Movie Review He Loves Me He Loves Me Not

He Loves Me He Loves Me Not (2003)

Directed by Laetitia Colombani 

Written by Laetitia Colombani 

Starring Audrey Tautou, Samuel Le Bihani 

Release Date February 14th, 2003 

Published March 15th, 2004 

Since 2001's sweet, romantic fable Amelie, star Audrey Tautou has fought being typecast as a pixie-ish romantic. The gritty Stephen Frears movie Dirty Pretty Things about foreigners skirting the edges of British lower classes was a complete and welcome departure. In the movie He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not however, Tautou uses her perceived romantic flightiness to sell us a character who by the end of the film is almost completely different. The film turns entirely on Tautou's believability and almost works save for a ridiculous ending that flies completely off the rails.

Tautou stars as Angelique and when we first meet her, she evokes the memory of our beloved Amelie by being surrounded in roses and flashing those signature saucer eyes. Her smile is so sincere as she plots to send one single rose to her beloved, a doctor named Loic (Samuel Le Bihan) who accepts it happily without reading the card. Angelique is a ball of romantic fantasy as she shows up late for work buzzing with euphoria. In her art class forgets the model she's supposed to sculpting and instead sculpts Loic from memory. At this point, her devotion seems to border on obsession but we have little idea of what we are in for.

There are problems in the relationship, not the least of which is that Loic is married. According to Angelique, he has repeatedly promised he will leave his wife but he can't while she is pregnant. Loic continuously stands up Angelique on dates, except for a party where the two avoid each other save for a little eye contact so as not to arouse suspicion among his colleagues. The couple’s only interaction is a quickie bathroom tryst that oddly happens off-screen. In fact, we have yet to have seen the two speak to each other....hmm.

Hold that thought because half way through the film co-writer/director Laetitia Colombani pulls the rug out from under the story switching the perspective from Angelique to Loic and the entire tone of the picture with it.

It's a gimmick unquestionably and a slightly unfair gimmick at that. If it works, it's only because Samuel Le Bihan as Loic is so believable. Le Bihan sells the film’s central gimmick with his controlled, logical, natural performance. Le Bihan doesn't react like your typical clueless movie character, save for one of those boneheaded scenes where he goes somewhere he is not invited.

Director Colombani and co-writer Carloline Thivel take a huge risk hanging their entire story on this one gimmick that could come off as showy or annoying. I thought it was an intriguing way to toy with genre convention and film structure. If the ending had a better payoff, I could be more definitive in recommending the film. However, the overly creepy ending they chose cheapens the characters and undercuts the drama.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is an interesting exercise in how writers and directors can toy with an audience and manipulate their perspective and rooting interest. Rent it for it's experimental nature. You may be disappointed in the ending or even annoyed with the central gimmick but at least it's different from most modern films.

Movie Review: Amelie

Amelie (2001) 

Directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet

Written by Jean Pierre Jeunet 

Starring Audrey Tautou, Matthieu Kassovitz 

Release Date September 1st, 2001 

Published December 26th, 2001 

Working at a video store I've developed more than a few video pet peeves. One that sticks out is when a foreign film is released and some Jethro with a mullet asks me (direct quote) "Do I have to read this video". After resisting the urge to beat them senseless with the video in question I explained that the film is subtitled. Jethro then returns the film to the shelf and retrieves, I swear this is true, a copy of Joe Dirt. I bring this up because it won't be long until the brilliant French subtitled film Amelie will be out on video.

Indeed, Jethro will not be seeing Amelie and it's his loss because it's one of the best films of the last 12 months. Audrey Tautou stars as the title character who after discovering a box of childhood toys belonging to a previous tenant in her apartment sets out to return the memories to this man, and if it makes a difference to him she will do the same for others. Indeed the man is touched and Amelie, witnessing the man's joy from afar, begins her journey to spread joy to others. 

Along the way she meets and inspires an invalid artist, gives a blind man a tour of the world and encounters a young man named Nino who may be able to change her life. Nino, played by Daniel Kassovitz, and the courtship between his character and Amelie is one of the most unique dances of fate we've ever witnessed. Tautou and Kassovitz barely speak to each other but their courtship is very believable as it leads its obvious conclusion.

Director Jean Pierre Jeunet (Alien Resurrection) shows a flair for beautiful visuals that make France look like the most beautiful place on Earth. Jeunet's camera clearly loves Tautou whose expressive eyes, often seen in tight mischievous close-ups, may become a calling card on par with Angelina Jolie's lips and Julia Roberts' teeth.

