It's a very personal drama telling the director's own story about feeling abandoned by her mother, the famous French singer Marie Laforet.
Most reviewers didn't "get" the film because they viewed it as a romantic comedy about the American dating culture; they were misled by Amazon Prime Video's terrible promotion material that announces the film as such. It seems that many American/British film distributors insist on doing this to European films: promoting them as comedies, thinking that American and British audiences will not watch a film that is a labelled as drama. So they lie to the public.
Looking back, we could not remember a single scene that we might label as "funny..." Because the film is not meant to be funny!
Sixty seconds into the film my wife and I said to each other: "this is no comedy!" And we continued watching and enjoyed it for what it really is: the story of a woman trying to cope with the fact that she was abandoned by her famous mother at an early age. It's actually tragic.
Sophie Marceau delivers a great performance as the main character, and the child actors whom play her as a child are also very natural (the sign of a great director who can bring out the best in children in front of a camera).
The film is not brilliant because the gay friend character is presented a bit too superficially and the whole ending is a bit too stereotypically "Hollywood Happy End."
Still, an enjoyable drama that raises several topics for discussion: how do you feel about a mature woman hooking up with a man that is half her age? How are the cultures of America and France different when it comes to romantic relationships and sex? How do you handle the fact that your mother chose her career over you?
Enjoy the film and discuss!
Most reviewers didn't "get" the film because they viewed it as a romantic comedy about the American dating culture; they were misled by Amazon Prime Video's terrible promotion material that announces the film as such. It seems that many American/British film distributors insist on doing this to European films: promoting them as comedies, thinking that American and British audiences will not watch a film that is a labelled as drama. So they lie to the public.
Looking back, we could not remember a single scene that we might label as "funny..." Because the film is not meant to be funny!
Sixty seconds into the film my wife and I said to each other: "this is no comedy!" And we continued watching and enjoyed it for what it really is: the story of a woman trying to cope with the fact that she was abandoned by her famous mother at an early age. It's actually tragic.
Sophie Marceau delivers a great performance as the main character, and the child actors whom play her as a child are also very natural (the sign of a great director who can bring out the best in children in front of a camera).
The film is not brilliant because the gay friend character is presented a bit too superficially and the whole ending is a bit too stereotypically "Hollywood Happy End."
Still, an enjoyable drama that raises several topics for discussion: how do you feel about a mature woman hooking up with a man that is half her age? How are the cultures of America and France different when it comes to romantic relationships and sex? How do you handle the fact that your mother chose her career over you?
Enjoy the film and discuss!
