kerkevik

A wonderfully complex study of both the city, and it's people on a wonderfully complex group of characters. Every one was as interesting as any other, regardless of the stature of the actor playing them, and you were invested in them all because of it. Juliette Binoche and Albert Dupontel were the most familiar names to me, but their characters were not allowed to dominate the story.

All along the way you were taken on journeys that were unsignposted and shocking, in some cases, because of it.

A quite extraordinary tale that deserves a far wider audience than it is likely to get. Overall the film was a shining example, in my opinion, of what makes French cinema the best in the world.

A marvellously descriptive examination of the power of memories, and the pull of the present in the eventual destruction of those memories.

I decided, principally, to see this film because of the presence of Juliette Binoche in the cast but, even tough hers is a strongly written character, and the acting of Binoche is of it's usual highest standard, it was the heartbreak portrayed by the oldest, and youngest, members of the extended family that really affected me the most.

The most heartbreaking moments came towards the very end, and were played out without being overly sentimentalised. You are left wondering at the uselessness of hanging onto the past when all that are left are museum pieces.

Possibly the most beautiful story ever written. Utter perfection in it's simplicity. Sheer poetry to rival the greatest of all bards. The author should receive a special oscar for giving this peaceful, wonderful tale to the world. If it were out on video I would purchase it in French and English. No ecological group could argue any better for what mankind can be capable of, but so often finds itself lacking.