Tutti i nostri desideri

There is really nothing special about the story - a successful, young lawyer with a good career, two great children and a 'model' husband finds her life in peril upon the revelation of an incurable disease. We have seen stories like this before. However, 'All Our Desires' (I still think the title is not very relevant) is a film that works. It works because of the way the director tells the story, and the way the actors play out their roles and emotion.

Nothing is over-the-top. The bonding between the two lead actors, with the age gap, is natural and admirable. One can still argue about the cliché of Claire withholding her illness from her husband but it was not too important. In the end I find the story to be moving, well told and engaging.

This is my first exposure to films by Philippe Lioret. And it definitely will not be my last.

Philippe Lioret is one of the rare sound technicians to have turned film director. And a pure technician he did not remain, becoming instead a full-fledged artist, slowly maturing from offbeat comedy maker ("Tombés du Ciel" [1993], "Tenue correcte exigée" [1997]) to successful painter of the passions ("Mademoiselle"[2001], "L'équipier"[2004]). A new step was taken in 2006 with "Je vais bien ne t'en fais pas", one of the most intense dramas ever filmed, which propelled him to the status of key figure of the French cinema. Lioret's following work, "Welcome", released three years later, a model of the committed film genre, confirmed the high hopes placed in the director, whose last two films managed to convince both audiences and film critics. In "Toutes nos envies", his latest work to-date, Lioret this time tries to synthesize the separate driving forces of his two masterpieces (intimate drama and social involvement) in a single story. On the personal tragedy side, he tells us the sad story of Claire, an idealistic judge in her thirties, married to a sweet husband and mother of two, who discovers to her dismay that she is struck by an incurable illness. As for sociological aspect of the movie, it lies the fight the young judge wages against revolving credit, and by extension, against the aberrations of ultra- liberalism.

Choosing to deal with a societal phenomenon through the eyes of a young woman of course allows identification to her and, through this process, easier understanding of a complex issue. But, taking as a heroine a young woman who can see herself dying was certainly not an obvious choice, the danger being of indulging in cheap melodrama. Fortunately, Philippe Lioret knows better than that : "Mademoiselle", "L'équipier", "Je vais bien..." and "Welcome" could have been tearjerkers ; they were not. Nor is "Toutes nos envies". Simply because for the director suffering elevates the person who fights it with dignity. Whereas in a mere tearjerker it is just an excuse for drawing crocodile tears from undemanding viewers ; and this at the expense of the characters, debased to the level of whiners. For that matter, he was quite right to offer the role to Marie Gillain, a charming actress who, although not used to playing such tragic characters, manages here to display a lot of conviction while at the same time showing welcome (pun not intended !) restraint. At once fragile and strong, fresh and grave, rebellious and warm, Marie Gillain joins the vibrant Sandrine Bonnaire and Mélanie Laurent in the pantheon of Philippe Lioret's heroines.

Claire, Philippe Lioret's engaging spokesperson, elegantly voices the writer-director's outrage at the way people in need of money are squeezed dry and driven to despair by lending organizations, thus making tremendous profit out of their poverty. This revolting situation is denounced from the outside by Claire but also experienced in her own flesh by Céline, a divorced mother and helpless victim of what can be called the new usurers (a very natural performance by Amandine Dewasmes).

A very skillful way to study the questions from all angles, from the theoretical legal point of view to the everyday practical one. So much so that, unless you are a loan shark yourself, you cannot but side with the victims of the system while capturing all its intricacies.

The direction is effective but without inadequate artistry, making good use of natural locations (Lyon, Valence, the Salagou Lake). The cast is superior, with Vincent Lindon as its male star. In "Toutes nos envies" he gives another of his superb performances as Stéphane, a judge who has seen it all and proves reluctant to take action but until, out of sympathetic friendship for Claire, he accepts to take over her mission.

A fine example of social commentary with a heart, "Toutes nos envies" has met its two fixed targets : to move viewers on the one hand and raise their awareness on the other.

