I Love America

A feel good movie, genuine, funny, not trying to make a point, just a true story that needed to be shared. Very well performed characters and a breath of fresh air, sun, and dream beaches in LA. What a great change from all the drama and violence in most movies! I really don't understand the negative comments.

Lisa Azuelos knows how to have an impact on French screens; just see the reputation that her film, "LOL" (2008), enjoys. From that time, though, none of her movies has acquired such an enviable status. "I love America", her latest work, will most probably be the last one to do so.

With this film, released on Amazon Prime - a platform that wants to compete with Netflix, but does so unsuccessfully - Azuelos has delved into her personal life, presenting us a fictionalised version of her childhood, giving emphasis on her relationship with her mother, the famous singer Marie Laforêt. The film changes between flashbacks set in Azuelos's childhood and teenage years during the 70's and 80's, and a story set in the present, where the now adult Lisa decides to go to America, in order to follow the American dream, and, if lucky, find love too.

Like Azuelos herself, the synonymous character (played by frequent collaborator Sophie Marceau), is a film director. From what one sees in the film she is already welthy enough so as not to need to work for a single day of her life, and spends her days talking with her gay friend, Lukas, (Djanis Bouzyani) about her failed personal life. He is certainly a real friend, for he puts up with her often just tiring rants about not finding love. He is also searching for the perfect partner, and if, Lisa does it through dating sites - on his advice - he finds the desired one through an incident that makes their meeting border on the comical.

Despite the two heroes'often illogical behaviour, they are served well by the cast, and become - at least, partly - palatable. The problem with this film is its indecisiveness, since its character changes from the serious to the comical too quickly and abruptly.

Lisa narrates the story herself, and the aforementioned flashbacks serve as a way to cope with her past. Everything reminds her of her mother; the lipstick that a woman in a nightclub wears, the TV, her partner's questions about her childhood. While the film presents Lisa's trip to America as the beginning of a new life, it is actually a way for the heroine to ignore her traumatic past, that still haunts her. She doesn't want to deal with it. She prefers talking about sex or dating instead of sitting down and fighting her demons. The flashbacks show this state of character to the viewers, since they are the only truly moving parts of this film, thanks, in part, to the performances of the child actors interpreting the young Lisa.

Of course, this serious tone doesn't hold for long. As soon as she arrives to America, Lisa engages in what is simply called a dream life, having a good time in clubs, touring Los Angeles while making movie references - she imagines herself being Nathalie Wood in "Rebel without a cause", in one sequence - and going to yoga classes. John , her partner, - possibly the best character of the movie - found - of course - in a dating site, is kind, loving and understanding. Still, she isn't happy in the inside, exactly because of her not pondering her past. She wants to forget, but can't.

Aside from the film's dual nature as a comedy and a - mild - drama, the other issue with it is Azuelos's portrayal of the gay friend. Lukas is only there for laughs. While not as hyperbolic as other gay heroes, he is still, hypersensitive, irritable, with a sense of fashion that makes everyone else look like models. Whilst Lisa's attempts at finding love are presented as a personal journey, Lukas's ones bring more laughs than feeling, and the last sequence, where he kisses his partner, feels more forced than spontaneous.

Despite mentioning above that Sophie Marceau is a frequent collaborator of Lisa Azuelos, her choice for the role was extremely ironic. She had mentioned in an interview that she thinks that the most important cultural element of America is the jeans, and generally expressed her contempt for this culture. Her playing a heroine obsessed with that same culture is truly antithetic. Her performance, whilst very convincing, made for an a heroine that could be described as partly annoying at best, selfish at worst. She only cares for her own personal life, and doesn't show any of her friend's kindness, so their friendship seems to have been a product of luck.

It is disappointing to see the so-called "Favourite actress of the French" play in such a film, that, while not completely bad, has none of the qualities of her most famous works. The lack of success that she enjoys these last years shows, to my mind, this sense of disappointment that the French feel for their former teenage idol. For many, seeing the actress who had, forty years ago, represented the most relatable of people , end up playing the most unidentifiable of heroines, was maybe too sad. Even in "LOL", her character of the concerned mother had a universality not seen in her latest features. I don't know what reputation "I love America" will enjoy in forty years, but the one of the cult film is surely not the answer.

"I love America" - a film that wants to be something it can't, whose cast desires to cement an identity that maybe doesn't suit them, with a director that has done better in the past. A film of which one of the few redeeming qualities is its relentless optimism, that makes its mediocrity seem less than it is.

The kind of optimism only present in America.

I liked the movie a lot. I don't understand the negative comments. First and most importantly, me and my wife had a great time. The shots of Los Angeles are magnificent. For those who didn't understand the film subject, it's a film about Liza Azuelos and her mother Marie Laforêt. Throughout the film we are told about the relationship between Lisa (Liza, the real one). Is Lisa's (Liza) mother a bad mother? Could this be Lisa's problem? Or it is maube not white or black. The film allows us to get an idea. The characters are endearing. Lisa's friend, Luka is very endearing. Throughout the film we see his love troubles. Will Luka find love? Back to Lisa, we see her love journey throughout the film. She too will find love and find happiness. We also laughed a lot. The secondary characters in the story also play very well. The clairvoyant, Aurora, John (Lisa lover?), Catherine, the lady from the boarding school, the Swedish naturist and the one who parks the cars.

As always, Liza creates a pleasant atmosphere that transports us throughout the film and I make the connection with the films 'une rencontrer'. Well done Liza, don't be put off by all the negative comments. I encourage you for new films in the future. Sophie Marceau always so beautiful and adorable.

For those of us who are not fluent in French Language, the availability of subtitles would have been greatly appreciated. Otherwise, with half of the movie in French, it's pointless to even attempt to watch this.

This movie took me by surprise... I imagined it was a romcom but it's in fact very deep... in a French way. The wittiness of Luka can be lost in the plain English subtitles tho for the English speaking viewers.

Sometimes it reminded me of Pedro Almodovar cinema too... Sophie Marceau is the ONLY person for the role , she's fantastic. I will never forget the line « We leave our mother twice, when we are born and when she dies »... Watching this movie was an uplifting experience as it touches on love and tenderness, two things our world badly needs these days...