Running time: 129 minutes
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Lucchini
Rating 8 out of 10
Cedric Kaplisch's ensemble drama is an often very funny and moving look at a group of Parisians whose lives intersect in an Altman-esque manner. A top notch cast including new French cinema sensation Romain Duris and a sassy Juliette Binoche should give fans of this sort of thing something to drool over. Duris plays Pierre, a young dancer who discovers at the beginning of the film that he is suffering from a heart defect and in need of a transplant. Forced to contemplate life not knowing if he will live or die, Pierre alternately takes stock and searches out emotional and physical comfort. His sister Elise (Binoche) comes to stay with her children and we also follow her attempts to be happy via a fledgling romance with a local stallholder.
If the film questions anything it is what it means to be happy and this is further underlined by the relationship between Laetitia, a student neighbour of Pierre's on whom he harbours a crush, and her much older history professor, the terminally bored Roland (Fabrice Lucchini). Lucchini, who may not be that familiar to British audiences, delivers the film's comic highlight with a dance scene that brings to mind and rivals John Travolta in Pulp Fiction.
Some may find it a little too soap operatic for their tastes but Kaplisch (who also wrote the script) keeps it moving quickly with plenty of surprises, some of which do stretch belief at times.
However anyone who is a fan of the works of Eric Rohmer or more recently Agnes Jaoui should find this something of a treat.
Paul Hurley
