About as enjoyable as (though certainly less interesting than) removing one's own eyeballs with a teaspoon, this four-year-old downbeat French family drama is so pretentious and dated that I had to check my watch to make sure I had not been transported back to the 1970s.
Even the presence ofthe reliable Duris and a charismatic turn by Garrel can't rescue it.
The two actors play, respectively, Paul and Jonathan, adult sons to the divorced and grumbling Mirko (Guy Marchand), who seems to spend most of the film trying to make chicken soup without a chicken.
Paul is crippled by depression, triggered by his break-up with his moody girlfriend Anna (Joana Preiss) but with its roots in deeper family dysfunction. Jonathan copes by trying to seduce everything with a skirt.
Relief seems at hand when Paul jumps into the Seine but, unfortunately, he swims to shore and walks home wet.
Only a couple of shots of the Eiffel Tower deliver on the title's promise - and the climax has Paul and Anna singing to each other down the phone a love song which the lyrics suggest is winningly called Before the Hate. This ditty's circular structure made me fear for a moment that it would be endless. But it only felt that way.
Cast: Romain Duris, Louis Garrel, Joana Preiss, Guy Marchand
Director: Christophe Honore
Running time:92 mins
Rating: M (offensive language, nudity) In French with English subtitles
