Here I am two years on writing a review. A seriously worthy one. This film is hands down one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen in the last two years, and I've seen hundreds.
Having nothing to watch I put this on. I don't speak French so had the chore of handling subtitles throughout it's length. Well it was a roller coaster ride of excitement, suspense, laughter, sadness, awe, disbelief and enjoyment. It was almost perfectly blended into a tight tale of despair, personal growth and becoming.
The screenplay was excellent, as is the direction and general production. The acting is nothing short of superb and the lead. "Emilie Piponnier" should get an Oscar for her performance, or at the very least the French equivalent. To be fair, all the performances are good, and I was totally immersed in this movie to the point where I watched another French film after just to prolong the moment.
Ok its not perfect. One development in the story niggled me as soon as it occurred, and for a film so good I'm surprised the writer chose this avenue for the plot since there were so many other possible scenarios that would have worked more believably and effectively that the one chosen. I'll describe it like this - If I left my husband having found out he was a dirty cop, and I then decided to pull bank jobs to survive or stay financially viable. I am NOT going to ask my husband to babysit my child! Not for any number of excellent reasons the situation presents. That is just asking for trouble, and a little ridiculous if I'm honest. Babysitters are not Truffles and what would otherwise have been absolute perfection was a tad tainted by this development.
Additionally, the sexual encounters in the movie are somewhat... I think 'Cartoonish' is the best way to describe them. I'm not sure if the writer/director has done any real research into high end escorts, but I think they have confused the establishment with one catering for men interested in bondage, or perhaps the 'M' in S&M. The notion that the clientele for high end escorts primarily consist of sexually inept momma's boys with low esteem that all come to fruition at the mere sight of a woman in lingerie is a far stretch from reality, but I'm going to give a little leeway here since some 'poetic license' is needed for the film to work.
In spite of these short comings I'm giving the film 8/10, because, I still enjoyed it so much. Besides, it's fantastic production well worth seeing, and all this coming from a guy who appreciates a good film, but would normally skip a film of this genre and not given it a chance in the normal course of things. Prejudice can be a hindrance to enjoyment.
