J'me sens pas belle

This is a comedy. But it's a comedy that could act as the first chapter of an essay on love and relationship. It's the story of Fanny and Paul, but it could be the story of almost anybody. It's a film, but it might as well be a play. It's set in Fanny's apartment, and there's just two characters. By the way, both Marina Foïs and Julien Boisselier are doing a great job. It's not a classic, it's a long-shot from being a masterpiece, but it's very enjoyable. Give it a try.

Seen on April 3rd, 2005, in Toronto, at the Royal Cinema, during the Cinéfranco festival.

77/100 (**½)

You could argue that this has two strikes on it going in; it's a two-hander so by extension the acting needs to be a couple of notches above very good and plot-wise we've been there before and before and before which means that we really are looking for something just a little extra. For the non-French audience there is the novelty of two new faces for though Marina Fois and Julien Boisselier have respectable CVs they are virtually all in strictly domestic movies (in fact Boisselier can be seen right now in 'Tous le plaisir est pour moi'). Such as it is the plot hinges on Fanny (Marina Fois) who, at thirty-something, has had it up to here with one-night stands and relationships that run out of steam within the month. Her solution - this is, after all, a light comedy - is to invite a guy from work, Paul (Julien Boisselier), to her apartment for dinner and sex though of course he is only hip to the first part. Given a premise like this what you need is charm, laffs, beautiful people and if that's not possible then Doris Day and Rock Hudson. What we get depends very much on the individual viewer. Those who find Fanny's preparations for the evening - beginning with planning the meal, ending with secreting a condom where it will do the most good in the heat of the moment and, in a fit of whimsey, stretching a condom until it flies across the room and lodges in the inside of a Spanish guitar where it will remain until a key moment - 1) hilarious, 2) charming or 3) infantile will react on the same scale to the whole movie. Me? I liked it. Sue me. 7/10

Although this film isn't long at 1h 27m, when you watch it, it certainly seems longer. Probably because the number of characters is reduced ( only 2 ) plus the fact that the set is pretty limited. In fact it's more of a filmed play than a film. The action ( if we can call it that ) taked place in Paris, France because we see the ET thru the window !! The actors who are little known as of today are likeable enough and the premise for the plot not uninteresting. The thing is that the script is very limited and the dialogues become more and more repetitive as the film advances. With limited plot and limited sets, the dialogues have to be pretty damn good to carry the film till the end. In this case they are really average, hence the impression of repetition. I may give the film a second viewing when it is issued on dvd but my overall impression is one of "thirst not being quenched" and expecting a more interesting plot with more twists and surprises. As it is, there are little of those and the film wends its way slowly and surely towards its inescapable end. I wouldn't bet on this film having any chance of success outside France and even within that country I think it's success will be pretty limited, a far cry from "Le Père Noël est Une Ordure" or "Le Diner de Cons". Audiences today expect a film to move far faster than this to keep up their attention and enthousiasm. Unfortunately with "Je me sens pas belle" I personally feel that this is far from being the case despite the actors themselves being physically pleasant to watch.

One of the better French films this year, a refreshingly funny comedy about Fanny and Paul, two people in their mid-thirties and their not entirely straightforward way of trying to start a relationship.

This is strictly a two-character movie (if you don't count the voices of the annoying couple upstairs), and all of it takes place on just one evening and the following morning. This may seem a very minimalist concept to begin with, and it certainly wouldn't work with comedians of a smaller calibre that Marina Foïs and Julien Boisselier, but the two of them excel in their roles as somewhat quirky, but still totally believable and entirely likable thirty-somethings who had their disappointments in relationships and now don't seem to know what to do with one another.

It's this interplay of one character taking the initiative and the other one instantly trying to wiggle his/her way out of it (and ten minutes later vice versa) and the clumsiness with which things happen or don't happen, plus the deadpan humour that makes this movie so successful.

Don't expect a movie with a lot of depth and substance. Expect to meet two endearing characters with whom you can almost instantly identify, expect witty dialogues and humour that will never sink below a certain level (even when the condom gets caught in the guitar strings), expect to laugh a lot and to cry a little.

Certainly worth seeing. 8/10.