Mal de pierres

Another bright movie from Marillon Cotillard, the very talented French actress who shines in other ways in this limited, averagely deep production. Everything is on point in a simple, semi-impactful and mysterious way. The beginning was well developed alongside the middle, just the end and what precede it was a little average, hurting the production in a minimal to the sense way.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 7
• Production value/impact: 7
• Development: 7.5
• Realism: 7
• Entertainment: 7
• Acting: 8
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 8
• VFX: 8
• Music/score/sound: 7
• Depth: 7
• Logic: 6
• Flow: 7.5
• Drama/romance: 6.5
• Ending: 6.

I watched this at home on DVD from my local library. My wife skipped, she doesn't enjoy reading subtitles. It is mostly in French and I watched it with English subtitles.

I got the movie mainly because it features Marion Cotillard. She is a lovely lady and one of the best actresses of the current generation.

Here she is Gabrielle, part of a farming family in France that includes her dad and mom, plus a younger sister. We see that she was difficult growing up, what some may call "mean." And also fixated on nudity and sex. Looking like she might never marry, her parents made a deal with one of the workers, a Mr. Rabascal, if he would marry her then they would help set him up with his own masonry business. He agrees, Gabrielle eventually goes along, but she tells him directly that she will never love him and they will not have husband-wife relations. In her magnanimity she tells him she doesn't mind if he goes into the city to hire a prostitute.

I will not say much more except to say it is mainly a character study of Gabrielle, how she deals with her difficult personality, in the end trying to achieve some happiness with her husband and son who has a gift for playing the piano.

Marion Cotillard is superb.

Its hard to start where. I mean the movie is like an eternally flowing river. So you simply don't know where it started or ends. Just like Gabrielle's life, feelings, emotions, love....oh the list is long. Marion is fantastic! She is the live wire of the movie. She takes you wherever she wants to go, along with her journey. Her intensity, stature, fervor has always been her identity or trademark in any movie she acts in. Jose is equally good with his supposedly subdued character. But his silence, that mostly lives in, reflected through his razor sharp eyes hangs on your head like a dagger. I am not too sure of Lt. Andre's character. As to me, was the weakest cast in the movie. True, with his illness there was nothing much he could do in the role, but his imposed vampire like look didn't help much either, to build whatever left to be build.

Daniel Pemberton's Music was awesome and soothing. Use of violin in an alluring pitch in many intense scenes was spellbinding. Chris captures gorgeous landscapes and close-ups. Nicole has done a fantastic job bunching up all these talents together. Simply Fantastic! I will live a long time mesmerizing on this beautifully crafted movie. Excellent!

This movie deserves a generous 9/10!

In life many times the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence . Both stars in this film are excellent and perfectly cast . Is the glass half empty or half full ? Sometimes it takes a shock to see that your glass is full and has been all the time . This is a beautiful movie and a" must see" for Marion Cotillard fans . It also could double for a marriage counceling film !!!!!!! True love is hard to find and sometimes harder to see .

I will be honest, I did see this film because it is directed by Nicole Garcia, one outstanding female French director, the best I guess. She has a very sensitive way of filming. So, I did go to see this film without hesitating. And of course I don't regret it at all. Marion Cotillard, whom I don't particularly appreciate, is at her best here. Although I don't crave for her, she is a damn good actress, but sorry, I felt a little emptiness here, I don't really know where. Something missed somewhere. The actors and actresses around her are flawless, but I persist on my opinion. I don't think that's a matter of directing. Not with Nicole Garcia. Maybe because this kind of scheme has already been told a hundred times before.

But it remains a good film.