Un air de famille

This is exactly the sort of film you'd never see coming from Hollywood, as it has no flashy stars, a very simple script and it's about people and relationships. While this might easily bore teenagers or those who long for explosions or boobies in their films, if you are an adult looking for a movie that doesn't insult your intelligence, then this is a movie for you.

The film's premise is simple. A mother and her three adult children and their spouses get together every Friday night for dinner at the same nearby restaurant each week. However, this night is different because one of the spouses (who you never see in the film) has just walked out and the time-honored tradition is thrown off kilter. It seems that because the usual routine is thrown aside, over the course of the evening, the normally happy family veneer is slowly pulled aside--revealing the ugliness and pettiness of some of them. Interestingly enough, the most interesting character in this whole thing is a non-family member (who works for one of the sons). In a way, he seems almost like an audience member watching the craziness and only later reacting to it. Fortunately, while there are some minor fireworks, all the family problems seem real and you can relate to them--this is NOT a tacky film where one person announces they are getting a sex change or another announces that they are having an affair with a chicken! No, the problems seem real and seething just under the surface. Additionally, how you perceive each family member changes a bit over time as more and more of the veneer is pulled away. One minute you like or are concerned about one of them, the next you want to slap them upside the head--just like a REAL family! I am glad that while the problems were revealed, there were no easy answers or pat resolutions. Like life, at the end, you are left wondering what will transpire next and I sure would love to see a sequel to this excellent picture. Good writing, direction and acting--this is such a simple but well-made little film.

It is always interesting to read other peoples impressions and critics of movies and when I read the Darragh O'Donoghue's above comments about the film 'Un air de famille' - he (she?) already doesn't understand the title of the film which is full of double or triple meanings - I can't help but write down my very own impressions of the film.

It is clearly visible that the script was originally written for stage by using one single location for the film. The director of the film cleverly used the simple set(it's a low budget movie after all) to invoke a lively family meeting by setting up lots of different shots. His solution was to make the camera mostly invisible by not clinging to exaggerated camera moves or positions. By doing so he gives us the possibility to concentrate on the actors and their dialog. And what a pleasure that is to do. Step by step we get more and more involved and because it's somehow clear from the beginning that this piece is not about major surprises but about the subtle plays and conflicts happening between people who know each other for a long time, one is charmingly pulled into the story.

p.s. the subtitles are clearly readable. The 'banal' dialog between the family members has exactly the right dose of innuendoes and truthfulness.

A pleasure to watch.

I was enthralled by this filmed play of an evening in the life of a family driven to a peak of "dysfunction," but through it all held together by the glue of love, however imperfect (as it always is).

The movie is a comedy in the sense that it makes you laugh at, with, and sometimes in spite of the kaleidoscopic display of personal and interpersonal flaws, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities that it illuminates through its crack cast of closely observed and defined characters. Few if any of them fails to reveal a different side to their personality with each turn of the kaleidoscope. These are complex people - just like the real kind. And the fact that the script, the camera, and the direction simultaneously lay bare their suffering/insufferable humanity (and their unique virtues) while evoking sympathy, fondness, and identification with each one of them is what, to my mind, raises Un Air de Famille from the level of good artistry to that of redeeming social value: art with a heart.

Syd Baumel

The obvious 'filmed play' style enhanced this for me - there would have been little to gain by making it more of a movie. Wonderful character development and fantastic acting. A disturbing portrait of a dysfunctional family - exaggerated slightly to play to the back of the house, but not too much.

The movie "Cuisines et Dépendances" (1993) had revealed Jean Pierre Bacri/Agnès Jaoui's original talent. Here, "un air de famille" (1996) which is once again an adaptation of a play written by the duo constitutes a kind of extension and especially a clear improvement for them. This movie made by Cédric Klapisch is very superior to the first quoted movie although "Cuisines et dépendances" is a worthy work. The meeting Bacri-Jaoui-Klapisch shines to delivers a stunning flick. It is difficult to tell because it is so rich and crowded with incident that it would take several pages to sum it up. So, to tell you the main reasons that justify the vision of this film, I will go to the essential.

3 things confer to the movie a strong appeal. First, the scriptwriters have the remarkable gift to make sparks fly from the single cue and to let what is left unsaid and the suggested leak out. Dialogs are also their best weapon to revamp the middle-class' image but also to harm the characters' meanness and faults. This last feature enables to Bacri and Jaoui to distinguish themselves in the French comedy. It is their recognizable stamp to disclose certain faults that we have inside us but which we really don't want to admit. In this way, it is quite easy to identify with the characters. We have a little "air de famille" with them.

But "un air de famille" is also worth for Klapisch's accurate making with an outstanding work on the lighting effects. The lighted café contrasts with the dark restaurant in the background of the scenery. Moreover, the split of the family amazingly answers to the dreary aspect of the scenery. Little by little, the film becomes a stifling In Camera tempered by a few sequences which relate childhood memories.

In another extent, there's another strong point from Klapisch: the directing of actors which is flawless and well studied. Personally I think it is a real treat to see Jean Pierre Bacri coming and going in his café, with his sullen look. Beside him, Catherine Frot is irresistible in her role of silly woman while Jean Pierre Darroussin is the sole stable character in the middle of this family which is slowly breaking up. He also tries to bring his support and comfort to the members.

"Un air de famille" is a smart and ferociously funny movie. Jean Pierre Bacri and Agnès Jaoui rank among the finest comical authors of the nineties and Cédric Klapisch can without problem join the group of the best French film-makers of his generation. Don't miss this movie which will give you another image of the French comedy.