Three Friends
Directed by Emmanuel Mouret
★★★★½
Three Friends starts with an amusing Amélie-esque voiceover that suggests this film about love, of both the infatuated and unrequited kind, might be a clever pastiche by the very country which turned romance into a cultural stereotype.
But don’t be fooled – for the narrator is Victor (Vincent Macaigne), a former high school teacher whose chagrin is palpable as he introduces us to the love of his life, Joan, whose cool distance suggests she may not share his impassioned feelings.
At the same time, Joan’s best friend Alice (Call My Agent’s Camille Cottin) isn’t sure she’s in love with her husband Victor, but she keeps making an effort because, “I have huge respect for adulterers, but it’s not for me,” while perky blonde Rebecca (Sara Forestier) is carrying on a carefree affair with a married man.
Instead of morphing into a ménage à trois, or the narrative contrivances of a predictable romcom involving several couples, Three Friends’ fantastically sage script is notable for its truthful musings about what it takes to keep relationships going when lovers are out of step.
As the friends navigate various shifts in emotion and grapple with tragedy, the poignant story impresses with its sensitive depictions of relatable situations. The break-ups are heartbreaking and unhysterical, while new connections feel realistic in their tentative excitement.
Boasting great performances, Three Friends presents love as a tangled web, with none of the usually convenient thread-tying of your typical romantic drama.
Family Therapy
Directed by Arnaud Lemort
★★★
This generic French farce takes the eternal subject of lifelong love much less seriously. Self-important psychoanalyst Dr Olivier Béranger (Christian Clavier) has had enough of his anxiety-ridden, hypochondriac patient Damien, so he instructs the lad to halt therapy and cure himself by finding love.
But when Olivier and his wife invite all their friends and daughter Alice to spend the weekend celebrating their 30th anniversary, he is horrified when his most needy client turns up as his precious child’s new fiancé. Dr Béranger starts throwing every stumbling block at the young couple’s budding romance, as nonsense ensues.
The humour is very broad, as in the beloved Gallic tradition, but despite all the pratfalls, Baptiste Lecaplain’s hapless Damien is so likeable you keep rooting for him to win.
Seasoned comedy actor Clavier (whose 100-plus roles include The Visitors as well as Asterix in the live-action movies) is terrific as the controlling patriarch hell-bent on stopping his daughter’s union.
Despite the clichéd plinkety-tink soundtrack that usually accompanies such fast-paced silliness, the actors show admirable commitment to their characters, with special mention to Marius (comedian Thomas VDB), who plays an alternative healer living in a rustic hut who calculates his fee using an abacus.
Family Therapy lacks innovation, but this madcap tale will amuse those looking for a lighter approach to the serious business of marrying into a new family.
This Life of Mine
Directed by Sophie Fillières
★★★
This whimsical and affecting tale of a middle-aged woman in the throes of a sort of nervous breakdown was written and directed by actress-film-maker Sophie Fillières – but when Fillières died only days after filming wrapped, her children and editor were tasked with completing the film.
The accomplished result is something of a sad movie, albeit well acted and well-meaning, with an especially powerful central performance by Agnès Jaoui, actress and director known for The Taste of Others and Look At Me.
But if Fillières was aiming for magical realism, the slightly glum tone and underlying strangeness make it not much fun.
Barbie Bichette (Jaoui) is a 50-something singleton, separated from her children’s father and unable to maintain a connection with her selfish, embarrassed son and daughter.
More inclined to write impromptu poems than the marketing material expected of her quotidian job, Barbie’s grip on reality is starting to loosen. She’s talking to herself all the time, lying to her only friend, and even stultifying her impassive therapist in their regular sessions with her aimless chatter: “I’m fine! Right?”
One day, Barbie encounters a man who reminds her of her childhood, and this strange reconnection leads to a breakdown and then a journey of discovery. But although Barbie’s cheerful attitude to her mental distress should be admirable – Jaoui plays her as assuredly the master of her own existence, not a victim of her unravelling mind – for the viewer, Barbie’s hallucinations and eccentricities feel bemusing more than amusing.
Is Barbie imagining her life-changing interactions? Or is her new chapter actually populated by the strange do-gooders she meets?
Fillières’ raison d’être was clearly not to make her story obvious, but she ably captures the feeling of growing older into perceived irrelevance while celebrating a heroine who refuses to be held down.
The French Film Festival Aotearoa is screening in multiple cinemas nationally until June 29.
