Film Review
Twelve years after his last film,
Bon voyage (2003), director
Jean-Paul Rappeneau returns with an entry in a completely different
register - a ditsy melange of family comedy-drama and rom-com that
can't help looking like a manically overdone adaptation of a Georges
Feydeau farce by Arnaud Desplechin. The characters' resemblance
to Desplechin types is helped by the fact that one of them is played by
Desplechin regular Mathieu Amalric, but rather than attempt a
thoughtful Desplechinesque examination of family relationships and the
male menopause Rappeneau is content to turn the handle and churn out
what is mostly a routine comedy that might well have been concocted by
a computer drawing off a substantial database of clichés and
stock situations.
La Belles
familles, the director's eighth film in fifty years, marks a
return to the uninhibited comedies of his dim and distant past, but
whereas Rappeneau's early comedies
Les Mariés de l'an II (1971)
and
Le Sauvage (1975), had a spark
of originality amidst all the chaotic silliness, this latest one looks
merely like reheated leftovers.
Imagination may be somewhat lacking on the narrative front, but
Rappeneau still knows how to turn out a lively cinematic tour de force
with crowdpulling potential.
Belles
familles is unlikely to match the success of the director's
previous - and best film -
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), but
it should have no difficulty finding an audience at home and abroad,
its glossy production values and prestigious cast making it an easy
sell to distributors astute enough to capitalise on the film's obvious
plus points. For a man in his ninth decade, Rappeneau does a good
impression of a wild and woolly novice filmmaker, cutting manically and
orchestrating impressive camera movements that give the film a
relentless sense of energy and spontaneity. It's the modern
equivalent of those great American screwball comedies of the 1930s and
40s, with most of the cast visibly busting a gut to sustain the film's
lively pace. The only thing that is lacking is a script offering
more in the way of depth and originality. There are one or two
surprising narrative digressions along the way, but for the most part
the film wends its way down a familiar path towards an all too
complacent ending. This is surprising given that the film was
co-scripted with Philippe Le Guay, the author of such likeable
off-the-wall fare as
Les Femmes du 6ème étage
(2011) and
Alceste à bicyclette
(2013).
With a budget of eight million euros at his disposal (a substantial
amount for a French comedy of this kind), Rappeneau can afford to go to
town, visiting exotic locations in the Far East (an indulgence the plot
can easily spare) and employing some of France's biggest actors.
In addition to the aforementioned Amalric, Rappeneau ropes in four
other big hitters - Gilles Lellouche, Nicole Garcia, André
Dussollier and Karin Viard - as well as getting his money's worth with
super-sensual Marine Vacth, looking every bit as stunning as she did in
her debut piece, François Ozon's
Jeune
& jolie (2013). High energy comedy is not
something you would readily associate with any of the above, although,
despite the derivative script, all acquit themselves admirably,
Amalric's comedy turn being the biggest surprise of all. Whilst
Rappeneau manages to tick most of the boxes in delivering a popular
entertainment, his film is ultimately let down by a lack of character
depth and craven subservience to mainstream conventionality.
Belles familles is enjoyable but it
is essentially just a ridiculously overblown sitcom.
© James Travers 2015
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Next Jean-Paul Rappeneau film:
La Vie de château (1966)
Film Synopsis
On a trip to London, Shanghai-based businessman Jérôme
Varenne stops over in Paris to visit his mother and brother, but soon
finds a reason to prolong his stay in la Belle France. It appears
that, after his father's death, the family estate in the provinces
where Jérôme grew up is up for sale, but the sale is being
held up by a legal dispute between a property developer,
Grégoire Piaggi, and the town's mayor, Pierre Cotteret. In
the hope of resolving the dispute, Jérôme returns to his
childhood home and soon falls prey to conflicting emotions as he renews
his acquaintance with Piaggi, a boyhood friend, and uncovers his
father's secret life. After separating from his mother,
Jérôme's father cohabited for several years with a young
nurse, Florence, and her daughter Louise. The latter happens to
be Piaggi's girlfriend, but that doesn't prevent Jérôme
from succumbing to her obvious charms...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.