Les Petits Mouchoirs

I really enjoyed this movie. I liked the way it was filmed and directed. A good story, the script was tight, the actors very good and I engaged well in their characters. None of them were particularly likable either. I loved the sound track too, some great tunes. A shock for me was the ending, last 10 minutes. It appeared tacked on, as if the producer's wife said to him if you don't stick this on, no more amour for you Cherie. To me it almost ruined the movie, so turn it off about 10 minutes from the end, you'll know when. It would have got 10 stars from me but for that. But having said that if you're into Hollywood style huggy, tears and let it all out crap in slow mo with a wincingly appropriate tune, let it roll.

Let me start of by saying: Do not watch this because you want to see Jean Dujardin! Since he won the Oscar a couple of months ago, I'm pretty sure the demand on his movies has been increased. But this is not a Dujardin vehicle. While his character is pivotal to the whole story, he himself will not appear in it for a long period of time. I didn't count the minutes, but his screen presence does not warrant you to watch it for him alone.

Having said that, I do hope you watch it for what it is and all the other wonderful french actors that are in it. One of them being his "partner-in-crime" in his newest movie (L'Infidels). The story consists of every character having something inside them, wanting to burst out. Some are subtle about it and some are not. I think the character who is the loudest might feel to be the most annoying one, but the actor walks the fine line of still making him sympathetic enough for us to care. A really good drama, that will find it's audience.

Trying to kill a couple of hours before bed, I decided to give this film a go even though I had not heard an awful lot about it. Having recently seen and enjoyed a couple of Canet's other films, I knew I would at least be entertained. In the next two and a half hours that followed, I can honestly say I was mesmerised by what I saw. As the film finished and the credits rolled in I was overcome with a strange feeling of sadness that the film had finished, but also a huge sense of gratitude that I had probably just seen one of the best films of my life. Coming from an actor and also a Film degree major, that is something I don't take lightly to admitting. Perhaps in time the novelty will wear off and the more times I see it, the more holes I will be able to pick in it. However, I know the film did something right as I felt compelled to sign up on here and write this review at 1am! Now I'm not going to bark on too much about all the reasons why this film is so great, because that is something you all have to make up your own minds with. The best compliment I can pay 'Little White Lies' is that it was such a genuine film in terms of content right down to the acting. Marion Cottilard in particular is absolutely fantastic, there aren't many people who can perform to that level, her performance was flawless at times. Anyhow, I've said my bit. This film deserves to be seen by everyone, I have, I hope you all do too.

Guillaume Canet does his best Arnaud Desplechin impression to mixed results. The film centers on a simple plot (a group of longtime friends going on their yearly beach vacation together) with a slight twist (they leave a member of the group in the hospital to go). Canet (who wrote and directed) crafts a character piece, delving into the lies that these people tell each other and themselves, and then slowly picks at the facade until it all comes out in the open. It's a pretty standard premise, but the actors here really make the film shine. Every one of them has at least one moment to impress and the majority of the extended cast make good use of them.

Francois Cluzet is excellent as the patriarch of the group, constantly in a state of distress over having to bury a secret that he's uncomfortable with. Benoit Magimel shines as a family man who is struggling with his sexuality. Gilles Lellouche is perfectly cast as the man-child with a heart of gold. It's no surprise that the one who shines brightest is Marion Cotillard, given the role of the woman who is caught in a state of despair, not really knowing what she wants in life. Unfortunately, Canet is incapable of creating characters with a real sense of depth to them. Even the main ones that we delve into only really have one thing that we barrel in on, and the female characters (aside from Cotillard's) are almost insultingly thin.

The film pretty much focuses on the men and Cotillard, leaving the other women as these shells of characters that Canet refuses to dig into, despite the extensive 150 minute running time. You'd think that with a running time that long, he could have created characters much more complex than the ones we received. The film all boils up to a conclusion that is a very easy and obvious attempt at trying to get some emotion out of the audience, incredibly disappointing in it's predictability. Overall, this isn't a bad film; it's entertaining to watch and the actors are able to get some fine emotional moments out of it. But really it's a case of a great cast being able to overcome the ineptitude of it's writer and director.

In Paris, a truck runs over the biker Ludo (Jean Dujardin) while he is driving home after spending the night snorting cocaine in a night-club. His long-time friends visit him in the hospital where he is in coma. The group is ready to travel on the annual vacation to the house of the successful businessman Max Cantara (François Cluzet) nearby Bordeaux and they decide to travel anyway and return when Ludo is better.

The physiotherapist Vincent Ribaud (Benoît Magimel), who is married with a child, tells to his fifteen year-old friend and godfather of his son, Max, that he wants to talk to him in private and they have lunch together in Max's restaurant. Vincent discloses to him that he has fallen in love with him. Max reacts to his words and Vincent asks him to keep the secret and forget their conversation.

Along the days, each friend has a little secret while Max is near nervous breakdown with Vincent. Until the day that Max's friend Jean-Louis (Joël Dupuch) tells the truth about their little lies and friendship.

"Les Petits Mouchoirs" is a French movie about friends' reunion in the same style of the American "The Big Chill" by Lawrence Kasdan or the British "Peter's Friends" by Kenneth Branagh. The movie has great performances but the prolix story is too long, a corny conclusion and deserved to be better and better for such wonderful cast. I liked this movie, but many sub-plots and the conclusion should have been shortened or deleted in the edition. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Até a Eternidade" ("Until the Eternity")