User reviews

"Let the Sunshine In" (2017 release from France; 94 min.; original title "Un beau soleil intérieur") brings the story of Isabelle. As the movie opens, we see Isabelle, naked, and making love to a guy we later learn is married (but not to Isabelle). Isabelle is enjoying a week of relative freedom as her 10 yr. old daughter is away at her dad's, Isabelle's former husband Francois. Soon we learn that Isabelle is deeply unhappy and restless about where she is in her life, and her love life in particular. At this point we're 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from French writer-director Claire Denis. Here she gets to work with one of France's treasures, actress Juliette Binoche. Binoche carries this movie on her shoulders from start to finish, and along the way exposes herself in ways I can't recall before. And it has to be said: Binoche is not in her mid-50s but she looks at least 10 years younger. The movie is what one could generalize as being a "typical French talkie", in which there is a lot, a LOT, of conversation and not much else. The director had the great sense of letting scenes play out, for minutes on, without interruption, as if we are simply a fly on the wall listening in on strangers talking. And yet, for all that closeness, I couldn't find myself all that emotionally invested in the movie or these characters. Yes, one feels that Binoche is delivering a towering performance but so what? Last but not least, Gerard Depardieu makes an appearance at the very end of the movie, as a fortune teller of some sort.

""Let the Sunshine In" premiered at last year's Cannes film festival, to positive acclaim (mostly for Juliette Binoche's performance). Almost exactly a year later, this movie finally showed up at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Saturday matinee performance where I saw this at was not attended well (4 people, including myself), I honestly can't see this playing in the theater very long. If you are interested in "French talkies" or a character study of a woman struggling with various relationships (think "An Unmarried Woman" or "Starting Over"), I'd suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Good actors with great casting, Paris as the backdrop, but the story is a complete dud. This was a total disaster as far as the writing, a failure both in the story as well as the insipid dialogue.

Being, more or less, in the age bracket of Benoche and her character, I find it a bit ridiculous that she stagnates in an adolescent passive-aggressive attitude with men. Say what you mean and mean what you say, someone once said. If you want someone, at this age you can't waste a lot of time being coy or clever.

Just what she saw in the banker is beyond my ability to read what women want. Physically unattractive, arrogant and abusive with the bartender, and dismissive of her feelings point to the fact that what? She's with him for his money?

I'm not saying that people my age can't find "true love" but I think we have to be rational adults while looking for it. The scene in the car and then in her apartment were both so incredibly awkward, worse than anything I suffered in my teens. Grow up! I hated both of those scenes. Thoroughly unromantic.

And then they manage to somehow shoe-horn in a dialogue with Gerard Depardieu?

I was forced to watch the film with inadequate English subtitles that didn't begin to translate the true sense of the French original dialogue, but my French isn't quite good enough to watch it without subtitles. I can never find French films with French subtitles which is the perfect combination for me. People learning English as a second language never have a problem finding English subtitles for English films and TV shows, so stop being so smug about the fact that you speak English.

Audiences went into this French drama as if they were partaking in a romcom buffet at their local boulangerie, but unsurprisingly came out disappointed when they weren't given the usual Katherine Heigl American trash that pollutes the genre. This is not a traditional romantic comedy. I repeat, not a traditional romcom. It is a drama about love, layering themes of romance and philosophies on life through an almost schizophrenic perspective. And with that, Denis has produced a wonderfully intimate portrayal of modern love through her ornate methods of artistic direction. A woman, struggling to find love, becomes involved with multiple men in an attempt to find stability and a relationship.

On the surface, this resembles a vapid pretentious outlook on the morality of men and emotional instability of women. However if you inspect Denis' contemporary storytelling techniques, it's actually a personable venture of self-discovery. A woman acquiring the fragility and tenderness that love shares with its victims, both a curse and a blessing. Coming to terms with how delicate a relationship can be, with a persistence on why certain aspects "should not be rushed".

The various men she encounters all treat her differently. A rich banker uses her to cheat on his wife, an actor regrets sleeping with her on the first meet and her ex-boyfriend/husband is unable to rekindle their flame. The only man who she believes treats her appropriately is seemingly the complete opposite to her personality, with her colleagues subconsciously planting doubt in her mind.

