Reviews

Fine piece of acting. Rosalie character is not very extraverted, but Romy Schneider delivers a good performance, subtle and convincing as a woman hesitating all the time. Montand is awesome, probably because Cesar may be very much like him in real life. Maybe Frey's character is the less convincing: not clear why he hesitates all the time to win her. OK, this is where the cinema and real life part. One reality: has anyone noticed how quickly women were sent in 1972 to serve ice, prepare coffee or cook?

The ending is predictable, somehow. However, did she know the two were living together? If she did, then she will hesitate forever between the two. If she did not, she chose one, and one only.

There is much more to this film than a simple story of selfish or disillusioned people. This is about two persons who cannot make up their minds about where should their life path take them and who are totally mesmerized by the "hopeless emptiness" of living. An stunning performance of actors, playing characters devoured by strong feelings, inflamed hope, resentments and frustrations. The idea of having their hidden, deep thoughts deciphered by the lunatic neighbour, is a very strong point for the film.

Not often have I seen a film in which the innate difficulty at communicating between man and wife - the way we look at common projects, failures and achievements- have been so crudely carved and depicted. Yet, for most of us, fortunately, affection, luck or giving up, maybe even sometimes common sense allows to heal the wounds. The final scene illustrates on a light tone the difficulty of communicating between spouses, the man choosing his own way to not have to continue the dialog with his life partner.

Franck and April are passionate people, and common sense is not something you want to hear about when you have a passion. Their drama is that they do not know what they are passionate about, they cannot find what makes them "special".

The same director as "American Beauty". In a sense, the characters in that film were totally unconscious, even if behaving in an irresponsible way, of what was going to happen; they could not think about the unthinkable ending. In this story, you can perceive a good deal of willingness to hurt and to be hurt; just to feel something, finally.

This film has to be made by somebody who knows and loves the "Nord Pas de Calais". Good acting, simple plot, down to earth people, hearty feeling. The success may come from the fact the film avoids totally the Paris region and should I say, its style. More than 3/4 of France is made by people who are not Parisians, and here they feel they can do very well without the patronizing and usual lecturing made the people from the capital, which captures all the media attention. The tone is quite different than the "Diner de cons" for example: nobody laughs by making dirty tricks, only for fun and if the other is not offended or chaperoned. Of course it is simplistic, but this maybe is what most spectators in France want to hear and see at the moment.