Victoria

"Victoria" (Virginie Efira) hasn't her problems to seek! She's a divorced lawyer with custody of two children and a messy and fairly fluid love life. She manages to fall out with her baby sitter and so is even more stretched when the tousled young "Sam" (Vincent Lacoste) - an aspiring lawyer himself, offers to help her out. He will be her cook and bottle washer, mind the children and work with her - all for free! Suspicious, she gives him a week but soon he proves his worth and becomes a bit of an anchor for her increasingly complicated life. These complications emanate from her decision to sue her ex (the father of the children) for using her career as a template for his popular and salacious blog, and also from defending a friend and potential murderer (Melvil Poupaud) in a criminal trial that also involves another friend, too. The scene now set, this could have been quite a good scenario for Efira and the charismatic Lacoste, but the writing really lets it down. The story lurches from frying pan to not very humorous fire just once too often, the romantic melodrama is all just a bit passé and were it not for an outstanding effort from a Dalmatian with taste and a chimp adept with an iPhone, the humour would be distinctly lacking. The odd calamity in the plot would have been welcome, but here there are just too many implausibles and not enough comedy. Laure Calamy has a bit of fun as her defending counsel - French law courts are always so much more flamboyant and lively than British ones, but sadly she's not on screen often enough to make much difference. It's watchable enough, but just not that special.

I literally watched it at 1.5x speed and I still want my hour back. That's how low-paced this film is. It's not a comedy, neither is it drama. Uninteresting story, definitely not entertaining. Waste of time.

In Bed with Victoria directed by Justine Triet has much to offer in a complex plot of misadventures by lead Virginie Efira. She takes in a young man whom she defended.He is an aupair and takes over her house and children. He then takes over her case. She doesn't know she loves him. He leaves after she wins her case. You will have to watch the film to see what happens. It is funny. Virginie goes to a shrink, a doctor, an acupuncturist, a tarot card reader, one night stands, and a client to find out why she is not happy. Even one of her young daughters rubs her back and says I love you while she cries. Am I too masculine in bed she asks Vincent LaCoste. The dalmatian dog hates anyone who gets near his female owner, and this becomes part of a very funny divorce case. There is also a big monkey. I like the true search for happiness. She wants more than to be an attorney.

I just watched Victoria on a pre-release exclusive showing, and I greatly enjoyed it. Virginie has a great talent for comedies, and romantic comedies, and this movie is no exception. However, Victoria a parallel, satiric, deeper layer beside the general comedy stream. However, it keeps it's promise to be a light movie for a weekend night to have fun. I enjoyed the occasional funny moments, too.

After the movie Virgine came on stage for a question and answer session. I learned that the movie has several elements of near-improvisation, as the actors had the liberty to live their roles fully and didn't had to go word by word by scripts, they had freedom to go further with interpretation when they felt to.

All in all, if you like French comedies, and you like Virginie Efira, you will enjoy Victoria a lot.

Maybe because I am a male, I found this movie appealing due to the lead role. I think Virginie Efira can act, and does so very well. Unlike some major stars, it seems to me that she is making a real effort to act this role. For IMDB to list "Little imagination and not a single laugh" as the top review made me write this counter-review.

As a non-French speaker, I did struggle with the subtitles as there is a lot of dialogue (not all subtitled, thank goodness). And the plot is "clunky", I would say: the on-again, off-again relationship of the defendant, the vindictiveness of the ex, the role of the young man, for example.

Yet, like most (all?) French comedies, it does have its charms. The sets and costumes help. But mainly, the exploration of a career-oriented woman who thinks only of her career and casts her lovers and friends aside in its pursuit, to the detriment of her happiness. OK, we have seen this before (and will again) and probably done better. But being drawn in by Efira is quite satisfying.