Denis consistently hones in on her neurotic behaviour which, whilst provides a very subtle amount of humour, allows her to experience the pain of love. It does inadvertently force her character to be disconnected with the audience, and on occasion results in her having a low morality compass. Yet fortunately the drama is shrouded in humanity. Everything felt natural. What helped elevate this was Denis' direction. A ludicrous amount of one take scenes allow us to become involved in their lives. The most notable of these being an eight minute unedited scene to which she talks to a banker at a bar. It also showcases Binoche's fantastic performance as she switches between emotions almost instantly. One second she is happily in love, the next filling her mind with doubt.

The scenes of sexual nature however felt rather excessive, particularly the introductory scene, that detracted from Denis' classy artistry. It may have highlighted the sleazy behaviour of these characters, but contrasts with the delicate portrayal of love. A nice touch that I found noteworthy was the concluding conversation with Depardieu. Midway through, the credits start rolling to emphasise the distractions that romances can cause, and it's these sort of contemporary details that enhance the film's interpretation.

Denis is certainly crafting films that aren't particularly accessible to the typical audience, but that does not result in her films being just exercises in vapidity. There's an intricate amount of humanity that brings life to this unconventional "romcom" that really should not be blocking that elusive sunshine.

A rather one-note film about a frustrating character that I probably would have reviewed more harshly had it not starred the luminous Juliette Binoche.

Binoche plays a woman who's fallen into a repetitive cycle of starting up love affairs -- sometimes with the wrong guy, sometimes with someone who might be a right guy -- but then bailing on them because of her own inability to open herself up emotionally. And that's the movie. There's not much of a character arc to her -- the life events that have put herwhere she is have already happened when the movie starts, and she doesn't learn much of anything about herself or her own responsibility in being lonely and miserable that suggests anything is going to change. A generous interpretation of the ending might, I suppose, hint at future happiness, but I chose, cynic that I am, to interpret it instead as yet another desperate attempt made by Binoche's character to find love that requires no effort on her part. Apparently, she thinks she can just wait patiently and it will fall from the sky into her lap.

"Let the Sunshine In" isn't a boring film, but it's not an especially engaging one either. You will have to find Juliette Binoche herself interesting as an actress if you're going to enjoy this film, as it's virtually a one-woman show.

Grade: B

... in its focus on unsatisfactory relationships - and it even has Depardieu in a pointless cameo role!

At one level, it's not too surprising that a well-regarded female artist of a certain age would have trouble finding a suitable partner following her divorce. However, her inability does seem at least somewhat self-inflicted, as she keeps latching on to married and otherwise unavailable men - some of whom are clearly complete arseholes. Indeed, there were so many of these I lost track of who was supposed to be "just a friend" and who was her current lover, and what might happen in her future.

Worth a look, but not Binoche's best, IMHO.

Claire Denis' "Let the Sun Shine In" is an exhausting and overwhelming experience, as is the choreography of romance and life it is set in. In the world of tinder, it's all 1s and 0s, but real life these days is much less binary and less immediately satisfying. You won't find that kind of easy romcom satisfaction in Denis' film. One is buffeted by indecision, imprecision, and inaction while swimming in self doubt and self loathing. Isabelle, our stand-in for the duration, is emotionally exhausting. She asks a lot of her lovers and of the audience. She says "stay with me, stay," and Denis uses Juliette Binoche to maximum seductive affect but it's not an easy journey. Isabelle is, by turns, a strong woman with a lot to offer and who knows what she wants, but also a weak human being filled with doubt. She's a paradox and a contradiction, but she also understands without acknowledging that she will always have opportunities...another opportunity. She is someone who is exploring the boundaries of her self. It's perplexing territory to the men she meets but also to herself. Denis shows us as many facets of Isabelle as we are willing to see, that we can see. I think there's a lot more there than I could see at one sitting. A unique portrait. Her best film since "White Material." I'd love to talk to her about it!

"You don't have to go looking for love when it's where you come from" - Werner Erhard

Isabelle (Juliet Binoche, "Ghost in the Shell"), a divorced fiftyish artist, is attractive, urbane, and highly intelligent but her relationships seem to have a built-in mechanism for self destruction. The men in Isabelle's life offer her little except temporary physical pleasure and are pretty much ciphers (and not very nice ones at that). Loosely based on Roland Barthes' book "A Lover's Discourse: Fragments" with a screenplay by Christine Angot, Claire Denis' sophisticated comedy/drama Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) is lighter fare than normal for Denis, but it has its probing, self-reflective moments and Juliet Binoche, as usual, is an appealing screen presence.

