt at trying to get some emotion out of the audience, incredibly disappointing in it's predictability. Overall, this isn't a bad film; it's entertaining to watch and the actors are able to get some fine emotional moments out of it. But really it's a case of a great cast being able to overcome the ineptitude of it's writer and director.

Trying to kill a couple of hours before bed, I decided to give this film a go even though I had not heard an awful lot about it. Having recently seen and enjoyed a couple of Canet's other films, I knew I would at least be entertained. In the next two and a half hours that followed, I can honestly say I was mesmerised by what I saw. As the film finished and the credits rolled in I was overcome with a strange feeling of sadness that the film had finished, but also a huge sense of gratitude that I had probably just seen one of the best films of my life. Coming from an actor and also a Film degree major, that is something I don't take lightly to admitting. Perhaps in time the novelty will wear off and the more times I see it, the more holes I will be able to pick in it. However, I know the film did something right as I felt compelled to sign up on here and write this review at 1am! Now I'm not going to bark on too much about all the reasons why this film is so great, because that is something you all have to make up your own minds with. The best compliment I can pay 'Little White Lies' is that it was such a genuine film in terms of content right down to the acting. Marion Cottilard in particular is absolutely fantastic, there aren't many people who can perform to that level, her performance was flawless at times. Anyhow, I've said my bit. This film deserves to be seen by everyone, I have, I hope you all do too.

Let me start of by saying: Do not watch this because you want to see Jean Dujardin! Since he won the Oscar a couple of months ago, I'm pretty sure the demand on his movies has been increased. But this is not a Dujardin vehicle. While his character is pivotal to the whole story, he himself will not appear in it for a long period of time. I didn't count the minutes, but his screen presence does not warrant you to watch it for him alone.

Having said that, I do hope you watch it for what it is and all the other wonderful french actors that are in it. One of them being his "partner-in-crime" in his newest movie (L'Infidels). The story consists of every character having something inside them, wanting to burst out. Some are subtle about it and some are not. I think the character who is the loudest might feel to be the most annoying one, but the actor walks the fine line of still making him sympathetic enough for us to care. A really good drama, that will find it's audience.