User reviews

Danièle Thompson, daughter of the famous producer Gérard Oury, wrote this comedy with her son Christopher. So making movies and writing scripts is apparently a family-mark. She was also director of this surprising comedy with a bit of a "Lubitsch"-touch and in the atmosphere of the movies of Claude Lelouch but with a high profiled own personality. Rose (Juliette Binoche) and Felix (Jean Reno) are characters that only could come out of the imagination of a woman. Their dialogues are well fit to their personality. Rose is a woman who is looking for real love and Felix is so busy that he has no time to even think of it. The circumstances at the airport will give them the time to know and appreciate each other. The movie shows how fate can put people together who normally never speak with each other.

I caught this movie quite by accident one night while watching someone else's satellite TV. Had never heard of it, so I was able to view it with no preconceptions. I was completely charmed.

Jean Reno and Juliette Binoche have an effortless chemistry that's completely believable. Their two characters find themselves uneasily sharing a hotel room for one night, waiting for transportation snafus to be cleared up. Her Rose is a little ditsy but not offensively stupid, and his Felix is self-absorbed but not enough to make him unlikable.

The peeling away of defenses is a predictable plot device; but the dialog, along with the grace and skill of the leads, nonetheless kept me interested. It helps that they're so easy to watch: she's gorgeous with or without makeup, and he is far sexier than his less-than- classic-looks would have led me to believe. A bonus is the always-excellent Sergi Lopez in a small, typically sinister role.

Most of the French films I've seen have struck me as self-important and/or one-dimensional; I have no such objections to this one. I characterize Jet Lag as cotton-candy entertainment: utterly unsubstantial, yet fluffy and tasty enough to leave me wanting more.

"Décalage horaire" (2002) aka "Jet Lag" was the third film written/directed by Daniele Thompson that I've seen. It may not be as marvelous as La Bûche (1999), her directorial debut or charming and delightful as Fauteuils d'orchestre (2006), her latest film but it is definitely worth seeing for the wonderful acting by two fine French actors, Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno who both played against their types. Binoche does not appear often in the comedies and Reno is not well known as a romantic lead but they were pleasure to watch in the light romantic dramedy that takes place in the famous Paris Charles de Gaulle airport one long rainy night when all flights were grounded by weather and a baggage strike. Two strangers meet by chance, when Rose (Binoche) who had accidentally flushed her cell phone in a toilet, asks a perfect stranger, Felix (Reno), to use his phone. They are both professionally successful. He is a chef who made a fortune in the frozen-food business, and she has won a golden brush, the equivalent of Pulitzer Prize for the make-up artists. Their personal lives are the mess. Each has the problems, disappointments, unsatisfying or unfinished relationships by the time of their first encounter. She flees from her abusive boyfriend of 12 years (Sergio Lopes is memorably scary in a tiny cameo). He still can't recover from his previous relationship and suffers from anxiety attacks. Perhaps, 81 minutes is not enough to convince us that these two flawed and insecure individuals will overcome their past and live happily ever after but Binoche and Reno masterfully and elegantly created on the screen the possibility of love and readiness to accept it.

`Jet Lag' is a French romantic comedy that takes place almost entirely in an airport terminal and an airport hotel. Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno are two strangers who meet at the Paris airport and end up sharing a room when all flights are cancelled due to an air traffic controllers strike (think of how this affair would have been thwarted had Reagan been France's president at the time!). Rose and Felix are both riddled with insecurities and anxieties, having been largely unlucky in the ways of love. Yet, after some predictable initial tension between them, they somehow manage to find a mutual strength – and attraction - in their combined weaknesses.

`Jet Lag' is so simple and unassuming in its early stages that we are amazed to discover, about a third of the way through, just how completely it has managed to sneak up on us and win us over. Unlike most American romantic comedies, `Jet Lag' allows its characters to actually talk and get to know one another. It sure doesn't hurt, of course, that Binoche and Reno are such talented, attractive performers who establish an astonishing rapport in their scenes together. Sure, the plotting isn't exactly believable, but when is that ever the case in a film of this type anyway? The thing that matters is that we like the people we have become involved with and that we can accept, if only for just a moment, the possibility that they might be able to find happiness together. That is certainly the case in this film. (If there is a criticism to be leveled against the film, it is that it is simply too short, clocking in at barely over 80 minutes. How many films can one say THAT about?).

