What If...?

On paper the synopsis of this second movie by Léa Fazer ("Bienvenue en Suisse") looks very exciting. Indeed, this is the story of Margot and Victor, a couple of lawyers working for the same law firm, told twice, the story varying according to the premise that either he or she has been promoted to the rank of associate to the manager. This is of course not the first time that the device of two (or more) alternative realities has been used but seeing one alleged "reality" from several different angles is always thought-provoking. That's why I expected much from "Notre Univers impitoyable".

To tell the truth, my feelings after viewing the film, are mixed. I didn't really disliked it but I was a bit let down, possibly simply because I had had too high expectations. Or else because the finished product delivered less than it promised. It is up to the reader to decide.

There is no reason to complain about the acting. The star couple Alice Taglioni & Jocelyn Quivrin (a real-life couple, the trendy thing to do of late!) is okay and Thierry Lhermitte just excels as the villain of the piece. He has a knack for underplaying the despicable characters he is wont to play that actually enhances their sins. But the two actors who shine here are Pascale Arbillot as the unstable Juliette, Margot's single mother sister, and Scali Delpeyrat as Margot and Victor's shy colleague.

There is also a fine satiric edge and the construction IS original, as the story changes course whenever one of the two heroes starts wondering how things could have been had HE or SHE been the chosen one.

And yet, despite these undeniable qualities, the result is not wholly satisfying. The reason, to my mind, is that the way Fazer tackles her subject remains somewhat shallow. She all too often resorts to clichés (Margot serving coffee, Victor and his Maserati), which is a waste of time. On the other hand she does not go deep enough into the way a law firm functions. The working environment is examined to greater length and to better effect in contemporary French film like "No Smoking", "Violence des Echanges en Milieu tempéré" or "99F".

All in all, not a masterpiece but a rather enjoyable flick for all that. Léa Fazer will certainly do better if she manages not to remain on the surface of things next time.

Within the same time, space and actors, two different stories are told between quick shifts of the two scripts. Not always very clear,yet very well played by most of them. The struggle of family vs. successful work and wealth is a bit "ingenue", but keeps your attention. A "divertisement".

The cinematography/ images were of the best I've seen of late. And the music matched what the camera shows quite well. At first, its beauty is dazzling. But in the end, it starts to sound menacing, cold and distant. La Défense seems like their apartment, their clothing, and probably their marriage: minimalist, perfect, and yet devoid of life.

Sociology: There is a striking contrast between the small, overcrowded and anonymous popular flat Margot's parents inhabit. Theirs is a life more ordinary, like her sister's. But her parents seem happy in their marriage, or at least content. Whereas all the film shows "how unhappy brash young and very successful cadres can be" unless...

That's why I think the film is written by, well, somebody who obviously doesn't like big companies, and who consequently casts some empathy on "love versus work". Consequently, all the film is a case in point for the director's sensitive view: "a return to basic values". Depicted in modern terms, with cheeky music in the end, but a XIX century morale, romanticism and all that. Alice Taglioni is very beautiful, I'm glad she didn't pursue a career as a pianist :). Her beauty is rather cold, but effective in what the director wants to show. Jocelyn Quivrin is fine specially as the "winner" of the job. Their secretary Éléonore has one of the best lines when she stops Victor in his tracks from leaving her wife for a mirage, a lover whom he idealizes because "she doesn't contradict him and has good sex". Cutting but real!

Obviously Lhermitte is great at whatever he does, and in here, although I'd have liked to see a bit more of his manipulations, he does the despicable but able manipulator swiftly as usual. Maître Bertrand Lavoisier is probably the most likable character, the IMDb reviewer guy-bellinger was right of writing that. I agree to what he says about the director Fazer resorting to clichés too often. The film seems like a work made by a young author, still fighting with personal issues, forcing contrasts to "make the point". Given this Swiss director is very young, I think it's not impossible to wish she'll accomplish cutting portraits of social classes like, say, Claude Chabrol's.