French Film

I won't bother describing the plot here, as that can be found everywhere else on this page. I just want to add that many reviewers appear to have missed two giant holes in the heart of this movie.

The first is that Grimandi, the French film maker, played by Eric Cantona, is at the same time presented as a parody of a Frenchman, and as the all-knowing hero on the issue of love.

And so we have two couples from the British Isles, fairly stereotypical in their stuck-upness (apart from Irishman Marcus, who, frankly, appears rather mad) falling in love and rediscovering their passion for life, inspired by the completely inane musings of chain-smoking Grimandi, which are, even as they are parodied, taken as the gospel.

If the movie had taken some of Grimandi's advice with a grain of salt, or at least cast doubt on it, the audience would have been pushed to make up its own mind over its merits. As it is it's accepted hook-line and sinker, and hence the movie comes across as naive and one-dimensional. Are the Brits that gullible and naive and desperate for love to accept anything a Frenchman says on the topic?

This relates to the second hole, which is that it is true that the French culture in general (I live in France, so should know) seems to be in the thralls of one particular kind of love, romantic love. So intense, passionate feelings are sought and celebrated, falling in love is glorified and often happens despite oneself, and even the law here allows for 'crime of passion' as a defence.

There's a lot to be said for the idea of following one's passion and letting things hang loose and not be so stuck up and repressed, but at the same time many wiser people have noted that none of these things have anything to do with love in the deeper sense, ie what the Greeks call agape, and which has to do with responsibility, commitment, kindness, caring, understanding, and so on.

Instead Grimaldi, and with that the movie, glorifies what can also be described as hormone-driven infatuation. Even a light, humorous movie like this could have played on this theme a bit. But it didn't. So yes, the movie did make me think, but not in the way the makers intended, I'm sure!

Jed (Hugh Bonneville) writes interviews. His latest being French romance director Thierry Grimandi. He is in a comfortable relationship with his girl Cheryl (Victoria Hamilton) for 10 years. When he asks her to marry him, she says no which sends their relationship spiraling. They get couple counseling where they are asked if they were ever in love. Directo Grimandi's musing on love forces him to reevaluate everything. Their best friends Marcus (Douglas Henshall) and Sophie (Anne-Marie Duff)'s relationship starts with her stopping him from committing suicide. Their bond seems unbreakable but even they are having problems as Marcus seems to be a clueless idiot.

This is a light comedy. It is so light that I didn't laugh much at all. Jed is hopelessly unromantic that he is actually annoying. He is deliberately clueless. Grimandi may be speaking a lot of overly complicated phrases but it's not that hard to understand. The only saving grace is the winning Hugh Bonneville. But even with him, I didn't find any of the relationships that compelling. I can't be required to care more about their relationship than the characters do.

What starts out as a frustrating to watch romantic comedy grew on me as I realized that the frustration was from a sensation of intensely identifying with the story.

Sure it is a bit wordy and perhaps navel, but so are we. In our intellectual approach to living our so called perfect urban lives. Hugh Bonneville is funny and believable and the character I gravitated towards. Eric Cantona is a bit stiff, but pulls of the role and the chicks love him.

This will play best with 30 something women as a hangover pull your feet up, giggle and reflect kind of film.

This is a lovely, funny and thought-provoking film which draws together the best elements of Nora Ephron's romantic comedies and Richard Curtis's London movies, with great nods to classic Woody Allen. It's a comedy about uncovering the truth in long-term relationships and finding out what you really want in life; one of my friends who watched it with me began to examine the parallels to his own long-term relationship. It's a film that runs deep. The story is about a magazine editor and a writer (Hugh Bonneville) from London who see a couple counselor as their long-term relationship begins to collapse. Their best friends' relationship is also in crisis. The solutions to all their problems appear within the 'films within the film' of a super smooth French expert on love, movie director Thierry Grimandi (a pitch perfect performance by former soccer player Eric Cantona), on whom the writer is writing a feature. The film is clever, funny and emotionally truthful and the parodies of the French director's films are spot on.

Rare in these days that a film of this depth was successfully made - while still being funny, which will throw some people off because they will assume it's just a frothy romantic comedy with a few pertinent things to say. It even gets better with each successive viewing - which makes a DVD purchase a must for those who understand why this film received two awards at Monte Carlo (for Best Actor and Best Screenplay). May be too subtle for some who are looking for a broad stroke - but it is laughing out loud funny in many parts (if you get the complexity) due to the writing, directing and excellent ensemble cast. They all do well but of special note is Hugh Bonneville (who won for Best Actor at Monte Carlo) as the lead character Jed. Douglas Henshall is his best friend Marcus and Anne-Marie Duff and Victoria Hamilton are the girlfriends.