After visiting one of their best friends in intensive care unit at the hospital after he had a near fatal motorbike accident a despondent tight knit group of friends gather outside. Their big dilemma is do they hang around in Paris waiting for Ludo to be well enough to have visitors or just go on their regular planned vacation together as usual. They choose the latter which speaks volumes for this bunch of assorted individuals who all seem slightly too self-obsessed as they all enter middle-age.
Antoine is convinced that Juliette who dumped him after 11 years to marry someone else will take him back, Eric thinks Louise his girlfriend is ‘the one’ but she only flies down from Paris to tell him she is not, Marie now regrets ever having let Ludo go and is working though that by sleeping with men she really doesn’t like to be around. The only two people to keep this group grounded and the closest they get to real happiness is their old neighbor Jean-Louis and Ludo. This summer then its all down to the local oyster fisherman as Ludo can only be there in spirit.
The story is full of high drama: lots of laughter and tears as they each of angst-ridden bang their heads against a brick wall, when they are not out having fun in Max’s fancy speed boat. And annoying as the storyline can be at times, it is very watchable because of the very impressive ensemble of some first-rate French actors that include: Francois Cluzet, (who is a dead ringer for Dustin Hoffman), Benoit Magimel, Gilles Lellouche, Laurent Lafitte, and a scene stealing Marion Cotillard. Ludo is played by Jean Dujardin before he made his Oscar winning performance in ‘The Artist‘ ….. and he doesn’t get to speak in this much either. Jean-Louis the oyster fisherman is rather brilliantly played Joel Dupuch who is not an actor but an oyster fisherman. His is a pivotal role as just when you are on the verge of despair with some of the group’s antics, he gives them a good talking too.
At 150 minutes it is at least one hour too long and if writer/director Guillaume Canet ( directed the excellent ‘Tell No One’) had trimmed it so, then I would liked this piece even more. I do have a soft spot for French movies of this ilk, and although it may not have been the best of the genre, it was still thoroughly entertaining. Maybe because I like a bit of weltschmerz myself?
P.S. Have a box of kleenex ready for the end
★★★★★★★★
