Le héros de la famille

"Le héros de la famille" is the story of a cabaret in Nice called "Le perroquet bleu" (The blue parrot). The innkeeper, Gabriel(le) dies at the beginning of the movie and leave his business to his godchildren : Nino and Marianne, whom father (the magician played by Gérard Lanvin) had been taken under Gabriel's wing when he was fifteen years old. After the reading of the will, the fate of the Blue Parrot is in their hands.

After having heard and read a lot of critics which said this movie was great, I've decided to see it so that I could make my own opinion. During maybe half an hour I was wondering "Yeah, that's cool, but not as great as it was supposed to be..." but the more time passed, the more I understood why I've been said it was a fine movie.

First of all, the cast is outstanding! Gérard Lanvin is very good in this part of a lost man, who just begins to know his children when his father-like best friend dies. Catherine Deneuve is very funny, she becomes less and less cold as she gets older. And all the others (I won't name all the great actors who play in this movie) are very right in their parts.

Then, every character has his own psychology. Some of them appear only a few minutes in the movie, but we feel that they ARE, they do exist in the movie. They're not just here to walk-on, they're here because they belong to the big family of the Blue Parrot.

I also think the movie deals with a lot of existential questions: Do we have to live like our parents? Do we have to do the direct opposite of them? From whom do we inherit? and finally, I think the most important question : What a family is?

So, if you like french cinema, french actors, or if you like the "films chorale" (i don't know how to say it in English : a movie in which there is no protagonist, or more exactly in which everybody is), "Le héros de la famille" has been made for you!...

... and if you don't, nothing keep you from being curious ;)

This movie about a family reunion following a relative death is nor original nor captivating but there is improvement compared to the creators previous effort (the dreadful Une Vie A T'Attendre).

Geraldine has better things to do and she is cool playing a grumpy sister. Honestly she shows more skills than the long list of french oldies pals: Miou (x2) always badly playing the humble woman, La Deneuve always playing the old bourgeoisie, Lanvin always doing tons for nothing and Beart always playing la diva in spite of she is rather ugly Maybe it's because i skip too much scenes without Geraldine but it took me ages to understand that Lanvin (and not Brasseur) was her father and the one of her half brother I remember that Showgirls was labeled obscene but here a cabaret with nude girls, a queer, gays making love under Nice firework is hypocritically welcomed as inspired art ! Anyway, if i pushed it on the positive side, it's especially for Géraldine singing the song the Rose : with her sensibility and melodic voice, she finds a iconic scene for her long career. Proof that the director is not very inspired, i would have ended the movie with this very emotional sequence as the following minutes just don't add anything more

I must say this film is one of the most boring I have been given to see and i am disappointed because some great actors are playing in this movie. so during the first half an hour, i was thinking "a bunch of very good actors, it must be great" but after those first minutes of excitement I have seen a non sense scenario, uninteresting dialogs and story. there were a lot of people in the cinema leaving the place before the end. if you are not very familiar with the French cinema, I strongly recommend not to begin with this one, Brasseur, Lanvin and Deneuve have made so much beautiful movies in the past that It would be a shame to see this one first. Please, for the sake of French cinema, spare us with this kind of crap.