`Jet Lag' could have been a completely insubstantial little film; instead, it resonates with a joyfulness and charm that truly captivate the viewer. This is a winner well worth checking out.

"Jet Lag" is all about Binoche and Reno as travelers who get caught up in delays at CD Airport in Paris and repeatedly bump into each other until...well, you know. Delightfully French and wall to wall Binoche and Reno, "Jet Lag" won't slam you between the eyes with hearts, flowers, or string music. However, it will prove an enjoyable romantic sojourn for French film fans who can see Binoche and Reno working together as a couple. With mixed reviews from critics and the public alike, keep expectations real. (B-)

Juliette Binoche is an actress capable of deep and moving performances in the finest movies of our times. Her work with Kieslowski, Carax, Téchiné and now Leconte, Haneke and Boorman has given us the modern cinematic equivalent of Garbo - a melancholic enigma.

So it was a huge surprise to see her in a French language Romantic comedy with Jean Reno. The result? Well Decalage Horaire or Jet Lag will never be mentioned with her finest movies, it is not a 'great' contribution to cinema, but it is an expertly crafted and performed piece of fluff with Binoche playing against type as a cheap and tarty beautician with winning results. In this 'movie star' mode she could give Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan a run for their money. As Rose she is funny and touching, while Reno as Felix provides all the right ingredients for her to bounce off, and their> chemistry is extremely successful. the film has its limits and at times it is a tad over the top, but with a mega watt movie star in her film Thompson can not go wrong.

I hope Binoche will return to what she does best, daring, difficult and complex portrayals of modern women, but in the meantime Jet Lag is a welcome distraction...

Danielle Thompson's film about two unlikely lovers is a bit of a puzzle. She has thrown together two of France's best known actors in a film that doesn't have a lot to say. Perhaps she is making a statement about France's frequent strikes that seem to bring would-be-lovers together; perhaps she is telling us that strikes are sexy because there are endless possibilities of naughty things between virtual strangers.

Juliette Binoche is practically unrecognizable as Rose, the beautician trying to escape a bad relationship. When she flushes the cellular down the toilet, her luck suddenly changes by asking Felix to use his own phone to finish her call. They keep meeting each other at the crowded terminal where stranded passengers have to wait until the strike is settled, perhaps. Jean Reno, is also playing against type; his usual intensity is gone from the man he is portraying in the movie. Rose with the excessive makeup looks like a lady that entertains private male customers, cash only, please!

The film is light, but ultimately we know what is going to happen, so we're a step ahead of Mlle Thompson! The only regret is that Sergi Lopez, the magnificent Spanish actor, is completely wasted as the man Binoche is running away from. Besides, better movies have been made about the subject.

This is a film to watch in the middle of a transit strike, only! Who knows, if one is caught up in a French transit strike, one can be lucky and be rewarded with such a delicious prize as Mlle Binoche!

I can see how this movie would be an easy target for criticism. It might appear fluffy and without depth, sort of easy and implausible.

But I think it's better than that. First of course, are the performances. Both actors are terrific and both have long been favorites of mine. A special call-out, though, has to go to Binoche, who just couldn't be any more delightful. An absolutely fantastic actress. She's so wonderful, the only problem in the movie is why doesn't he fall in love with her any faster?

Second is the basic intelligence of the dialog. The conversations are very engaging, occasionally wry, sometimes sweet, with some sharpness along the way.

Finally, there is a meditation in here on film in general, and romantic comedies in particular. The movie is able to move back a bit, consider itself, and resist the temptation to be cynical.

Let me just say that I know right off the bat that this is a "2 star" movie, but I liked it. Jean Reno and Juliette Binoche are just really fun to watch. The acting is great and the script is good, which makes the movie entertaining as well. It's billed as a romantic comedy, but I don't think it was. It definitely had funny bits, but it's more about these two people who meet in an airport while there is a big strike and are both trying to leave their pasts behind and what ends up happening to them. I wouldn't say that you should trample over people to get to this film, but if you're in the mood it's a decent little flick. Mostly if you like the actors involved . . . which I do.

You know you're in trouble when a song starts in the middle of a movie and the story stops developing for a while: They do so here because they want to stay faithful to the romcom genre and Décalage horaire / Jet Lag is a French take on a distinct American genre. This fails for several reasons, one of them being that the character and conversation-driven French movie is at odds with the light and caricature-driven American romcom-genre.