Like many of us, Isabelle wants to find someone who fits her pictures but, as most of us discover sooner or later, life often does not fit our pictures. All of Isabelle's relationships start out to be very promising but eventually the decisions she makes about her partners seem to get in the way of her satisfaction. Whatever she thinks that she is looking for, she does not find it with either banker Vincent (Xavier Beauvois, "Django"), actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle, "Wedding Unplanned"), ex-husband Francois (Laurent Gréville, "A Perfect Man"), or any other potential beau for that matter. The film begins with Isabelle in bed with the married, pretentious Vincent. Things are looking a-ok until she decides that he is taking too long to climax, a fact she decides reflects badly on her.

Vincent asks her whether she has had more success with other lovers, but her response is a convincing slap in the face. She is with him when he bullies a bartender but she does not react. The next time he visits her in her apartment, however, she calls him an unrepeatable name, then tells him to leave and not come back. Instead, she hooks up with a young actor (Duvauchelle), also married, though with a better disposition. When she invites him in for a drink, they play endless games about whether he should stay or leave. When he decides to stay, they go through the motions together but by the next morning he concludes that things were better before they had sex and wishes that it had not happened.

The next one up is François (Gréville), Isabelle's ex-husband, who is concerned about their ten-year-old daughter after she tells him that her mother cries every night. This is not good news for her to hear and she uses it as a reason to end any chance for reconciliation. There are several more suitors that follow but Isabelle always finds something about them that she dislikes. She meets Sylvain (Paul Blain, "All is Forgiven") at a club who literally carries her away with pleasure as they dance to Etta James' beautiful "At Last." Unfortunately, Fabrice (Bruno Podalydès, "Chocolat"), an art gallery owner, convinces her that Sylvain is wrong for her because he is not a good fit for her circle. This provides cover for her to end yet another relationship, one that had barely even begun. There is not much left for her of course but to go to a clairvoyant (Gerard Depardieu, "You Only Live Once"), but his banter provides little certainty that she will find "the one." There are times in Let the Sunshine In when Isabelle has moments of happiness and optimism, but she can also come across as needy and, at times, almost desperate. Through the magic of Binoche's performance, Isabelle is a sympathetic figure and one that we root for. Her quest, however, has a touch of game playing to it and it seems that, for Isabelle, it may not be whether you win or lose but how you play the game.

Now I do like Juliet Binoche. She has a versatility to her as an actor that means she can just about turn her hand to anything. Quite why she picked this rather humdrum exercise, though, is a bit of a puzzle. She is "Isabelle", a divorced forty-something mother who's looking for something just that little bit more fulfilling from life. She's not, however, having much luck as the men she meets seem to illicit little more than commitment phobia from one or other of them. What now ensues over the next ninety minutes is a rather depressing, plodding and verbose, look at the men she encounters, sleeps with and then discards or is discarded by and for me, that rather undermined the whole point of her search. How was she ever to find that elusive sense of completion when she never seems able to stop looking? There's plenty of sex, natural looking insofar as sometimes it seems enjoyable and at others more a perfunctory conclusion to a date or a conversation, but where's the substance. What Binoche does bring here is a solid portrayal of a woman for whom the grass may always be greener, and whose attitude may just be deterring those men she wants to meet and attracting those she doesn't. That ever decreasing circle is quite well exemplified by "Vincent" (Xavier Beavois) and "Fabrice" (Bruno Podalydès) as well as by the annoyingly self-obsessed actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle) who rather epitomises her strengths and flaws without even giving his character a name. It's quite a disappointing look at relationships and human nature this, that retreads some familiar territory without really challenging anything or anyone, and though perfectly watchable it isn't anyone's finest work.

I hadn't seen a preview or even read a precis before going, but I generally like French movies, so I went. I didn't know what to make of it -- at the beginning I thought it was a drama, but then the scenes got absurdly exaggerated, and I decided it must be a comedy that the language barrier kept me from finding funny. So I was surprised to learn from the reviews here that it was not a comedy! I still don't know what to make of it. So, my advice is, if you have to pay money to see this and you don't speak fluent French, don't bother (in my case, I have a theater membership that allows me pretty much unlimited movies, so I do tend to take chances).

A divorced and alone woman is searching for real love, after the failure of her marriage. Unfortunately commits some unsuitable relationships, till the end of the narrative, without any further perspective.

A dull routine with interesting - from the point of exchanging personal sentiments view, but somehow inexplicable relationships, played convincingly by Juliette Binoche in-spite of the whole story which is dull and predictable. The movie is saved by her acting and for the unexpected end of Gerard Depardieu's appearance, really extraordinary which gives the final - somewhat funny, tone - as a resumé to the whole story.

