Review by sactor

France has been making the same old films: Group of close friends or people going through ups and downs. That's it. Such as "Le gout des autres", "Les Bronzés", and "Mille Millièmes".

As a Linguist, I found Helena Bonham Carter fairly good in this film. Her french was good but not excellent. There is something about actors that I find pitiful when playing in foreign films or speak a second language; They don't truly speak it fluently and so therefore when playing a role such as Carter's, one can tell that she hasn't truly digested the French language and the consequences are that when one hasn't perfected a certain language, one becomes over the top. One can see that Carter is a bit self-conscious about her linguistic skills and in this case she ends up being theatrical and clownish. I admire and revere her as an actress but stick to english speaking films.

The whole cast does fairly well but it's the plot that doesn't fare well. Marie Trintignant shines and look for Jean Claude Brialy as the fed up fashion designer. If you watch "Robert & Robert" you will see how truly gifted this actor is.