Amelie is not a perfect film. At times it's flights of fancy are like a French version of Ally McBeal. Nevertheless it is a wonderfully romantic and lovely movie that should make Audrey Tautou a huge international star.

Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code (2006) 

Directed by Ron Howard 

Written by Akiva Goldsman 

Starring Tom Hanks, Jean Reno, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellan

Release Date May 19th, 2006 

Published May 18th, 2006 

Having read Dan Brown's worldwide best seller The Da Vinci Code my expectations for the film version were quite low. Despite his admittedly intriguing premise involving the bloodline of Jesus Christ, the holy grail, and secret societies, Dan Brown's writing style is a tedious mixture of portentous dialogue and sub-Crichton chase scenes.

Thankfully the movie version of The Da Vinci Code is blessed with talent creative enough to salvage the usable elements of Brown's intriguing premise and prop up his weak points to watchable levels. Director Ron Howard, Academy Award winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, and star Tom Hanks are such professionals that even Dan Brown's tiresome, predictable clichés become relatively captivating mysteries.

Tom Hanks stars in the Da Vinci Code as Professor Robert Langdon. A Symbology expert, Professor Langdon is in Paris promoting his book when he is picked up by the Paris police. Taken to the world famous Louvre museum, Robert's help is sought in the investigation of the death of the museum's curator Jaques Saurniere (Jean-Pierre Marielle).

Langdon was to have a meeting with Saurniere while in Paris but as he tells police investigator Bezu Fache (Jean Reno), Saurniere never showed. What Langdon does not know is that Fache already has a suspect in the case, Langdon himself. The body found in the grand gallery amongst some of the world's greatest artistic treasures is surrounded by pagan symbols and clues, that Robert believes he is there to help interpret.

Coming to Robert's aide is a police code breaker, Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou). Having observed the evidence at headquarters, Sophie has determined that Fache has settled on Langdon being guilty. She's also figured out that Langdon is very much innocent based on the same evidence. 

Saurniere happens to be Sophie's estranged grandfather. The symbols he left behind, in his own blood as he slowly died, were meant for her but she needs Professor Langdon's help in solving all of the riddles grandpa left behind. This includes a secret passed down through the ages that Saurniere has kept and was in the past the provenance of people such as Victor Hugo, Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci.

With Sophie's help Langdon escapes the Louvre, with some helpful artifacts from Saurniere and clues from Da Vinci himself. They must follow the clues if they are going to prove Robert's innocence and discover the amazing secret Jaques Saurniere died to protect, a secret that could lead them to the legendary Holy Grail. 

They will also need the help of an old friend of Robert's, conspiracy theorist Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen). An expert in all things related to the holy grail, Sir Leigh lets Robert and Sophie in on the scope and scale of the mystery they are trying to solve and the tremendous danger that secret threatens to unleash.

Keep in mind, of course, that the real killer of Jaques Saurniere is still out there. Silas (Paul Bettany) an imposing, self flagellating monk of the order of Opus Dei murdered Saurniere to get to the secret himself on behalf of a shady bishop (Alfred Molina). Working in secret for the Vatican, the bishop intends to destroy the holy grail if he gets his hands on it.

But just what is the holy grail? That is a mystery I will leave for you to discover by watching the movie. For storytelling purposes it's simply the McGuffin, that thing as described by Hitchcock, that drives a mystery movie plot. Be it a mysterious brief case, some sort of world killing virus or in this case the holy grail. It's that thing that every character in this kind of film seeks and that some characters will kill for. It's the motivation for chase scenes, gun fights and love stories.

This makes The Da Vinci Code a rather typical movie mystery. The film does indeed have more than a few chases, a few bullets fired and the makings of a minor love story. The Da Vinci Code is a conventional thriller except that it's driving force happens to be rather controversial.

Writer Dan Brown spins an outlandish tale that calls into question the divinity of Jesus Christ and spins a fantastical story of a Vatican cover up, the holy grail, and a secret society call the priory of scion whose membership reads like history's hall of fame.

It's a terrific story that in his book Brown drowns out with droning dialogue and a highly predictable murder mystery. The challenge to the filmmakers was to remain faithful enough to satisfy the millions who managed to fight through the books clichés while patching Brown's many plot holes.