It tells the story of Rose (Juliette Binoche) and Félix (Jean Reno) in a not too obvious way: Their background, problems and dreams come out one by one. Both have marriage troubles, a troubled relation with one of their parents and both have unfulfilled dreams. Rose is having terrible make-up on but seems to be excellent in make-up; Félix has set up a company of deep-frozen food he sells to supermarkets while his unfulfilled dream is it to become a star-studded chef. Rose and Félix regularly meet at the airport waiting for a plane to leave, a metaphor of their lives stuck by bad decisions (and mild criticism of the French public service always on strike). In the end they make relevant decisions, also about their relation to each other (with the genre in mind we all know what that means).

The story is told in bits and pieces and it works as a means to keep us interested about their life stories. Also, the meetings they have don't shy away from being assertive, offensive or intrusive as they expect it is their only meeting. From the airport hotel on the movie goes off the genre track, and arrives in the usual French habit of long and uninteresting conversations. French people have a tendency for long and deep conversations about not too offensive and personal subjects as a way of courtesy and care for one's private life, so this is rather challenging stuff I guess.

Most actors try comedy in their careers at least once. Most fail, so Binoche and Reno have nothing to be ashamed of. Décalage horaire is a failed attempt at light-hearted French comedy.

French films are characterized by dialog and this film is no exception. The setting is clever - not really a modern adaptation of The VIP's, but on that order (and more down to earth). The situation is funny and, in the cell phone era, one to which we might all relate. (Of course, I assume not many people lose their cell phones à la Juliette Binoche.)

A fan of both Binoche and Reno, I find both charming and the chemistry between them very real. Binoche's beautician is also far more interesting, and less stereotypified, than American film portrayals (Fran Drescher, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Coolidge...)

Not one of the great French films by any means, but I still give this one 8/10.

Rose (Juliette Binoche) is at the airport, trying to go to Mexico. Something is amiss, as she is talking incessantly on her cellphone and looking distressed. As bad luck turns worse, she drops her phone into a running commode and that's that. Needing to continue her conversation, she turns to Felix (Jean Reno), who has been likewise speaking into his mobile. Felix is a chef about to launch a new line of frozen meals and he has been making several critical phone calls as well. The two of them share his phone, to the point where calls are coming in for both of them and getting entangled. Felix learns that Rose is perhaps running away from her abusive boyfriend, Sergio, and is startled when the arrogant flame actually comes to the airport for an encounter with Rose, which goes badly. As the airport is experiencing massive problems, Felix invites Rose to stay with him, as friends only, in the hotel room he has been given for the night. Can the beautiful, but heavily made-up beauty consultant/masseuse, Rose, with her excitable personality and the staid, business-oriented chef really strike up something more than friendship? This films starts off nicely, with an intriguing concept and two great stars in Binoche and Reno. Viewers may be startled to see Binoche done up as a Barbie-type glamor girl but things can change, yes. Reno, too, seems miscast as a romantic lead but sometimes the quiet ones can sneak up on one, too, right? With a film that sports good sets, costumes, and photography, one might expect the movie to succeed without hesitation. But, after the initial half hour, things get a bit bogged down, especially since most of the remainder is a dialogue between Rose and Felix and in a hotel room. Even so, the stars make things work, as they inspire the viewer to want to discover if opposites not only attract but fall in love. If you love romantic drama and can handle a film with subtitles or dubbing, you might like to try Jet Lag as a choice for an evening's entertainment.

In the airport of Paris, the aesthetician Rose (Juliette Binoche) is flying to Acapulco to work in Ritz Hotel and escape from her former mate, the violent Sergio (Sergi Lopez). Félix (Jean Reno) is a businessman in the market of frozen food, who is flying to Munich to a funeral and see his former love Katia. Due to a strike of the employees of the air company first and the bad weather later, they get trapped in Hilton Hotel, where they have a close contact and fall in love for each other. This movie is very disappointing. Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno do not have the necessary chemistry to make their romance attractive. The dialogs are boring and non-interesting and the scenes are shot in few locations. The end is horrible: this is the first time I see a love story without the couple somehow together in the end. There are only few good moments along the story. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): 'Fuso Horário do Amor' ('Jet Leg of the Love')

Simple romantic comedy starring two of France best actors, Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno. The plot is simple: a man and woman meet at the airport while waiting for their flight. One is trying to get to Munich, the other to Acapulco. Stuck at the terminal, they continually stumble on each other. Soon enough they'll be spending the night together, but not in the way you think. Both Reno and Binoche have played in better films, but they still deliver a pretty solid performance. A great way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon inside. Seen at home, in Toronto, on October 22nd, 2006.

