Le soleil au-dessus des nuages

Jean Michaux (Daniel Prévost) is the perfect example of a hateful man. As scornful with his workmates than with his neighbour, he has no family, no friends and his love life is like a desert. One day, he's fired and he has to assess the disaster of his existence with nowhere to go. He makes the acquaintance of a sweet, dreamy young man called Antoine (Serge Hazanavicius) who is his polar opposite. Though they seem to have nothing in common, Jean offers him to go with him to la Baule where he has to pay a visit to his uncle.

You probably guessed what will Jean's behaviour become after having read the last lines of the above summary and you will be mostly right. Beside Antoine and not without some clashes, Jean rediscovers the values of life and friendship but what makes le Soleil Au-Dessus des Nuages so endearing is the delicate tenderness, the filmmaker Eric Le Roch wraps around his characters. Straddling two genres: road movie and initiatory tale, the director eschews many narrative pitfalls or more than predictable developments his subject was prone to in the evolution of his protagonists. Jean isn't always wicked and even after so many years spent in the wilderness, he can show love and tenderness albeit with reserve around him, especially when his former love Virginie (Hélène Vincent) magically reappears. Furthermore, Eric Le Roch had the cleverness not to treat in its entirety their burgeoning love affair. As for Antoine, though he shelters his own vulnerability and several weaknesses, one can only admire his strength to support Jean's odious attitude and his patience will bear its fruits for one can be touched by Jean's metamorphosis.

I have underscored the sensibility with whick the director loves his characters and this fineness of style coupled with a discreet humor serves as the main motor of the movie. In the end, it's impossible to resist its underlying message: no matter what your age is, it's never too late to start your life again and eventually to see the sun above the clouds. Add an exotic feel good vibe provided by the various scenery and you get a subtle piece of work from a director who, for his first feature film was in full possession of his means. Shame, his cinematographic career was short-lived.

And at last, Lucid Beausonge's magnificent song during the end credits reinforces the positive, though wistful aura the movie conveys.

Oddly, this movie reminded me of "mister Hire" by Patrice Leconte because it's nearly the same subject: a man called Jean (Daniel Prévost) is hated by everyone due to his despising and arrogant behavior. He lives alone and leads a mournful life. One day, he's meeting a young man which the temperament is on the other side of his. With him, Jean finds relationship, comfort and evolution.

To make Jean's description, Eric Le Roch (the film-maker) used the same processes as Patrice Leconte in the quoted movie: Jean is an unpleasant man but in parallel, Le Roch attempts to make him friendly, touching and especially funny; it's all the more as in the end, you're feeling endearing for this man. Furthermore, an important part of the movie rests on Daniel Prévost's shoulders who reveals himself as a great French actor.

Although, the movie isn't as strong as "mister Hire" and the story gives an impression of "déjà-vu", it's nevertheless well-regulated : Prévost never hams it up and during the sequences with his main partner, he never steals him the show. Le Roch makes his movie with lightness and if it introduces abortive situations, some of them turn out to be both funny and touching thanks to Hélène Vincent's wistful presence.

At the end, a heart-warming movie.

The tale of a fifty years old man - Daniel Prevost - lonely, embittered, depressed, who is fired from the company he works in, and who suddenly meets a young man, a magician, who is the total opposite of him. Between the two will begin a very peculiar relationship, where the young man will teach his new pal how to enjoy life. He will teach him how to appreciate the other people, how not to be always in anger. It is poignant. A deep and gripping analysis of the meaning of life. It may help you to emerge from a depressing mood. Daniel Prevost has never been better, he who is usually closer to comedies than dramas.

I saw this on TV here in Cotonou. Impressive piece of "magic." You start out detesting Jean and even wondering why you are watching the film but then the magic of Antoine slips in and you soon are hoping beyond hope that Jean can uncover "another Jean." In the end your sympathies for him are strong. You are rooting for him to start a new life with Virginie. And then crash, the future disappears and the new Jean is no more. It's kind of "schmaltzie" but I was touched by the very ending when his "light" heads up through the clouds to the sun above.