Philippe Lioret has not made a bad movie yet ;I would go as far as to write that this movie,"Je Vais Bien Ne T'en Fais Pas" ,"L'Equipier" "Welcome" or "Tombés Du Ciel" place him firmly and definitively among French finest contemporary directors .
When you watch a Lioret movie ,you ask yourself :why is it so good? His subjects are not new,not particularly original .Take "Toutes Nos Vies ":it is a hackneyed subject (see Goulding's "Dark Victory" 1939):the terminally-ill young person who wants to make the best of the time she has got to live."Toutes Nos envies" is not a melodrama though : it's based (inspired by )on a novel called "D'Autres Vies Que La Mienne"(=lives other than my own) and it makes a big difference with the traditional tear jerker;although she realizes that she has not done half of what she wanted to do in her life ,the heroine never feels sorry for herself :she does not tell the truth to her husband and her good friend Stephane discovers her terrible secret by chance .With Stephane ,she continues -both are judges- the fight against the financial companies which exploit the poor and the humble with their would be low lending rates (3% the first three months ,then more than 20 afterward ,written in tiny characters) which allow them to satisfy "all our desires" (check the title).Who has never received a letter or an email which reads "get 2000 Euros NOW !and spend it as you like" ?And although she knows her life is almost through,she is still interested in Celine 's plight : a victim of those deceitful promises and a mother of two whose dignity is intact ("I'm not asking for charity ",as she gives back the twelve Euros).Philippe Lioret is one of the rare contemporary directors who makes a friendship between two women who are worlds apart (the magistrate and the person on welfare) convincing ;never the heroine shows condescension or pity :Marie Gillain's smile and compassion are so glaring (even after she has learned what terrible fate lay in store for her) that she wins over the audience .
Philippe Lioret's emotional commitment to his story and his characters is extraordinary ;had Frank Borzage lived in France in 2011,this is what he might have made .This is a director who loves his characters: the distraught father in "Je Vais Bien ....",the swimming teacher in "wecome" and the Robin Hoodesque judge in this one .Both the swimming instructor and the judge are wonderfully portrayed by Vincent Lindon who acts as some kind of father for Claire and the young man who wants to swim across the Channel in the precedent movie.Claire and Stephane love each other,even though their relationship remains purely platonic and it shows when they share the simple pleasures of life: swimming in a lake ,watching a rugby game then drinking champagne to the team's victory in the locker room;and unlike ,say ,Guillaume Canet,Lioret's use of American music makes sense :as Stephane is a big Rickie Lee Jones fan-we see him looking for "pirates" in a records shop-,it's only natural he plays her songs to Claire.
Claire's and husband Christophe's daily life is depicted with simplicity and spontaneity ;their children are called Arthur and Zoé ,a nod to childhood for it used to be the names of comics characters.
A barrel of laughs ,it is not;and the movie was not a big success in a world where "Les Intouchables " reigned ;but it's not too late to give it a chance!
Like this ? try these .....
"Le Petit Prince A Dit " Christine Pascal ,1992
"Europa 51" Roberto Rossellini ,1951
"stranded" Frank Borzage ,1934
When you watch a Lioret movie ,you ask yourself :why is it so good? His subjects are not new,not particularly original .Take "Toutes Nos Vies ":it is a hackneyed subject (see Goulding's "Dark Victory" 1939):the terminally-ill young person who wants to make the best of the time she has got to live."Toutes Nos envies" is not a melodrama though : it's based (inspired by )on a novel called "D'Autres Vies Que La Mienne"(=lives other than my own) and it makes a big difference with the traditional tear jerker;although she realizes that she has not done half of what she wanted to do in her life ,the heroine never feels sorry for herself :she does not tell the truth to her husband and her good friend Stephane discovers her terrible secret by chance .With Stephane ,she continues -both are judges- the fight against the financial companies which exploit the poor and the humble with their would be low lending rates (3% the first three months ,then more than 20 afterward ,written in tiny characters) which allow them to satisfy "all our desires" (check the title).Who has never received a letter or an email which reads "get 2000 Euros NOW !and spend it as you like" ?And although she knows her life is almost through,she is still interested in Celine 's plight : a victim of those deceitful promises and a mother of two whose dignity is intact ("I'm not asking for charity ",as she gives back the twelve Euros).Philippe Lioret is one of the rare contemporary directors who makes a friendship between two women who are worlds apart (the magistrate and the person on welfare) convincing ;never the heroine shows condescension or pity :Marie Gillain's smile and compassion are so glaring (even after she has learned what terrible fate lay in store for her) that she wins over the audience .
Philippe Lioret's emotional commitment to his story and his characters is extraordinary ;had Frank Borzage lived in France in 2011,this is what he might have made .This is a director who loves his characters: the distraught father in "Je Vais Bien ....",the swimming teacher in "wecome" and the Robin Hoodesque judge in this one .Both the swimming instructor and the judge are wonderfully portrayed by Vincent Lindon who acts as some kind of father for Claire and the young man who wants to swim across the Channel in the precedent movie.Claire and Stephane love each other,even though their relationship remains purely platonic and it shows when they share the simple pleasures of life: swimming in a lake ,watching a rugby game then drinking champagne to the team's victory in the locker room;and unlike ,say ,Guillaume Canet,Lioret's use of American music makes sense :as Stephane is a big Rickie Lee Jones fan-we see him looking for "pirates" in a records shop-,it's only natural he plays her songs to Claire.
Claire's and husband Christophe's daily life is depicted with simplicity and spontaneity ;their children are called Arthur and Zoé ,a nod to childhood for it used to be the names of comics characters.
A barrel of laughs ,it is not;and the movie was not a big success in a world where "Les Intouchables " reigned ;but it's not too late to give it a chance!
Like this ? try these .....
"Le Petit Prince A Dit " Christine Pascal ,1992
"Europa 51" Roberto Rossellini ,1951
"stranded" Frank Borzage ,1934