72/100 (**)

Jean Reno. Has he ever done a portrayal I wouldn't like? Probably, but so far, I haven't seen it. With longer hair, he even looks attractive - in between "fits". Well, speaking of fits, he and Juliette Binoche fit quite well here. Well done, well done, well done, Jean et Juliette.

Unlike the users whose reviews I just browsed through, I am not a Juliette Binoche fan AT ALL. In the "Unbearable Lightness of Being", she did the most godawful concept of a female orgasm ever. I got the distinct impression she had never been present when a woman had ever climaxed. In "Chocolat" I kept looking at my lady love with a quizzical look of "Are you kidding?", and she reciprocated with a "My god, this is the most overrated movie of the year". And her part in "The English Patient" was a non-part, at least as she portrayed it.

All that bashing over, FINALLY here is a part where all the hoopla about her shows some meat behind it. That it happens in a Rock Hudson-Doris Day type movie that could have been done in 1955 (not counting the movie's Best Supporting Actor candidate - Reno's cell phone) is remarkable. Maybe Binoche is an actress out of her time, who knows? Most folks apparently would disagree with me on that, but that IS my story, and I am sticking to it, come hell or high water - or French air traffic controllers on strike.

I recommend this flic for a really good time at the movies, albeit showing on the small screen at your local living room. I call it a French flic rather than the usual "film", because it seems more American than French. I give it 7 stars out of 10, Reno a 9 and Binoche a 9. -2 for the flic due to fluff, but some of the best fluff out there. Normal flic fluff gets a -5!

I caught this on French TV about 2 months ago, with high hopes because it features Jean Reno, but I was very disappointed. It's a romantic comedy so by definition you expect to forgive some contrived story-telling, but in return you expect some kind of narrative sleight of hand to distract you from the mechanics. Unlike fast-moving classic chick-flick When Harry Met Sally, this film is all talk and no action and it moves at a snail's pace, forcing you to deliberate over every drawn-out narrative twist.

Jean Reno plays an uptight, very private celebrity chef who is obsessively clean. Co-star Juliette Binoche is a Bohemian middle aged beautician who lives behind a mask of makeup, constantly calling her mother and trapped in a destructive relationship. The film asks us to believe that because he loans her his phone and tries to pass on a message, then meets her unpleasant boyfriend, he will offer to share his hotel room when their flights are cancelled due to a strike and that they will both begin to open up emotionally.

The performances are so subtle that they barely register, and the inevitability of the rom-com structure makes waiting through the minutiae of their developing relationship a challenge rather than a joy.

"Décalage Horaire" or "Jet Lag" premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2002.

Danielle Thompson's "Decalage Horaire" is a simple, yet not necessarily simplistic, ode to love. The story concerns two opposites who meet at Charles de Gaulle Airport during a strike. They are constantly thrown together by fate ending up spending a night together (sex does not enter the equation) and during the course of their wait realising they have more in common than they thought.

Félix (Jean Reno) is a French man living in the US. He is chasing after a woman he belives he still loves. Rose (Juliette Binoche) is a Beautician who has a one-way ticket to Mexico, she is desperately running away from a man she no longer loves.

As Félix, Reno gives a sullen performance as a man on the edge, caught between the chronic boredom of his life and the disappointment of a failed romance. His chemistry with Binoche is magnetic, and surprising, it's so much stronger than the Binoche-Depp pairing of Chocolat.

The revelation of the film however is Juliette Binoche' terrific turn as Rose. The beautician who hides behind a mask of colouful makeup and only becomes truly beautiful the day she removes it.

Binoche in her first successful comic role (in Chocolat afterall she was a more tragic figure) succeeds in creating a wonderfully funny and charming young woman, with an endearingly vunerable side. Time after time Reno feeds her the lines and she returns with the best moments of the film. Two parts which stand out are when Felix assumes Rose is a prostitute and when she discusses her make-up routine with him. Binoche will probably be César nominated for her role, and because this is such a change in direction for her she may even win.

