Toute la beauté du monde (2006) - film review

Roland is anxious about his sister Tina.  For several months she has been in a state of total withdrawal since her husband was killed in a road accident.  On the advice of a friend, Franck, he proposes that Tina takes a holiday on the island of Bali.  There, when Franck meets Tina he realises that he has found the love of his life.  However, she is still mourning the loss of her husband and is in hurry to embark on a new love affair…

Marc Esposito’s second film comes as something of disappointment after his first, the enjoyable Le Coeur des hommes (2003).  Based on Esposito’s own novel, the film is a conventional romantic drama, made without any great passion, intelligence or artistic flair.  The banality of the story is carelessly emphasised by some poor dialogue, mediocre direction and uninspired acting.   Lead actors Marc Lavoine and Zoé Félix appear uninterested in what they are doing and show little if anything in the way of real emotion, rendering their characters two-dimensional and unsympathetic.  Annoyingly, the narrative frequently breaks off to show us the beauty spots of Bali, making it appear that the film was heavily sponsored by the Bali tourist board.  Too little plot and characterisation, too many pretty pictures of an island paradise – all adding up to a very boring hour and a half of the most anodyne kind of cinema.

© James Travers 2007

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