Modern Love (2008) - film review

Eric, the writer of a musical comedy, is in love with Anne, but he finds his loyalties are divided when he meets an old flame, Marie.  Meanwhile, having been dumped by her boyfriend, Elsa has sworn never to start a relationship with another man unless she is certain he is Mr Right.  Then she finds that her new colleague Jérôme is just that, or so he seems....

Seven years after making his splash directorial debut with Sexy Boys (2001), a no holds barred send-up of the American teen comedy at its worst, Stéphane Kazandjian offered up this characteristically Gallic attempt to deconstruct another staple of modern cinema, the ubiquitous rom-com.   With tongue firmly in cheek, Kazandjian weaves together three stories, two of which take place in the real world (or rather a French filmmaker’s conception of the real world) whilst the third is unambiguously situated in the fantasy realm of the trashy musical comedy, which owes far more to Bollywood than the worst excesses of Tinseltown.  Whilst the characters in the latter conform to every cliché under the sun and are destined to live happily ever after (or at least until the sequel), those in the former come to realise that, when it comes to romance, ideals are about as helpful as stabilisers on a racing car (and infinitely more dangerous).

Whilst the melange of styles is jarring and takes some getting used to, Modern Love just about wins through on the strength of its original perspective on a familiar genre, its slick production design and some engaging performances from a highly talented cast.   Looking less like flesh-and-blood actors and more like CGI computer-simulated creations (which will no doubt be cinema’s next big development), Alexandra Lamy and Stéphane Rousseau steal the show with flair and gusto in the film’s fantasy romance strand - it helps that both actors were allowed to sing all of their own numbers instead of having to suffer the indignity of being dubbed by someone who sounds nothing like them.  And the songs (scored by Martin Rappeneau with lyrics by Kazandjian), whilst being caricatured to the point of absurdity, are lethally catchy. 

In contrast to the Bollywood-style fun and games in glitzy Mills & Boon Land, the real-world romances are pretty lacklustre and follow a predictable trajectory, which is presumably the opposite effect to the one that Kazandjian had intended (unless he is being exceeding post-modern ironic).  What is Kazandjian really saying about the romantic-comedy -  that the genre is so inherently governed by pre-set rules that it resists any attempt to deconstruct it?  Or, given how much more appealing the extreme fantasy version is, maybe he is saying that the genre is at its best when it tacitly avoids realism and fully embraces the artificial and the kitsch, allowing audiences the chance to dream a little, to have a brief respite from the reality of their own angst-packed relationships, which are anything but a fairytale?   After all, who really goes to the cinema in search of truth?

© James Travers 2010

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