The best thing about "Décalage Horaire" is that it is not merely sentimental, it's ironic tone is winning and much more interesting. Thompson's assured directon shows signs of maturity since "La buche", while her writing is as astute as ever.

The ending in mexico to the strains of Macy Gray's redoubtable "I try" is a memorable ending, for it's immediacy and it's pure sheer pleasure.

Viva la Binoche!

I love Juliette Binoche. I have seen every movie that she has made that has been available in the U.S. While the trailer for this movie didn't sound like something I would be interested in, I had to give it a try. I should have stuck with my instincts.

The performances by Binoche and Jean Reno were good, there wasn't enough in the storyline for them to do anything with. It is a story of two miserable people to have a chance meeting at an airport and start a relationship. Neither character had any appeal to me, nor did there appear to be any chemistry between the two actors.

In short, this movie had very little in the way of a plot. It was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but nowhere in this movie did I even chuckle.

While this isn't a terrible movie, it is without substance. I would have to recommend staying away from this one.

Forget Meg Ryan, forget Julia Roberts...This is romantic comedy at its best! Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno are outstanding. The plot is more than original and, better, convincing. I fell in love with the story but even more with the characters and their lives. Nothing in them seems "plastic". Although one knows that the end will be a happy one, the plot is so convincing that the end does not come as if was predicted. Each scene is so natural and revealing that it keeps you asking for more. I seriously do not understand the poor reviews it has gotten here. Could it be a little bit of jealousy because it is a foreign film from a country with no tradition in this genre but that nonetheless achieves what most American romantic comedies don't? I cannot explain it otherwise.

Daniele Thomson (gerard oury's daughter) is writing and directing a deja vu comedy, very very very slow and boring; you can guess what is going on from the start everything is so obvious! though two french stars(reno binoche) are trying to make their character genuine, their presence don't make a good story, you even wonder what sergi Lopez cameo's appearance is doing in this story?jean reno as a international business man is not very convincing and Juliette binoche plays as in a loreal commercial endorsement, after 20 minutes the intrigue is gone, and everything is just not believable if you like the plot you'd rather watch Philippe Lioret very good "airport" movie "Tombés du ciel" with jean rochefort

How, given the cast, the fantastic combination of Jean Reno, the man who gave us Big Blue and redefined french cool, and Juliette Binoche, who has the cutest nose in cinema and is like a a dandelion blown away in the wind, how could this not be fantastic? Regrettably Jet Lag is just that: a conflict of taste and styles that never gels.

There is some spark but no wit, and rom-com without wit is like champagne without the bubbles, effective but no fun.

The chemistry is off-kilter and deliberately so, but too much so in the first 40 minutes - at no point were we convinced that circumstances, a travel strike, would be enough to throw these two mismatched souls together.

The last third is better, with Jean Reno having the best moment in the film without Juliette Binoche...

All in all it is watchable, but it is not enjoyable: the humour is too dry from this, and the set up too worked through, but most of all, you just don't buy it the way you would want too...

A great shame.

How could you star Julliet Binochet and Jean Reno in a light romantic comedy version of Before Sunrise and not have one of the best light romantic comedies of all time? You can't. Two people meet under hectic circumstances, to say the least. They make every mistake. Do everything wrong. Even Paris is against them. But, somehow, love finds a way. Julliet Binochet, almost unrecognizable during the first half of the film because she is buried under makeup and an odd hair style, is totally delightful and stunning, especially when she finally appears with no makeup and wet hair. That she does so well with comedy should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen her work. Jean Reno, who is like a French Clint Eastwood, is even better at comedy than he is doing action or drama, and he excels at both. If you've been longing for some romantic comedy, especially good romantic comedy, check out Jet Lag. I loved it.

The idea behind this film sounds like the stuff good comedies are made of: two very different people, man and woman are forced to share a hotel room because their flights are cancelled. The first problem with this film is that both people are fairly screwed up and are more annoying than interesting. The film then hovers uncertainly between being a comedy (unfortunately it's not very funny), a drama (not particularly interesting) and typical French pseudo-intellectual film where people sit and talk. And they talk a lot. Some scenes are mildly entertaining but about 30 minutes into the film you begin to wonder why you should bother finishing it since it's just not interesting.