Writer Akiva Goldsman does what he can to repair the books worst aspect, the dialogue. Cleaning up Brown's dense, halting prose, Goldsman cuts to the quick. This at times leaves people who haven't read the book in the dark but keeps the film from having to be four hours long to explain all of the various details. At 2 hours and 30 minutes, the film is long and filled with a lot of dialogue but we can thank Goldsman for getting the films many jargon filled conversations moving.

Also thank Ron Howard for keeping things moving as well. Only pausing when he absolutely has to, Howard keeps the film humming along with chase scenes, narrow escapes and tantalizing historic scenery from Paris to London. There was no way that even talents like Howard and Goldman could plug the many holes in the convoluted Da Vinci Code plot but they are blessed with a dream cast who allow us to relax and forget about many of those rather large holes.

Tom Hanks with his friendly, aw shucks charm is always an inviting screen presence. He's become an old reliable friend on screen and no matter how implausible the plot may be you want to follow along just to hang out with our buddy Tom Hanks.

Ian McKellen may not be our pal like Tom but playing a charming English eccentric, McKellen is perfectly at home and highly entertaining. His Sir Leigh Teabing has some of the more lengthy and difficult dialogue in the film but who better than the classically stage trained englishman to deliver even the most tedious monologues. His grand accent alone is enough to lull you into believing the fantastic lies he spins.

The Da Vinci Code is no groundbreaking adventure in the way Indiana Jones was but it's not the stultifying borefest that was National Treasure. It falls somewhere in the entertaining but forgettable middle ground of those two similar adventures. Good enough for me to recommend to fans of mystery, fans of the book and especially fans of our old pal Tom Hanks.

Movie Review: A Very Long Engagement

A Very Long Engagement (2004)

Directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet 

Written by Jean Pierre Jeunet 

Starring Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Ticky Holgado, Jodie Foster

Release Date October 27th, 2004 

Published December 25th, 2004 

French Director Jean Pierre Jeunet can pack more artistry into one scene than most American directors conjure up in an entire career. For his latest effort, A Very Long Engagement, Mr. Jeunet has topped himself with a strikingly beautiful work that evokes an early twentieth century postcard and a grim Private Ryan-esque war picture. The mixture works because Jeunet is more imaginative and daring than many more well known or better compensated directors in the world.

Audrey Tautou, whom Jeunet made a star of in his last picture Amelie, stars here as Mathilde, a starry eyed romantic twenty year-old who lives every day awaiting the return of her fiancé Manech (Gaspard Ulliel). Even after receiving word from the war office that Manech has been killed, she refuses to accept it. Thus begins a journey, a mystery that will take her from the French countryside to Paris to the frontlines of WW1.

Through Mathilde's numerous inquiries into Manech's fate we see several different versions of what happened from soldiers and those with second hand recounting. With the help of an oddball private eye named Pire (Ticky Holgado), we learn that Manech was one of five French soldiers sentenced to death for self-infliction of wounds. The death sentence was carried out by sending the soldiers into what was called no man's land, the area between the French and German encampments on the frontlines.

Five dead men, five different explanations that range from the expected to the surprising to the miraculous. With the help of family, friends, and fellow soldiers, Mathilde pieces together a mystery that relies a little too much on chance and coincidence, but is too well directed and populated with too many great characters to not work.

Director Jean Pierre Jeunet puts more artistic imagination into one scene in A Very Long Engagement than we have seen in every mainstream feature in 2005, not that that is a very high standard. With Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and some stunning CGI, Mr. Jeunet casts an amber glow over all of A Very Long Engagement that gives the film an aged look that fits the World War I time period. This is a remarkably beautiful looking movie and it is no surprise it was nominated for the Oscar in Cinematography.

For her part Audrey Tautou delivers another star defining performance. At once dramatic and precocious, Ms. Tautou awesomely conveys Mathilde's naivete and determination. She is aided by a terrific supporting cast of oddballs, tough guys and simply great actors, including Jodie Foster as the wife of one of the five soldiers, and Marion Cotillard as the girlfriend of one of the five soldiers who murders her way through the same mystery as Mathilde.

Director Jean Pierre Jeunet is a gift to true film fans. A director who cares about all aspects of his films, the visual and the scripted page. Unlike some of the assembly line hacks working in mainstream Hollywood who simply transcribe the scripted page to the screen with no imagination or thought, Mr. Jeunet carefully crafts every scene for maximum effect. A Very Long Engagement is yet another example of his genius.