Philippe Lioret has created some terrific roles for women: I will always remember what Sandrine Bonnaire did with her Brittany lighthouse keeper's wife who has a yen for a young stranger (L'Equipier), or what Melanie Laurent did with her head-strong teenage girl part (Je vais bien...). Marie Gillain makes us forget her early work as empty-headed women who easily turn to crime as she plays a crusading judge, a woman who tries to fight the predatory credit system in France. Not only are the banks against her, but the people who want easy credit and won't read the fine print on contracts are too.

The actors do fine; I'm always glad to see Vincent Lindon in any part and here he is especially good. He's a rugby coach as well as Gillain's partner in the crusade and gives a great energy to the film. I would have cut about 30 minutes out of it, however.

Philippe Lioret is kind of the French Ken Loach, a director who best expresses his potential when he is depicting the hard reality. He proves it once again in this Toutes Nos Envies, a committed, social movie who deals with the last legal battle of a reserved Marie Gillain, resigned to dying, helped by the always excellent Vincent Lindon.

The script, though relatively predictable, is well executed and most importantly it never falls into melodramaticism. Despite everything, and even if this drama turns out to be touching, it doesn't fully convinces either, due to a plot that sometimes drags on a bit too much and a direction too lazy. Too bad because if it wasn't for that, the movie would be close to a real success.

Philippe Lioret has not made a bad movie yet ;I would go as far as to write that this movie,"Je Vais Bien Ne T'en Fais Pas" ,"L'Equipier" "Welcome" or "Tombés Du Ciel" place him firmly and definitively among French finest contemporary directors .

When you watch a Lioret movie ,you ask yourself :why is it so good? His subjects are not new,not particularly original .Take "Toutes Nos Vies ":it is a hackneyed subject (see Goulding's "Dark Victory" 1939):the terminally-ill young person who wants to make the best of the time she has got to live."Toutes Nos envies" is not a melodrama though : it's based (inspired by )on a novel called "D'Autres Vies Que La Mienne"(=lives other than my own) and it makes a big difference with the traditional tear jerker;although she realizes that she has not done half of what she wanted to do in her life ,the heroine never feels sorry for herself :she does not tell the truth to her husband and her good friend Stephane discovers her terrible secret by chance .With Stephane ,she continues -both are judges- the fight against the financial companies which exploit the poor and the humble with their would be low lending rates (3% the first three months ,then more than 20 afterward ,written in tiny characters) which allow them to satisfy "all our desires" (check the title).Who has never received a letter or an email which reads "get 2000 Euros NOW !and spend it as you like" ?And although she knows her life is almost through,she is still interested in Celine 's plight : a victim of those deceitful promises and a mother of two whose dignity is intact ("I'm not asking for charity ",as she gives back the twelve Euros).Philippe Lioret is one of the rare contemporary directors who makes a friendship between two women who are worlds apart (the magistrate and the person on welfare) convincing ;never the heroine shows condescension or pity :Marie Gillain's smile and compassion are so glaring (even after she has learned what terrible fate lay in store for her) that she wins over the audience .

Philippe Lioret's emotional commitment to his story and his characters is extraordinary ;had Frank Borzage lived in France in 2011,this is what he might have made .This is a director who loves his characters: the distraught father in "Je Vais Bien ....",the swimming teacher in "wecome" and the Robin Hoodesque judge in this one .Both the swimming instructor and the judge are wonderfully portrayed by Vincent Lindon who acts as some kind of father for Claire and the young man who wants to swim across the Channel in the precedent movie.Claire and Stephane love each other,even though their relationship remains purely platonic and it shows when they share the simple pleasures of life: swimming in a lake ,watching a rugby game then drinking champagne to the team's victory in the locker room;and unlike ,say ,Guillaume Canet,Lioret's use of American music makes sense :as Stephane is a big Rickie Lee Jones fan-we see him looking for "pirates" in a records shop-,it's only natural he plays her songs to Claire.

Claire's and husband Christophe's daily life is depicted with simplicity and spontaneity ;their children are called Arthur and Zoé ,a nod to childhood for it used to be the names of comics characters.

A barrel of laughs ,it is not;and the movie was not a big success in a world where "Les Intouchables " reigned ;but it's not too late to give it a chance!

Like this ? try these .....

"Le Petit Prince A Dit " Christine Pascal ,1992

"Europa 51" Roberto Rossellini ,1951

"stranded" Frank Borzage ,1934