Des nouvelles de la planète Mars

In Paris, the forty-nine-year-old computer engineer Philippe Mars (François Damiens) is a good and respectful man; however, he is not respected. When his abusive ex-wife needs to go to Brussels, she leaves their seventeen-year-old daughter Sarah Mars (Jeanne Guittet) and thirteen-year-old son Grégoire "Greg" Mars (Tom Rivoire) with their dirty clothes without any previous note. Both teenagers are dysfunctional, and Greg is fanatic vegetarian now and the unrealistic Sarah expects to have a great job after graduation. Philippe's boss explores and asks him to absorb the work of the unstable and psychotic Jérôme (Vincent Macaigne) despite Phillipe is overloaded. When Jérôme has a breakdown in the office, he throws a machete cutting a piece of Phillipe's ear that goes on surgery for re-implanting. He visits the art gallery of his sister Fabienne "Xanaé" Mars (Olivia Côte) and sees that she is selling paintings of his parents naked with exposed genitals to make money. But soon his life turns upside-down when Jérôme flees from the psychiatric hospital and seeks shelter at his apartment. Phillippe is incapable to say no to him; The crazy co-worker brings his crush from the institution, Chloé (Veerle Baetens), to stay in his apartment. Soon Xanaé leaves her annoying dog without his permission in his apartment. The chaos in his life forces Philippe to change his attitude towards life.

"Des nouvelles de la planète Mars", a.k.a. "News from Planet Mars" (2016), is a French Belgian movie with obnoxious characters and unfunny comedy. Maybe this kind of wit humor works for Europeans but is not so good for most of the Brazilians, I believe. This is the second film that I have recently seen with the weirdo Vincent Macaigne in another movie ("Les deux amis") and this French actor seems to be specialist in strange roles, maybe because of his appearance. The film would work better as a serious drama with modifications in the screenplay and characters, but never with comedy the way it is. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Más Notícias para o Sr. Mars" ("Bad News for Mr. Mars")

The French are quite good at these subtle melancholic comedies, which are mostly funny because of the bizarre conflicts people get themselves into. This picture is about a nice and very kind man, who gets suckered into giving shelter to a mentally disturbed collegue who had accidentally attacked him with an axe at work. Yes, you read it correctly. Sounds bizarre, yet despite the (accidental) axe attack this kind and gentle father of two kids, decides to take the mentally disturbed collegue into his house anyway. Then (hilarious) troubling events start occuring when this mental patient starts taking over the household. The household disasters are building up in ever more hilarious severity.

The core of this story has a true to life ring to it, basically portraying (with witty detail) a divorced father, who is trying to raise his two teenage kids as good as he can. Things get really complicated though when the mentally disturbed collegue is overstaying his welcome in his house. Just a lovely quirky French melancholic comedy, best suited for an arthouse audience or for those who love this typical French kind of understated humor.

It's a comedy that settles for smiles, mostly wry ones. A story of a would be loser (once again - I don't believe there's such a thing, but people do use the term). Kind sensitive and unable to say no for real. Everybody around him knows it, and they all take advantage of it. Pushing his life into a surreal spin, in which reality itself loses touch with reality.

It takes some very good acting, a carefully balanced plot - it could easily slip into an all out farce, and that, obviously, wasn't the intention of Dominik Moll - the director and of Gilles Marchand who helped him with the script. The line between sanity and common sense is also being blurred, in the best way. I think this kind of dual balance is best kept in French comedies. There are similar stories being made elsewhere - they end up over the fine lines that this film succeeds not to cross. It does makes you think, what's a loser, is it so bad being one. Who's insane who isn't and who lives in a bigger cage.