Tout pour plaire (2005) - film review

Juliette, Florence and Marie are three friends who have known each other since childhood.  Now in their mid-thirties, they are each heading for a domestic mid-life crisis.  When her boyfriend leaves her abruptly, Juliette, a lawyer, finds herself saddled with flat that she can hardly afford to rent.  Florence works for an advertising agency and is married to a company director; neither her husband nor her work seem to interest her any more.  Marie, a hospital doctor who is married to a painter who cannot sell his work, finds herself attracted to another man...

Yet another film about women in the throes of a mid-life crises!  The phenomenon that was Bridget Jones’s Diary appears to have spawned a whole new genre in cinema, and here is the latest of several contributions from France.  It’s a debut film from Cécile Telerman and stars three high-profile French actresses, Mathilde Seigner, Judith Godrèch, Anne Parillaud (she of Nikita fame).  Whilst the film is pleasing to watch and has some good jokes, it does feel lightweight and somewhat cliché-ridden.  There is an awkward unevenness in the script and the direction, the result being that the film seems torn between offering a realistic portrayal of mid-life angst on the one hand and a Hollywood-style slightly over-sentimental approach on the other.  In spite of this, the three lead actors each gives a convincing performance, although it is Mathilde Seigner who somehow manages to dominate the proceedings – partly because she is the better actress, but also because considerably more thought seems to have gone into her character.

© James Travers 2007

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