Film Review
Despite forging a successful career as a journalist, Marc Esposito had a
hankering to be a film director since he was a teenager. He was finally
able to fulfil his ambition, delivering a film that was not only a critical
and commercial hit in France, but one of the most popular French film comedies
of the year (with an impressive audience of 1.5 million on its first release).
Indeed, such was the appeal of
Le Coeur des hommes that it resulted
in two sequels, the imaginatively titled
Le Coeur des hommes 2
(2007) and
Le Coeur des hommes
3 (2013).
The premise of Esposito's film is one that has been tried before and oft
repeated since, but rarely as successfully. A group of middle-aged
men band together to nurse each other through their various (entirely predictable)
mid-life crises, involving the usual travails of work, family and love life.
There's a distinct dearth of originality in the script, and most of the gags
can be seen from a distance of at least 100 kilometres. Neither is
Esposito's direction anything to write home about - it gets the job done
but has little to distinguish it from the usual journeyman handling of a
bog standard television movie.
Le Coeur des hommes's appeal lies exclusively in the amiable foursome
of lead actors that consist of Bernard Campan, Gérard Darmon Jean-Pierre
Darroussin and Marc Lavoine, each of whom rises to the occasion and makes
this an irresistible ensemble. In spite of some pretty mediocre screenwriting,
which simplifies male-female relationships to the point of comic book absurdity
in a few places, each of the male leads manages to turn in a nuanced and
believable performance that really does convey something of the anguish of
the male menopause. Alex's incessant bed-hopping antics make an amusing
counterpoint to Antoine's inner turmoil on discovering his supposed model
wife's infidelity.
There is a warmth and sincerity to the relationship between the four principals
that is hard to resist, and even though the film is painfully lacking in
substance and originality, it more than manages to make the grade as a likeable
feel-good offering.
Le Coeur des hommes may not be great cinema
but it is an enjoyable good-natured romp, one that celebrates the worth of
male friendship with a highly palatable blend of humour and sobriety.
© James Travers 2005
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Marc Esposito film:
Toute la beauté du monde (2006)
Film Synopsis
Alex, Manu, Jeff and Antoine have been the best of friends since they played
in the same football team, twenty years ago. Now they are in their
fifties, with their best years behind them, they are each faced with a personal
crisis which forces them to re-evaluate their lives. Luckily, they
can all count on their buddies for moral support. Manu, the father
of three grown-up children, still hasn't come to terms with the recent death
of his own father and struggles to provide his mother with the help she needs.
Life becomes even more complicated for him when he falls for one of his customers,
a dreamer named Juliette.
Alex is an inveterate philanderer who has no qualms over cheating on his
wife Nanou. For all his meticulous attempts to conceal his numerous
infidelities from his wife and daughter, Alex's marriage is coming under
ever-increasing strain. Despite his friends' attempts to persuade him
to change his ways, Alex remains the eternal Don Juan - but for how much
longer? Jeff publishes a sports magazine with Alex and is now under
pressure from his shareholders to cut staff numbers. Meanwhile, he
agonises over whether he should marry Elsa, a woman who is half his age.
Antoine, the most sensitive and seemingly well-adjusted of the four friends,
finds his life suddenly upended one day when his wife Lili confesses to having
been unfaithful to him, So disgusted is he by this revelation that he immediately
turns his back on his family and checks into a cheap hotel...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.