Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 5th May, 2010
Time : 99 minutes
Directors: Dominique Farrugia, Arnaud Lemort; Writer : Franck Dubosc; Music : Thomas Dutronc
Starring : Clovis Cornillac, Virginie Efira, Manu Payet, Annalise Hesme, Laurence Arne
I’ve no idea how the French do it. Come up with delightful, quirky, romantic comedies so often and so effortlessly.
Michel (Clovis) is brought up on stories of great romance via chance encounters. His grandparents, parents, almost everyone he knows who are in love, met via fate. For him, its unthinkable that true love can start any other way. Vincent (Manu Payet), his best friend thinks completely differently. He is a divorce counsellor and for him one of the almost stated perks of his job are the desperate women he meets and beds.
One day, Vincent meets his current girlfriend, Nathalie’s, best friend Angele (played by Annalise and Virginie respectively). He thinks she will be great for Michel. And so with Nathalie’s help he proceeds to set up a chance meeting between Michel and Angele. The two hit it off really well, neither has ever been happier. Until Michel finds out it was contrived.
I enjoyed the conversations between Vincent and Michel. I enjoyed the way Michel is slightly flaky, going to the peace corps in Ecuador, dreaming of meeting his true love while a jazz band is playing etc. I enjoyed his reaction when a woman he least expects comes on to him in a not too subtle way. I like the way Vincent is equally business-like about his affairs, with no qualms, guilt or self-doubt, mixing business with pleasure with practiced ease.
Other key characters are a doting secretary, a disabled sister, a very aggressive costume rental store owner and a very expensive hand-made Mexican hat. But the film belongs to the idio-syncratic leads, each of them wonderfully real but loony enough to make interesting watching.
The end is slightly predictable but the characterisation fresh and the journey fun ! Enjoy…
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