Non-Fiction

Interesting and entertaining. The English title is "Non-Fiction", but the original French title "Doubles Vies" (Double Lives) is more descriptive. The theme centers around writing and publication in the internet age, with provocative snippets of bracing conversation, some hilarious deadpan humor, and sexual infidelity as a metaphor for how writing cheats reality, all perfectly framed by the French language and the Gallic temperament. (Needs to be seen in the original French, with subtitles if necessary.) You could describe it as a fast-talking intellectual comedy, but it's one of those movies that can be as deep as you want to make it. I plan to rent it so I can stop/replay some of the dialogue. The director, Olivier Assayas, is a master of layered meanings.

An easy going movie, with nothing special, nothing to be attracted, just for a good time in a summer cinema

Doubles vies (2018) (literally Double Lives) is a French film that was shown in the U.S. with the title Non-Fiction. The movie was written and directed by Olivier Assayas.

Guillaume Canet as publisher Alain Danielson, who is married to the TV actress Slena (Juliette Binoche). They are friends with another couple, author Léonard Spiegel (Vincent Macaigne) and political consultant Valerie, portrayed Nora Hamzawi. Into the mix comes Laure d'Angerville played by Christa Théret. She works for Alain as "Head of Digital Transition."

Because this is a French film, everyone sleeps with everyone else, and everyone gathers in groups of four, six, or eight to talk, talk, and talk. (They also gather in cafes to talk.)

Nothing is going quite right for any of them, and they are all dissatisfied with their lives. This is despite the fact that they are beautiful, successful, relatively wealthy people. (Remember this is a French film.)

On the positive side is that the acting is excellent, the plot moves forward steadily, if slowly, and the movie embodies everything I know about French intellectuals. OK--it's true that all I know about French intellectuals is what I've seen in movies about French intellectuals. Even so, by that criterion it looks right.

If you like dialog films, with great French actors, this film is for you. If you like movies with more action and less talk, then Non-Fiction isn't for you.

We saw on the large screen at Rochester's great Little Theatre. It will work well enough on the small screen.

I think it's worth seeing, but I'm somewhat prejudiced, because I have wanted to see La Binoche act ever since "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" in 1988.

Very disappointing film from a good director. First of all after twenty minutes you notice that all the discussions about the effects of internet on publishing industry is passé, characters conversations about ebooks versus paper books are repetitious and boring. All main characters are one dimensional and we don't learn anything about them expect that they all have affairs and husbands infidelities are surprisingly acceptable by their wives. There is no drama or plot to follow except affairs and talks about ebooks !!

As a fan of European films with an intellectual spark and some witty humor, I was expecting to enjoy this. Despite a slow start, I kept hoping for an eventual improvement, but the film just dragged on and on, repeating the same idea in many different settings, to the point of exhaustion, for 108 tedious minutes.

While there were a couple of funny moments, they were too few and far apart. As far as the story went, there was not much beyond the initial concept. As a character-driven film, I found most characters to be flat and unrelatable, particularly the protagonist and his romantic interests. The minor development at the end felt forced and out of place.

Since I saw this at the Toronto Film Festival, a Q&A followed at the end. Unlike other public screenings that I've attended so far, most questions this time came from people in the film industry, who themselves mentioned that they could probably better relate to the book publishing industry, thus this film, than most. Since I'm not of the industry nor a French speaker, I could only hope that some of its charm lost in translation.