The French film Coeurs was shown in the U.S. with the title Private Fears In Public Places (2006). It was directed by Alain Resnais. Resnais directed the brilliant film, Hiroshima mon Amour (1959). (IMDb rating 7.9.) It's hard to believe that 47 years later he would direct this light-weight movie.
The concept is interesting--three men and three women who live in Paris. All of them know at least one other person, but, actually, all six are connected. There's just one degree of separation between the people who don't know each other. For example, Dan (Lambert Wilson) and his fiancé Nicole (Laura Morante) are looking for an apartment. The real estate agent who shows them the apartment is Thierry (André Dussollier). His sister is Gaëlle (Isabelle Carré), dates Dan after he breaks up with Nicole. However, he's unaware that the real estate agent he met is Gaëlle's brother.
The key player of the six is Charlotte (Sabine Azéma). She is the pious secretary in Thierry's office, but also has a nighttime job where she cares for Lionel's sick father. Lionel (Pierre Arditi) is Dan's bartender. And so it goes. Incidentally, Charlotte is the most interesting character in the movie, because she has a very dark secret.
All the meetings (and near meetings) take place in a Paris where it is always snowing. The characters enter with snow on their coats and hats. It's fake snow, so it never melts. It just sits there. I assume that's very symbolic. The snow is an recurring, annoying element.
Some of the casting doesn't make sense. Isabelle Carré portrays André Dussollier's younger sister. Well, very younger sister. Carré is 25 years younger than Dussollier. She should be his daughter, not his sister.
All in all, a mediocre movie by a famous director. It has an IMDb rating of 6.9, which is just about right. We saw it on DVD, where it worked well. You might want to check it out, but, then again, you might not.
The concept is interesting--three men and three women who live in Paris. All of them know at least one other person, but, actually, all six are connected. There's just one degree of separation between the people who don't know each other. For example, Dan (Lambert Wilson) and his fiancé Nicole (Laura Morante) are looking for an apartment. The real estate agent who shows them the apartment is Thierry (André Dussollier). His sister is Gaëlle (Isabelle Carré), dates Dan after he breaks up with Nicole. However, he's unaware that the real estate agent he met is Gaëlle's brother.
The key player of the six is Charlotte (Sabine Azéma). She is the pious secretary in Thierry's office, but also has a nighttime job where she cares for Lionel's sick father. Lionel (Pierre Arditi) is Dan's bartender. And so it goes. Incidentally, Charlotte is the most interesting character in the movie, because she has a very dark secret.
All the meetings (and near meetings) take place in a Paris where it is always snowing. The characters enter with snow on their coats and hats. It's fake snow, so it never melts. It just sits there. I assume that's very symbolic. The snow is an recurring, annoying element.
Some of the casting doesn't make sense. Isabelle Carré portrays André Dussollier's younger sister. Well, very younger sister. Carré is 25 years younger than Dussollier. She should be his daughter, not his sister.
All in all, a mediocre movie by a famous director. It has an IMDb rating of 6.9, which is just about right. We saw it on DVD, where it worked well. You might want to check it out, but, then again, you might not.