Salaud, on t'aime

The title could be translated to "Bastard, we love you", which I most certainly did not.

I was invited to see this film at the Montreal World Film Festival for it's North American premiere. I don't know what I was expecting but, knowing Lelouch, I should have known better. The film is less concerned about telling a story than showing off Lelouch's (wannabe) clever dialogue and ideas...

Lelouch here is trying so desperately to be original, he only ends up being a parody of himself. For instance, Jacques (the main character) Kaminsky's four daughters, which he conveniently had with four different women in four different seasons, end up inaptly named Printemps, Été, Automne and Hiver Kaminsky (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter Kaminsky), I mean, really?

Never has Lelouch tested my patience so much, and trust me, he has, more than once, in the past. I don't know what the director was thinking, but did he really believe he would touch his audience by parading the main characters riches over and over again throughout the movie? The whole preposterous premise quickly becomes arrogant when the story reveals that Kaminsky purchased a multi-million dollar country house for the sole purpose of, perhaps, meeting again the real estate agent that showed it to him in the first place. And I'm not even mentioning the fourth daughter showing up in a helicopter out of the blue.

Avoid at all costs, or better yet, watch old reruns of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" with good old Robin Leach, for more depth and character development...