Some nice scenes come along, in the French country-side, where heroine has some crisis of revolt against social conventions in-front of her friends, and in some bars and cafés of Paris.

First movie I watch by Claire Denis, and it lacked connection, empathy for the character lost in unearthed loves, I love Juliette, beautiful, but I couldn't be enchanted by the script, nor by the characters, they seemed empty, in a vain attempt at depth, bumping into the ground shallowness, but I'll give it more tries, because I know I'll fall in love with Claire's works...

I don't think the people giving this a 1/10 went into this with realistic expectations. This is French cinema, it's going to be sad and harsh and difficult and the character likely won't come to a concrete and obvious realization leading to her happiness. This movie does not hold your hand, but it is well worth it for those willing to look deeper into their emotional history to see what it is reaching for. There are some conversations that don't land but a lot do because Juliette Binoche gives a stellar performance. This is the type of character study that most actresses wait their whole life to do, she's a volcano of emotions bubbling under the surface for the whole runtime. Her character is probably a "bad person". She dates several married men, but that does not invalidate her problems. This movie is about the idea that chasing perfection can often lead you down the wrong path in your relationships and lead to a fear of commitment. For anyone who finds it difficult to be swept off your feet and easily believe in the rest of your life with someone, this is the movie for you. If you think the title of the film is a task that is easy to achieve, maybe it isn't.

I was so bored... the dialogues are boring, long and absolutely unnecessary. The hole movie is a series of uninteresting episodes of human life: driving cars slowly around Paris, start a painting, drinking a beer, sit on a sofa...all unedited and in real time. and then add the most boring dialogues to it. 'i like you' 'i like you too', 'but we can't' 'why can't we' 'oh, we can't' - kill me already The main character is a depressed middle age woman that will sleep with every man that spends 3 or 4 minutes with her.

The tension between wanting something from someone and the fact that it must be given freely and not asked for is at the heart of this film with its typically brilliant performance from Juliette Binoche. Does Isabelle (Binoche) really know what she wants? It seems to be long-lasting romantic love. She hasn't had a lot of luck in that area, despite being beautiful, charming and successful in her career as an artist. We first see her with an unappealing married man. After a lengthy discussion with him, she seems to give up and moves on to a handsome, much younger actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle). He's also married and undecided about divorcing his wife. A typical dilemma, but for Isabelle it seems to be a pattern. These men are simply not available. Later, at a dance club, Isabelle meets someone who seems quite interested, even if he looks like an aging rock star (the kind who didn't get fat). We soon see the same conflict develop: Isabelle wants something the man cannot give, or not right away anyway. There follows a very brief flirtation with a friend of a friend and Isabelle ends up meeting with a counselor of some kind (Gérard Depardieu) who seems to tell her that her life has simply gone as it should...most enigmatically, that she will meet a man who understands and connects with her, but he too will not be "the one". The counselor says that Isabelle must become aware of her "beautiful inner sun" and be content with herself as she is.

In some ways this recent work of Claire Denis can remind a viewer of a film of Eric Rohmer, LE BEAU MARIAGE in particular. Endless discussion about what the protagonist wants. Simply wanting something from someone is not enough to make it happen. But the cinematic style of Claire Denis is miles away from Rohmer's. The editing alone puts UN BEAU SOLEIL INTÉRIEUR firmly in the art film category. Editing and narrative technique, mainly carried out through one-on-one conversation are sometimes elliptical and leave a viewer to decide what has happened. There is also an odd 'nature walk' with strangers who have a lot to say about seemingly nothing, causing Isabelle to go mad for a moment. Perhaps this is to show the extent of her frustration with life and with people in general. Denis chooses to end the film with the counselor scene: a long sequence composed mainly of close-ups of Depardieur while the final credits run, superimposed over the actors' faces.

An often funny film, very compelling thanks to Binoche's exasperating yet amiable characterization.

2 out of 3 of us fell asleep. The best things aout the movie: Binoche is lovely and Depardieu's nose is fascinating.

I don't recall any other time when I related with a protagonist in a film this much. Every aspect of the lead character, Isabelle was portraying me ...some much so that I felt 'naked' emotionally. Claire Denis is a living legend. Juliette Binoche is an amazing actress...definitely a performance worthy of an Oscar

I had not heard of this movie in the recent past - so since Juliette Benoche was the lead I was excited to see another of her films. I kept waiting for it to get better - actually I found it quite boring. She jumps between the men and there is really o meaningful conversations between them. The credits at the end were interestingly presented. The best thing I can say is that she is still so beautiful.