La ville est tranquille

I have JUST seen this film - literally an hour ago and was curious to come to IMDb and see what others thought because I really knew very little about this film before I went to see it. Basically it had an 8:30 pm showtime and that worked out better than other movies and their showtimes so there I was. I felt the film really had trouble finding it's footing in the first twenty minutes. The director was obviously building blocks and setting things up but I was pretty uninvolved, but then, once all these characters' lives start to intersect and the stories start to build, the film just grips you and won't let go. Not in any thriller kind of way, but in a very believable, yet depressing, but human, real life way. The director trusts his story and actors so much (the acting is top notch) that he just lets the camera stay still and show you what happens. Now, if this film was just bleak and nothing else, well, then I probably would have hated it, but there are real moments of true, selfless love and even at the end, signs of hope and beauty that makes the movie special. I could see how many people might dislike the film and even walk out in the beginning, but Overall, the film packs a punch, a wild emotional punch, but like many great dramas, it leaves you thinking a great deal about life and society and mankind (good and bad).