6/10
From the moment that Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers launched into 'Egyptian Reggae' over the opening credits, I was predisposed to like this film, though I have some reservations.
The main difficulty with reviewing films is that it's important not to give away too much of the plot. Most reviewers have happily revealed the dramatic event that changes the whole complexion of the film about halfway through. I have no idea why they do that. I like to watch films knowing as little as possible. So in the interests of confidentiality, I will tell you that the film focuses on a family: father, film producer; mother, half-Italian; and three delightful daughters. It's fair to say that life in the film production business is tricky, especially because Gregoire (the father) has an old fashioned and quixotic attitude to decision-making. Art is more important than commerce.
The strength of the film is its depiction of family life, the intimacy between parents and children and between the children themselves. It's a rare pleasure to see such unforced emotional openness, both joy and frustration, within a nuclear family. In Hollywood, the kids are usually nauseatingly self-conscious, and in the UK, more often than not, childhood is a rough place. French cinema is more at home with family life, and this film captures that divine and special place. The other thing it achieves is to make it very clear that no one in their right minds would go into film production, something I had never contemplated, and am even less keen on now.
My reservations are that after the event which I can't describe, the film goes off in several directions, like a dog following a dozen different smells, and we're never entirely clear what the point of them all is. And the film also peters away somewhat, with several possible endings precluding the rather ambiguous closing scene. But on the whole, I would suggest it's well worth seeing.
