Les bien-aimés

This film is remarkable.

Beautifully shot, full of inventions, the film is extremely refreshing as most of Honoré's work. The tone is pop and lighthearted, while addressing unconventional subjects, such as elder's sexuality.

The casting is impeccable as always with Honoré. If the duo Deneuve-Sagnier and the depiction of a female character of that generation had a taste of dejà-vu (Ozon? Todd Haynes?), Honoré managed to make it feel like unexplored territory. But that's with Vera's character that Honoré is at its best. Mastroianni is AMAZING!! You've never seen a woman in her late 30's depicted that way in a movie.

The downturn of the film are the singing parts. It really doesn't work and it's even painful to watch. Other than Jacques Demy's films, one can think of Resnais's "On connait la chanson", Ozon's "8 femmes" or Ducastel & Martineau's "Jeanne et le garçon formidable" as examples of the successful mix of serious subject matters and musical. But with Honoré, it doesn't work (with the exception of the elegant telephone scene with Duris and Preiss in "Dans Paris"). It's tempting to just recommend to skip the singing parts as the film is otherwise quite long.

Other than that, the film is a must see.

I read most of the crass reviews here with a sense of incomprehension. Anyone with eyes to see and a minimum of intelligence should be able to perceive that this is an incredibly ambitious film, and like it or not, it is an excellently made film. There are certain films of Christophe Honore that I do not respond to, and have expressed it in some of my reviews, but he is undoubtedly one of France's greatest directors. This I feel is his most complex and greatest film ( of all that I have seen, which is most ). It disturbs as much as it delights, and my viewing of it fluctuated between the two. My conclusion was it is better to attempt the Mount Everest of loving another than not at all. The cast is perfect and I do not want to single out one over another. But it is the content that makes it so perfect interweaving both historical events in History ( 1960's to this new troubled 21st C ) and the histories of a fully rounded set of characters. Honore's canvas of life and death is full to the brim, and yes there were moments when I was troubled by what I saw; deeply troubled at what people inflict on each other, and mostly in the name of love and love's rejection. The songs sometimes irritated, but the core of feeling is often expressed in music and what a stroke of genius to have Janacek's String Quartet which is entitled ' Intimate Letters ' recur often in the film. I am not sure I will watch this film often because hardened though I think I am it is a vision of life that is not afraid of looking at the worst of life in the face. I also think I saw a final homage to Preminger's ' River of No Return ' which is a misunderstood film in itself. A complex, fine achievement of a film.

Catherine Deneuve and her real life daughter, Chiara Mastroianni star in the saga of their lives from the 1960's to 2001. The two are beautiful which is the point: Life is hard even when you are beautiful. The daughter doesn't feel loved. The two men in her life are Paul Schneider and Louis Garrel. Her father loves her. Her mother loves her. Somehow it is not enough. Loudvine Segnier plays the young Deneuve. The repeated refrain is: I can live without you, but I can't live without loving you.

Then it is said that loving another makes you a different person. And when that person is gone, you are still the person you became when you loved each other.

The French know more about love than other cultures. I will try to see this again, because I loved the singing. The lyrics were so simple.

I was surprised to see that most people across the internet hate this movie. I don't (and I am a recent Film grad, to qualify that). In fact, this is one of the most perfect movies I've ever seen, and one of my top 3 favorite French films. I was incredibly surprised by how long it was. A musical-y epic? But towards the second half I could actually sense how devoted Honore must've been to this movie, and why he didn't want to compromise it by condensing it. I watched this on my laptop logistics-wise, so I didn't have the same experience as someone stuck in a chair in a too-cold theater. The soundtrack? Exquisite. The cast? Perhaps could've been improved upon, but it's the familiar Honore cast and as such carries with it solid chemistry that was essential to the story. It channeled the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, with its lovely palette of colors. Yes, it has songs, and *yes* it took creative license. My imagination is vivid, so I didn't have to tax it too much to buy the story. I think the <25 demographic would prefer it more than the 30+.

I feel that people had problems with it because they were expecting a da Vinci, but this is highly Impressionist in spirit.

This film has a great look and the acting is good and engaging. I don't understand why it is a musical? I should clarify that I am not a fan of musicals, especially when the song comes out of no where. Give me "Cabaret," "Judy," or "Nine." Those are superb musicals that make sense, ever number happens on stage, and in the case of "Nine," in the imagination of the director who is struggling with writer's block.